Louis Leon Thurstone

Louis Leon Thurstone (* 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, among other things an innovative film camera. In 1912 Thomas Alva Edison him a position. In 1917 he received 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 ( Zentroidmethode ) and criticized with their help, the two-factor theory of intelligence by Charles Spearman as an artifact of its factor analytic method.

Thurstone describes seven primary intellectual factors (primary mental abilities ) that are to form the basis of human intelligence. Compared to Spearman, which assumes a general intelligence factor that can not calculate this for Thurstone. His primary factors are:

  • Numerical calculation ( numbers )
  • Language comprehension (verbal comprehension )
  • Conception of space (space)
  • Memory (memory)
  • Deductive reasoning ( reasoning )
  • Verbal fluency (word fluency )
  • Conception rate ( 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

Writings

  • 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 posthumous)
Chapel Hill (North Carolina)
530744
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