Donald Pond Spence had one semester at Harvard University before joining the military. He served in Europe with the 14th Armored Division from 1944 to 1946. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in 1949.
Gallery of Donald Spence
Donald Pond Spence received his Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University in 1955.
Donald Pond Spence had one semester at Harvard University before joining the military. He served in Europe with the 14th Armored Division from 1944 to 1946. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in 1949.
Donald Pond Spence was an American psychologist, psychoanalyst and writer. He was an "inside" critic of psychoanalysis who supported its importance as an interpretive discipline but questioned its status as normative science. Spence authored "Narrative Truth and Historical Truth", "The Freudian Metaphor" and "The Rhetorical Voice of Psychoanalysis".
Background
Donald Pond Spence was born on February 8, 1926 in New York City, New York, United States; the son of Ralph Beckett Spence, a professor of Teachers College, Columbia University, and Rita (Pond) Spence, a school teacher. Donald had also a sister Carol.
Education
Donald Pond Spence graduated from the Lincoln School in 1943 and had one semester at Harvard University before joining the military. He served in Europe with the 14th Armored Division from 1944 to 1946. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in 1949 and his Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University in 1955.
in 1966, Spence graduated from the New York Psychoanalytical Institute as a certified psychoanalyst.
Donald Pond Spence conducted research and taught at the Research Center for Mental Health of New York University from 1954 to 1974. In 1974 he became a Professor of Psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). Spence also served on review committees for the National Institute of Mental Health during 1969-1973 and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.
Besides, he was a visiting professor of psychology at various universities, including Stanford University, California, in 1971-1972; Princeton University, New Jersey, during 1975-1995; Louvain-le-Neuve, Belgium, in 1980; and William Alanson White Institute, New York, in 1992.
In addition, Spence wrote well over 100 articles and book reviews. In 1982, he authored "Narrative Truth and Historical Truth", which is now considered a classic text in the field. Two other books, "The Freudian Metaphor" and "The Rhetorical Voice of Psychoanalysis", followed as well as several translations to other languages.
Moreover, Donald Pond Spence was a contributor to periodicals, including British Journal of Psychology, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, and Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour. He was also a member of editorial boards of Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, Psychological Inquiry, and Theory and Psychology.
Spence retired December 31, 1996. He died on September 25, 2007 in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
Donald Pond Spence was a Fellow and Division President of the American Psychological Association in 1992-1993, and was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Psychoanalytic Association, New York Academy of Sciences, Sigma Xi and Who's Who.
In his retirement, he was active with the Senior Resource Center, Habitat for Humanity, Musical Amateurs, Pro Musica, Old Guard, and House II, Communities Without Walls, all in Princeton.
American Psychological Association
1992 - 1993
Personality
In his retirement, Donald Spence had time in indulge in other pleasures: music, especially the singing voice; woodworking; and the outdoors in every season. Many of his happiest times as an adult had been instilled in him as a child at Camp Treetops in Lake Placid, New York, and the Adirondack Mountains were always his favourite place.
Interests
carpentry, music, choral singing
Connections
Donald Spence married Mary Newbold Cross on June 2, 1951. They had four children: Keith, Sarah, Laura, Katherine. Spence also had three grandchildren: Ned McGregor, Nate Ash and Hannah Ash; and three stepgrandchildren.