How did Witmer and Münsterberg differ in their views of clinical psychology?
Known as conceited, contentious and antisocial, Witmer started the field eh termed as psychology which was clinical. In the year of 1896, he inaugurated the first clinic for psychology in the world. Witmer never practiced psychotherapy, an approach he despised and did not know much about.
Rather, he was inclined to learning treating and assessing the problems of behavior in schoolchildren, an area of specialty of application now known as psychology of school. Though Witmer was materialistic in establishing psychology of clinic, the field turned into broader than he had envisioned.
Munsterberg, a stereotypical professor from Germany, was a substantial success in the psychology of America and in the eyes of public for a time. He documented thousands of famous articles in magazines and about 24 books in areas of application like industrial, forensic and clinical psychology.
He founded psychology of application in Europe and United States and was also implicated for being a detective. He has been characterized as a “creative propagandizer for psychology of application”.
His biographer said that he was also a prosperous publicist, “adored with sensational flair which was uncanny”. He was very self-centered and had a powerful impression of self-importance.
Munsterberg had been characterized as “egoistical beyond infinity” and “pompous” by Santayana. By the end of life, he turned into a figure of ridicule and scorn, the subject for cartoons and newspapers and an embarrassment for the university he had worked for so many years.