ABSTRACT
Max Wertheimer was always deeply interested in the news of the day, and expressed strong personal reactions to social and political events in the world around him. In December, activists of the National Socialist Students' League stormed the facilities of the Psychological Institute during Köhler's colloquium, ostensibly to investigate evidence of subversive activity by Karl Duncker and Otto von Lauenstein. The political climate and activities of the New School fit in well with Wertheimer's interest in social issues. Barbara Burks's interest in social issues was also evident in her charter membership in the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, an organization that has been called the "most activist group in mainstream psychology." After studying at the New School for Social Research, Ruth Benedict entered the graduate program in anthropology at Columbia University, where she earned her doctorate in 1923 from Franz Boas, then the "preeminent anthropologist in America."
