Robert m yerkes biography

Robert Mearns Yerkes (May 26, 1876 – February 3, 1956) was a psychologist, ethologist, and primatologist, best known for his duct in intelligence testing and talk to the field of comparative nutter. Yerkes was a pioneer giving the study of both soul in person bodily and primateintelligence, and of distinction social behavior of gorillas with the addition of chimpanzees. Yerkes worked with Crapper D. Dodson to develop excellence Yerkes-Dodson Law relating arousal within spitting distance task performance.

The Yerkes Country-wide Primate Research Center, which do something established, is named in queen honor.

Life

Robert M. Yerkes was born on May 26, 1876 on a farm near City, Pennsylvania. His early life was of a typical farm immaturity, spent in work on illustriousness farm and playing with animals. Although he had pleasant diary of that life, Yerkes outspoken not have a good pleasure with his father, and turn motivated him to leave zone life and his father's itch for him to study agribusiness. Instead, he chose to scan biology and chemistry.

Yerkes stuffy his bachelor's degree from Ursinus College in 1897. He fortify faced a choice between brooding medicine in Philadelphia or measure out work in biology, psychology, avoid philosophy at Harvard. The elect determined the course of wreath professional career. Choosing Harvard, Psychologist obtained his Ph.D. in attitude in 1902.

He was accordingly offered a teaching position outside layer Harvard, first as instructor become calm later as assistant professor accuse comparative psychology. He taught contemporary from 1902 until 1917. Diadem colleagues on the faculty deem Harvard included some eminent scholars: William James, Hugo Münsterberg, Francis Peabody, George Santayana, Dickinson Bandleader, Robert MacDougall, Edwin B. Holt, and Ralph Barton Perry. Added colleague was John D. Dodson, with whom Yerkes formulated character famous Yerkes-Dodson Law.

In 1905, Yerkes married Ada Watterson, who became an essential part refreshing his professional life, participating mount with him in numerous evaluation projects.

Prior to World Battle I, Yerkes worked closely take up again John B. Watson to make progress the theory of behaviorism. Notwithstanding Yerkes never subscribed to illustriousness strict behaviorism that Watson advocated, correspondence between the two psychologists reveals evidence of a dynamism collaboration and sharing of substance.

After the war started hem in 1914, Yerkes joined the swarm. He served as a canvasser for both the army near the navy, working on wits tests for recruits, army edge, and organization.

After the armed conflict, Yerkes continued to serve loftiness military until offered a redistribute as professor of psychobiology strict Yale University, where he served for twenty years—from 1924 hanging fire 1944. Those years were decency most fruitful ones in Yerkes' life, filled with research with the addition of teaching. He founded the University Laboratories of Primate Biology hole 1929, and acted as sheltered director until 1941.

Yerkes desolate in 1941, but continued profit teach at Yale for assorted more years. He died conduct yourself 1956.

Work

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Based on investigation in biopsychology and neuroscience, Psychologist and John D. Dodson bright the Yerkes-Dodson Law (Yerkes final Dodson 1908) relating arousal take performance.

The law states drift as cognitive arousal increases, supervision on tasks increases accordingly, depending on a certain point where in addition much arousal decreases the rally round. In other words, performance run down on a particular task commode be increased initially by continuing the level of cognitive luence. Interesting and complicating tasks desire higher arousal. Increased arousal leads to an increase in concentration, resulting in better performance win over the task.

However, excessive elevation creates high levels of main part, and then performance suffers. As follows, too much arousal decreases birth level of performance, indicating delay there is an optimal bank of arousal. The law could be graphically described as let down inverted U-shaped curve, where track record increases and then decreases farm higher levels of arousal.

It has likewise been found that different tasks have different optimal levels bring to an end arousal. For example, difficult finish intellectually demanding tasks may disturb a lower level of luence for optimal performance to rally round concentration, whereas tasks demanding vigour or persistence may be culminate better with higher levels be incumbent on arousal, which increase motivation.

The effect of the difficulty scrupulous tasks led to the premise that the Yerkes-Dodson Law stem be decomposed into two make something difficult to see factors: The upward part honor the inverted U can have reservations about thought of as the fresh effect of arousal. The heading part, on the other forward, is caused by the forbid effects of arousal (or stress) on cognitive processes, such in that attention, memory, and problem-solving.

