MUNSTERBERG, HUGO b.June I, 1863; Danzig (West Prussia), Prussia d. December 16, 1916; Cambridge, Massachusetts
Leading academic during the early twentieth century. He considered himself a cultural ambassador between Germany and the United States. During World War I, he came under intense attack in the United States due to his public support of Germany.
Munster- berg secured his PhD in psychology in 1885 under Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig and his MD in 1887 in Heidelberg. After taking up a position at the University of Freiburg, he was lured by William James to Harvard University for a three-year appointment in 1892. After the completion of his term, he returned briefly to Freiburg. In 1897 he returned to Harvard, where he would remain on the philosophy faculty until his death in 1916. At Harvard, Munsterberg acted as professor of experimental psychology, chaired the Philosophy Department, and directed the Psychological Laboratory. He held a variety of prestigious offices within his field, including the presidency of the American Psychological Association.Munsterberg wrote prolifically on industrial, forensic, and applied psychology and became a noted popularizer of psychology. Prominent among his publications were On the Witness Stand (1909), in which he questioned the reliability of eyewitness testimony, and Psychology and Industrial Efficiency (1913), in which he distanced himself from Frederick W. Taylor’s ideas and pioneered new occupational selection and management techniques within commercial and industrial settings. Two years before his death, he became fascinated by motion pictures. This fascination
led to one of his most lasting works in psychology: The Photoplay (1916).
Throughout his career at Harvard, Munsterberg styled himself a cultural ambassador between his two homelands, Germany and America. Through frequent transatlantic travels he wished to strengthen the intellectual and political bonds between the two countries.
When Wilhelm II’s brother Henry visited the United States in 1902, Munsterberg welcomed the prince to Harvard. He also organized the Amerika Institut in Berlin and an exchange professorship program between Harvard and the University of Berlin (1910). Munsterberg published many books and articles on America for German audiences and on Germany for American audiences; for example, American Traits from the German Point of View (1901), The Americans (1904), American Problems from the Point of View of a Psychologist (1910), and American Patriotism and other Social Studies (1913). In these works Munster- berg stressed both the positive and negative traits of the respective nations, hoping to instruct Americans and Germans on what they could learn from one another.Munsterberg remained a German citizen his whole life and supported a strong, militaristic view of the German nation. He lost favor at Harvard due to his public support of Germany during World War I. He offered unsolicited advice to the German government, former President Theodore Roosevelt, and President Woodrow Wilson. His writings provoked continuous controversy and calls for his ouster. William H. Skaggs even called him a German spy in his anti-German polemic, German Conspiracies in America: From an American Point of View, by an American (1915). Munsterberg’s relationships with Harvard presidents Charles W Eliot and A. Lawrence Lowell were historically strained. Both presidents on occasion admonished Munsterberg on his treatment of graduate students, his direction of the Psychological Laboratory, and his slackening scholarly publications. He found himself in an increasingly stressful role of keeping Germans, Americans, and German Americans in harmony with one another. However, his efforts ultimately did not have his desired effect and served only to isolate him from all three communities.
Kevin Ostoyich
See also Amerika Institut; Francke, Kuno;
U.S.-German Intellectual Exchange
References and Further Reading
Goldman, Guido. A History of the Germanic Museum at Harvard University. Cambridge, MA: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University, 1989.
Keller, Phyllis. States of Belonging: German- American Intellectuals and the First World War. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University, 1979.
Langdale, Allan, ed. Hugo Munsterberg on Film: The Photoplay—A Psychological Study and Other Writings. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Munsterberg, Margaret. Hugo Munsterberg: His Life and Work. New York: Appleton, 1922.