Robert B. MacLeod

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Brodie MacLeod (born January 31, 1907 in Martintown , Canada , † June 19, 1972 ) was a Canadian psychologist .

Life

MacLeod studied psychology at McGill University , where he received his BA in 1926 and his MA in 1927. A scholarship (Morse Traveling Fellowship) enabled him to study for the following two years at the University of Berlin with the founders of the Gestalt theory Max Wertheimer , Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler , which would have a strong impact on his academic life.

After returning to America, he completed his doctoral studies at Columbia University with RS Woodworth with a perceptual psychology dissertation on brightness constancy . While working on his dissertation, he taught psychology at Cornell University from 1930 to 1933 . He was then called to Swarthmore College , where he - with interruptions due to military service - worked until 1946. It was he who brought the Gestalt psychologists Wolfgang Köhler and Hans Wallach to the USA at this time. The then lifelong collaboration between Mary Henle and Wolfgang Köhler began at this time in Swarthmore. In 1935, together with Charles Warren Fox, he translated into English the book "The Appearance of Colors and Their Influence through Individual Experience" by David Katz , whose work he had come to know and appreciate during a visit to the University of Rostock .

In 1946 MacLeod returned to Canada at McGill University as professor and chairman of the Department of Psychology. Two years later he took over the direction of the Department of Psychology at Cornell University , which he held from 1948 to 1953. He taught at this department until his death in 1972.

The focus of his work in research and teaching was the experimental psychology of perception , language and thinking . He conducted research in the field of inter-cultural psychology , especially Africa and the Middle East , the history and theory of phenomenological psychology , educational science and the effects of malnutrition on mental development. He has published five books and over 100 professional articles in these fields. He served on the board of directors of the American Psychological Association and was president of several APA sections, including the section for the teaching of psychology.

Fonts

  • 1975: The persistent problems of psychology , Pittsburgh: Atlantic Highlands, NJ, Duquesne University Press. ISBN 978-0-391-00393-4
  • 1974 (with Herbert L. Pick, editor and author) Perception: essays in honor of James J. Gibson , Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-0835-9
  • 1969 (as Editor and Author): William James: unfinished business , Washington: American Psychological Association.
  • 1958: The Phenomenal Approach to Social Psychology. In: Renato Tagiuri, Luigi Petrullo, Person Perception and Interpersonal Behavior , Stanford University Press, 33–53.
  • 1932: An Experimental Investigation of Brightness Constancy . Columbia University.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Katz, The World of Color , translated by Robert Brodie MacLeod and Charles Warren Fox: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1935.
  2. ↑ see the 1972 obituary by Urie Bronfenbrenner , Thomas A. Ryan, James J. Gibson on the Cornell University website: Robert Brodie MacLeod (PDF; 221kB).
  3. ↑ see MacLeod, Robert Brodie, 1907–1972 , entry snac, University of Virginia
personal data
SURNAME MacLeod, Robert B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES MacLeod, Robert Brodie (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Martintown , Canada
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1972