Robert W. White (1904–2001) was an American psychologist whose professional interests centered on the study of personality, both normal and abnormal.
[1] A historian in perspective, White did not focus entirely on abnormal psychology, but investigated the coping methods of normal people.
Diverging from Freud whose thinking dominated psychology at the time, he emphasized that individuals were also driven by needs to be competent and effective in the world.
[3] During World War II, White became acting director of Harvard's psychological clinic.
He was head of Harvard's clinical psychology program and chairman of the social relations department.