Louis Leon Thurstone

Louis Leon Thurstone (born May 29, 1887 in Chicago , † September 29, 1955 in Chapel Hill (North Carolina) ) was an American engineer and psychologist .

Life

Thurstone studied electrical engineering at Cornell University and invented a. a. an innovative film camera. In 1912 Thomas Alva Edison offered him a job. In 1917 he made his Doctor of Philosophy as a psychologist at the University of Chicago . From 1924 to 1952 he was a professor there. He wrote 23 books, over a hundred scientific articles.

He developed the multiple factor analysis (centroid method) and criticized with its help the two-factor theory of intelligence by Charles Spearman as an artifact of his factor analysis method.

Thurstone describes seven intellectual primary factors ( primary mental abilities ) that are said to be the basis of human intelligence. Compared to Spearman, who assumes a general intelligence factor, this cannot be calculated for Thurstone. Its primary factors are:

• Numerical calculation (numbers)
• Language comprehension (verbal comprehension)
• Space concept (space)
• Memory (memory)
• reasoning
• Word fluency
• Perceptual speed

Career

• Professor, Carnegie Institute of Technology (1917-1924)
• Professor, University of Chicago (1924–1952)
• Director, Psychometric Laboratory, University of North Carolina (1952–1955)
• President of the American Psychological Association (1933)
• 1st President of the Psychometric Society

In 1937 Thurstone was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1938 to the National Academy of Sciences .

Fonts

• The Nature of Intelligence (1924)
• Measurement of Attitudes (1929)
• Vectors of the Mind (1935)
• Primary Mental Abilities (1938)
• Factorial Studies of Intelligence (1941)
• Multiple Factor Analysis (1947)
• Measurement of Values ​​(1959 posthumously)

Web links

• CV (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter T. (PDF; 432 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved February 3, 2018 .