David McClelland, Former Professor of Psychology,
Dies
David Clarence McClelland, former professor of psychology, died of heart
failure March 27 in his Lexington home. He was 80.
Recognized internationally for his expertise on human motivation and
entrepreneurship, McClelland taught and researched for 57 years. He is remembered
for his unconventional methods in studying human personality.
McClelland was born in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. A graduate from Wesleyan University
in 1938, he acquired a master's degree in psychology from the University
of Missouri and a doctorate in psychology from Yale University in 1941.
In 1963, he started McBer, a consulting company that aided managers in
assessing and training employees. During the same year, the National Education
Association received McClelland's proposal to offer seventh-graders in good
academic standing college scholarships to encourage motivation at an early
age. He published a persuasive article in The American Psychologist
in which he stated that commonly used I.Q. and personality hiring tests
were poor predictors of competency. He argued that companies should hire
based on competency in relevant fields, and do away with SAT scores. His
once-radical ideas have grown to become standard instruments in many corporations.
McClelland focused more on relationships among motivation, the quest
for power, and physical and emotional stress as he approached the end of
his career.
He was an instructor at Connecticut College and a professor at Wesleyan
University before joining the Harvard faculty in 1956. He began teaching
at Boston University in 1987 and remained there until his death.
A fellow of the American Academy of Sciences and the author of several
books including Personality, The Achievement Motive, and The
Achieving Society, McClelland received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1958.
His first wife, Mary Sharpless McClelland, died in 1980. He leaves his
second wife, Marian Adams McClelland; five daughters, Catherine Dole of
Morristown, N.J., Sarah McMullen of Downey, Calif., Jabez of Bethesda, Md.,
and Mira and Usha, both of Lexington; two sons, Duncan of Winchester and
Nicholas of Marblehead; and nine grandchilden.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 3, in Friends
Meetinghouse in Cambridge.
Copyright
1998 President and Fellows of Harvard College
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