Molly Harrower
| Molly Harrower | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Mary Rachel Harrower 25 January 1906 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Died | 20 February 1999 (aged 93) Gainesville, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Psychologist |
| Known for | Multiple choice Rorschach test |
Molly Harrower (born Mary Rachel Harrower; January 25, 1906 – February 20, 1999) was an American clinical psychologist. During the Second World War she created a large-scale multiple choice Rorschach test. She was one of the first clinical psychologists to open a private practice. Specializing in diagnostics, Harrower developed a scale allowing practitioners to predict which patients would profit from psychotherapy.
Molly Harrower was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the daughter of James, a banker, and Ina (née White) Harrower. Her Scottish-born parents were visiting South Africa when she was born and the family returned to the United Kingdom while she was an infant. Their home was in Cheam, a village south of London. Molly Harrower had one brother, who was three years younger. From the age of ten she attended the Godolphin School in Salisbury where she excelled at sports, particularly cricket.
After leaving the Godolphin School Harrower was sent to a finishing school in Paris. She was unhappy with the school environment so her parents sent her to live with a family while learning French in Switzerland for a year.
In 1925, with the help of a family friend, she was admitted to Bedford College's journalism program despite having no academic qualifications. After auditing a psychology course taught by Beatrice Edgell, who became a mentor to her, Harrower switched to a program leading to an academic diploma in psychology. She did not complete the three-year program, being forced to leave after two years because of her family's financial difficulties. She then spent four months in France on a scholarship to study painting and dancing before returning to England, where she worked as an assistant to C.K. Ogden, mainly in his capacity as a book dealer in Cambridge.
Ogden recommended her to his friend the Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka, who directed the psychology laboratory at Smith College in Massachusetts. Smith College granted her a fellowship and she began working with Koffka in 1928. On the invitation of Beatrice Edgell she returned to Bedford College in 1932 as a temporary senior lecturer, filling in for one year after the accidental death of her former teacher Victoria Hazlitt. Under Koffka's supervision she earned a PhD in 1934 for a dissertation entitled Organization in Higher Mental Processes. Hers was the first psychology doctorate awarded by Smith College. The external examiners were George Humphrey, Edwin Boring, and Arnold Gesell.
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