William Henry, Psychology

William Henry (Ph.D.'44), Professor Emeritus in Psychology and a specialist in the study of personality, died Monday in San Francisco. He was 76.

Henry joined the University faculty in 1947 as Assistant Professor in Psychology. He became Professor in Psychology in 1959 and served as Chairman of the Committee on Human Development from 1953 to 1958 and from 1965 to 1969.

In 1949, Henry began a study of the intellectual and personality traits that make a person successful as an executive. He wrote articles and lectured on executive qualities and tests used to determine who should be selected for promotion.

Henry's research on executive behavior led to his interest in midlife and aging. He was a co-researcher in the Kansas City Study of Adult Life, a large-scale study of adults in Kansas City, Mo., begun in 1950 by scholars in the Committee on Human Development. The study, which involved surveys of adults ages 40 to 70, was the first major study on aging conducted in a large metropolitan area.

In 1956, he wrote "The Analysis of Fantasy: The Thematic Appreciation Technique in the Study of Personality." The book discussed the use of the projective technique in analyzing personality, which entailed showing pictures to people and analyzing the stories they told about those pictures.

In addition to his position at Chicago, Henry was also a Ford Distinguished Visiting Professor at Michigan State University from 1960 to 1961 and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1962. He retired in 1978.

He received his B.A. from the University of Utah in 1939 and his Ph.D. in 1944 from the Committee on Human Development at Chicago.

There are no immediate survivors. Burial was private.