Murphy, Lois Barclay

Murphy, Lois Barclay

(1902– ) psychologist; born in Lisbon, Iowa. Educated at Vassar, Union Theological Seminary, and Columbia University, she married social psychologist Gardner Murphy in 1926. They collaborated on 16 books, including her important Asian Psychology (1968) and Western Psychology (1969). She taught at Sarah Lawrence College for 24 years and did major research in child development, including 15 years as director of developmental studies at the Menninger Clinic and Foundation (1952–67) and seven as a consultant to Operation Headstart (1968–74). Her writings include Personality in Young Children (2 vols. 1956) and Vulnerability, Coping and Growth (1976).