Joseph Peterson (psychologist)

Joseph Peterson
Peterson, circa 1911
Born	(1878-09-08)September 8, 1878 Huntsville, Utah, U.S.
Died	September 20, 1935(1935-09-20) (aged 57) Berkeley, California, U.S.
Fields	Psychology
Known for	Past president, American Psychological Association

Joseph Peterson (September 8, 1878 – September 20, 1935) was an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Joseph Peterson was born on September 8, 1878 in Huntsville, Utah. His parents, Hans Jordon Peterson and Inger Mary Christensen, were Mormon Danish immigrants to the United States.

Peterson attended Brigham Young University, the University of Utah and the University of California, before earning a B.S. in 1905 and Ph.D. in 1907 from the University of Chicago.

Peterson was the principal of a school in Kanab, Utah from 1899 to 1901, followed by Cassia Academy in Oakley, Idaho from 1901 to 1904. He was a Fellow at the University of Chicago from 1905 to 1907. He taught psychology at Brigham Young University from 1907 to 1911, where he was a central figure in the 1911 modernism controversy. He was Professor of Psychology at the University of Utah from 1911 to 1915.

Peterson taught psychology at University of Minnesota from 1915 to 1918, where he became Chair of the Psychology Department. From 1918 to 1935, he was Professor of Psychology at Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University) in Nashville, Tennessee.

During his time at Peabody, Peterson conducted research into race and intelligence. With his former student, Lyle H. Lanier, who by then taught at Vanderbilt University, he co-authored Studies in the comparative abilities of whites and Negroes in 1929. They concluded that "the whites were superior" due to "hereditary differences." Moreover, they added that whites finished their tests more quickly; they concluded this was due to "cultural factors." A review published in the American Journal of Sociology in 1930 suggested, "the results show enormous and statistically reliable superiority of whites over Negroes." (sic) However, in a review for the American Journal of Psychology, Otto Klineberg argued that based on their evidence, he came to a "totally different" interpretation. He stressed the role of environment in mental abilities, as New York City blacks tested higher than Southern blacks. Nevertheless, he added that the study offered "a number of other interesting results which would merit serious discussion."