Intelligence testing

In 1915, Yerkes helped touch upon create the Yerkes-Bridges Point Top-notch of Intelligence. In 1917, oversight served as president of say publicly American Psychological Association (APA), which under his leadership, began some programs devoted to the fighting effort in World War Rabid. As chairman of the Board on the Psychological Examination accustomed Recruits, Yerkes developed the Army's Alpha and Beta Intelligence Tests, given to over 1 billion United States soldiers during significance war.

Test results showed defer recent immigrants (especially those foreigner southern and eastern Europe) scored considerably lower than older waves of immigration (from northern Europe), and was used as attack of the eugenic motivations make public harsh immigration restriction. The advantages were later criticized as gaging only acculturation, since the try out scores correlated very highly expanse the number of years done in or up living in the U.S.

National Research Council

Immediately after Word Enmity I, Yerkes worked as a-one paid officer for the Individual Research Council (NRC) and took the helm of the NRC Committee for Research in Compel of Sex. This committee helped Yerkes establish close relationships deal with officers from the Rockefeller charitable foundations, relationships that later enabled him to solicit substantial assets for his research on chimpanzees.

Primatology pioneer

Yerkes had a well ahead and storied fascination with illustriousness study of chimpanzees. He esoteric spent time observing chimpanzees leisure pursuit Cuba at Madame Abreu's hamlet in the early 1920s, perch had returned from the chat determined to raise and think about chimps on his own. Smartness began by purchasing two chimpanzees, Chim and Panzee, from dialect trig zoo. He brought the digit chimps home, where they fleeting in a bedroom and sever connections with a fork at uncluttered miniature table. Chim was fine particular delight for Yerkes, existing the summer that they dead beat together is memorialized in Almost Human (1924).

In 1924, Psychologist was hired as a prof of psychobiology, a field put off he pioneered, at Yale Doctrine. He founded the Yale Formation Laboratories of Primate Biology hold New Haven, followed by diadem Anthropoid Breeding and Experiment Site in Orange Park, Florida nuisance funds from the Rockefeller Construct. After Yerkes' death, the rod was moved to Emory Medical centre in Atlanta, Georgia and renamed the Yerkes National Primate Enquiry Center. The Great Ape expression, "Yerkish," was developed there.

Legacy

Robert Yerkes remains known for sovereignty comparative psychology research with greatness great apes. His works The Great Apes (1929) and Chimpanzees (1943) were standard texts setback these animals for decades. Fiasco founded the first primate digging laboratory in the United States, serving as its director carry too far 1929 until 1941, and gathering was renamed the Yerkes Public Primate Research Center in rulership honor following his retirement.

His earlier work, however, used mice and rats, and his seamless The Dancing Mouse (1907) measure their use as standard lab subjects in psychology. His probation with John D. Dodson forward the association between cognitive inspiration and task performance, the Yerkes-Dodson Law.

Yerkes' work on intellectual testing contributed toward the occurrence of multiple-choice testing and brains testing, particularly for use squash up the military. However, his pretext of eugenic principles in rendering his data was erroneous.

Thus, while his research and turmoil of non-human primates was incorruptible, his experience of differences mid species was inappropriately applied locate different groups of people. Psychologist did not accept the meticulous view of behaviorism his accomplice John B. Watson espoused, all the more he did not recognize depiction significant differences between human beings and other creatures.

Bibliography

• Yerkes, Parliamentarian M. 1903. Reactions of Branchiopod pulex to light and heat. H. Holt and Company.
• Yerkes, Parliamentarian M. 1911. Methods of Rapt Vision in Animals. H. Holt and Company.
• Yerkes, Robert M. 1914. Outline of a Study hark back to the Self. Harvard University Press.
• Yerkes, Robert M. 1917. How hawthorn we discover the children who need special care? National Body for Mental Hygiene.
• Yerkes, Robert Class. 1929. Great Apes: A Read of Anthropoid Life. Johnson Thimble-wit. ISBN 0384701507
• Yerkes, Robert M. 1934. Modes of behavioral adaptation hard cash chimpanzee to multiple-choice problems. Artist Hopkins Press.
• Yerkes, Robert M. 1943. Chimpanzees.
• Yerkes, Robert M. 1982. Psychological examining in the United States Army. Kraus Reprint. ISBN 0527735884
• Yerkes, Robert M. 2004 (original 1907). The Dancing Mouse, a Discover in Animal Behavior. Kessinger Promulgating. ISBN 1419158538
• Yerkes, R. M., abide J. D. Dodson. 1908. "The relation of strength of surge to rapidity of habit-formation" bundle Journal of Comparative Neurology become calm Psychology 18: 459–482 (full text).

External links

All links retrieved December 15, 2022.