Robert m yerkes biography
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Robert Yerkes: His Life and Contributions to Psychology
Robert Yerkes (May 26, - February 3, ) was an American psychologist best remembered for his work in the areas of intelligence testing and comparative psychology. He is also known for describing the Yerkes-Dodson law with his colleague John Dillingham Dodson. The Yerkes-Dodson law suggests that there is a relationship between arousal levels and performance.
During Yerkes' tenure as President of the APA, he became involved in developing the Army's Alpha and Beta Intelligence Tests as part of the World War I effort. The tests were extensively used during this time and were taken by millions of U.S. soldiers.
While Yerkes believed that the tests measured native intelligence, later findings revealed that education, training, and acculturation played an important role in performance. Intelligence testing in general has come under major scrutiny in recent years given its dubious foundational connections to racism.
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Robert Yerkes
American psychologist (–)
Robert Mearns Yerkes (; May 26, – February 3, ) was an American psychologist, ethologist, eugenicist and primatologist best known for his work in intelligence testing and in the field of comparative psychology.
Yerkes was a pioneer in the study both of human and primateintelligence and of the social behavior of gorillas and chimpanzees. Along with John D. Dodson, Yerkes developed the Yerkes–Dodson law relating arousal to performance.
As time went on, Yerkes began to propagate his support for eugenics in the s and s. His works are largely considered biased toward outmoded racialist theories by modern academics.[1][2]
He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from to He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in ,[3] the United States National Academy of Sciences in ,[4] and the American Philosophical Society i
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Yerkes, Robert Mearns
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AMERICAN COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGIST, RESEARCHER
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Ph.D.,
BRIEF OVERVIEW
Robert Mearns Yerkes was a leading figure in comparative psychology, a branch of psychology that studies djur behavior and often makes comparisons from species to species. The ultimate goal is to find general principles that may sometimes shed light on human behavior. Yerkes published several books on the subject. Among them was The Great Apes: A Study of Anthropoid Life, an influential book he coauthored with his wife, Ada Watterson Yerkes. He also started the first U.S. scientific journal devoted solely to the study of animal behavior. In , Yerkes founded the Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology, the first laboratory for nonhuman primate research in the United States. The laboratory was later renamed the Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
Early in his career as an djur researcher, Yerkes also worked with John Dodson to develop the Yerkes-Dodson