27 Facts About Morton Prince

Morton Henry Prince was an American physician who specialized in neurology and abnormal psychology, and was a leading force in establishing psychology as a clinical and academic discipline.

Morton Prince was part of a handful of men who disseminated European ideas about psychopathology, especially in understanding dissociative phenomenon; and helped found the Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1906, which he edited until his death.

Morton Prince came from a wealthy Boston family and was involved in the social and intellectual life of that city.

Morton Prince went to private schools and the Boston Latin School and then to Harvard College.

Morton Prince obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1879.

Morton Prince hoped to gain more clinical instruction at Vienna and Strasbourg.

Morton Prince was quite impressed with Charcot's theories but returned to Boston to set up an otolaryngology practice.

Morton Prince married Fannie Lithgow Payson, daughter of Arthur Lithgow Payson and Claire Endicott Peabody.

Morton Prince became interested in abnormal psychology and neurology because both his wife and mother had psychogenic symptoms including depression and anxiety.

Morton Prince became a devotee and avid proponent in the use of suggestion in treating mental illnesses in the United States and drew around him all the important practitioners in the burgeoning field of abnormal psychology of that time: Boris Sidis, James Jackson Putnam, William James, G Stanley Hall, to name but a few.

Morton Prince became the American expert in dissociative disorders, which he called multiple personality disorder.

Morton Prince created the Journal of Abnormal Psychology with the help from psychologist Boris Sidis.

Morton Prince published a few of his articles in this journal including The Dissociation of a Personality in 1906, The Unconscious in 1914, and Clinical and Experimental Studies in Personality in 1929.

Morton Prince edited the Journal of Abnormal Psychology up until his death in 1929.

Morton Prince published numerous accounts of cases, both in the academic press and the popular press.

Morton Prince maintained an active academic and professional life, not only with his psychopathologic studies but as practicing physician as well.

Morton Prince served from 1902 to 1912 as the second chairman of both the departments of psychiatry and neurology at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Morton Prince was a prolific writer, publishing some 14 books and numerous essays.

Morton Prince wrote mostly on dissociation and abnormal psychology but applied his understanding of the unconscious to the politics of his day.

Morton Prince founded the Harvard Psychological Clinic in 1927, only two years before his death.

That clinic established a major American stronghold for wide-ranging psychological researches into personality that included a number of the luminaries of that field, who all became famous extending the ideas that Prince first taught them.

Morton Prince was like many prominent men of psychological science at the turn of the 20th century who have become obscure.

Morton Prince stressed the importance of the subconscious to hysterical symptoms at the same time as Freud, but he was critical of psychoanalysis - arguing to Putnam for example that "You are raising a cult not a science" - and preferred to outline his idiosyncratic position that never became popular.

Morton Prince's groundbreaking work on personality became famous via Henry Murray, who took over as director of the Clinic and worked on elaborating it into a more systematic and approachable manner.

Morton Prince was skeptical of paranormal claims and believed such experiences could be explained psychologically.

Morton Prince was an early member of the American Society for Psychical Research and a long-standing member of the Society for Psychical Research.

Morton Prince was one of the first researchers to make a scientific study of crystal gazing.