Perry London (June 18, 1931 - June 19, 1992) was an American-Israeli psychologist, theorist, and academic administrator best known for his writings on clinical psychology and his studies about altruism and hypnosis. In his last position, he was a professor of psychology and dean of the graduate school of applied and professional psychology at Rutgers University.
Early life and education
Perry London was born on June 18, 1931, to a Jewish family in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Max London (formerly Ladizhinski) and Rose Novoselsky London, immigrated from Russia in the early 20th century. He had two older sisters and one younger sister. After two years of public high school in Omaha, he moved to Yeshiva University High School in New York, where he graduated in 1948. During his Senior year in high school, he wrote his first academic article, which earned him a full college scholarship. Consequently, the article was published in a peer-reviewed academic journal. In 1952 he graduated from Yeshiva College. He later earned a master's degree in psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1953 and a Ph.D. in 1956. He interned in 1954-1955 at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Career
After three years at Madigan Army Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, London joined the faculty of the department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, moving four years later to the University of Southern California (USC), where he was appointed Head of the Psychological Research and Training Institute. During that time he joined NASA's space program as a consultant and helped screen the first cohort of American astronauts sent to space. After five years in that job, he was invited to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as a Visiting Professor for the purpose of designing the research program for the newly created NCJW Center of Innovation in Education. During that year (1968–69) he was awarded a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) five-year Career Development Fellowship for promising young researchers, which freed him from all teaching and administrative responsibilities, enabling him and his family to divide their time between the US and Israel. London went back full time to USC in 1973 and moved to Israel in 1979, where he received teaching positions at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University. During that period he also served as a consultant to the Israeli Air Force. He moved back to the US in 1983, becoming the director of the counseling and consulting psychology program at Harvard University. In 1989, Prof. London responded to the call of the faculty of the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University and served as its Dean until his death in 1992.
Research
London published more than 150 articles and books on a range of subjects, comprising an ample intellectual heritage in clinical psychology as a theorist, empirical scientist, and teacher. His Modes and Morals of Psychotherapy (1964/1986) was the first cognitive account of the behavior therapies and remains a foundational text for modern students of the technologies and ethical implications of clinical psychology. In it London showed how therapeutic variety was essential to the field and not a “childhood disease” that would be overcome once one theory and approach was ultimately validated by research and came out victorious over all others. He was one of the first analysts of the therapeutic scene who argued that the most basic characteristic of a therapist might not be their theoretical allegiance, but their moral, interpersonal and existential stance. Later, London wrote and co-authored several articles (London, 1970, Omer & London 1988, 1989) describing how the field developed beyond its early focus on establishing which theory and therapy approach were true and right, into an understanding that theoretical ideologies and all-embracing theories were inadequate to explain therapeutic success. He showed how the field shifted its focus from theoretical purity to pragmatics, seeking to identify common factors that explained the effectiveness of different and even contrasting approaches, and special moments of change that could occur in similar ways in highly different kinds of therapy.
Behavior Control (1969) elaborated those themes. His Beginning Psychology (1975) was a highly accessible invitation to psychology, serving as an introductory text book. His writing was characterized by a conceptual perspective and an elegance of prose that made it memorable.