Louis Leon Thurstone (May 29, – September 29, ) was a U.S. pioneer in psychometrics and an influential theorist of intelligence. He contributed greatly to the measurement of attitudes, and is well known for his contributions to factor analysis.
The study of intelligence has been fraught with controversy, particularly in relation to the evaluation of groups as of "higher" or "lower" intelligence than others. Thurstone's work emphasized different types of intelligence, rather than focusing on a single factor of general intelligence, and thus better recognizes the diversity of human abilities. Thustone's attitudinal scale was very influential in encouraging others, such as Guttman and Coombs, to develop practical scaling procedures in the social sciences. Thus, his work, while not providing a complete understanding of human nature, offered a number of significant advances.
Life
Louis Leon Thurstone was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 29, , to two Swedish immigrants, Conrad and Sophia Thunstrom. The family eventually changed the last name to Thurstone to avoid confusion of pronunciation and spelling. The first 14 years of Louis’s life was transient a
Thurstone, L. L.
Contributions to psychology
WORKS BY THURSTONE
SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
Louis Leon Thurstone (–), American psychometrician and psychologist, was born in Chicago. Both of his parents had been born in Sweden, and for a period Thurstone himself attended school in Stockholm. At Cornell University, which he entered in , he first studied civil engineering but changed to electrical engineering. Even before graduating from college he patented a model motion–picture projector; it attracted the attention of Thomas A. Edison, who offered him an assistantship in his laboratory in East Orange, New Jersey. However, Thurstone did not remain long in Edison’s laboratory, leaving in the fall of to teach descriptive geometry and drafting in the College of Engineering at the University of Minnesota.
Thurstone’s interest shifted to the experimental study of learning, and in the summer of he enrolled for graduate study in psychology at the University of Chicago. While still a graduate student he accepted an assistantship in Walter V. Bingham’s newly established division of applied psychology at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Thurstone continued at Carnegie after receiv
Thurstone&#;s 7 Primary Mental Abilities: A Deep Dive
Posted on Jan 26, in Psychology and Sociology
Thurstone&#;s Theory of 7 Primary Mental Abilities, which emerged in the s, is one of the most important psychological models of intelligence in existence. Louis Leon Thurstone () is considered one of the most influential authors in the field of psychometry. His main contribution is his theory of the 7 primary mental abilities, which opposed the unitary and hierarchical models of intelligence proposed by other pioneers such as Charles Spearman or P. E. Vernon.
Thurstone denied the existence of a general intelligence factor (the famous &#;g factor&#;) to which all other cognitive abilities would be subordinated. For this author, intelligence was to be understood as a set of primary mental abilities not reducible to a single top-level dimension.
Along with authors such as Charles Spearman and Raymond B. Cattell, Thurstone is considered one of the main figures responsible for the establishment of factor analysis methods in psychology. These mathematical tests aim to identify the number and structure of the different factors that influence some type of psychological measure
Louis Leon Thurstone
The American psychologist Louis Leon Thurstone () was universally heralded as the most renowned psychometrician of his time. He led the way in mental measurement and testing through quantitative methods.
Louis Leon Thurstone, whose original family name was Thünström, was born on May 29, , in Chicago. He attended school in various places in the United States as well as in Stockholm. In high school, at Jamestown, N.Y., he experimented with musical composition; mastered three typewriter keyboards; wrote a letter, published by Scientific American, on a problem of diversion of water from Niagara Falls; invented a method of trisecting an angle; and developed a talent for sketching into a lifelong hobby of photography. At Cornell University, from which he received an engineering degree, Thurstone designed a patented motion picture projector that was later demonstrated in the laboratory of Thomas Edison, with whom Thurstone worked briefly as an assistant.
Thurstone's first teaching experience, in the College of Engineering at the University of Minnesota, stimulated his interest in the learning process and human abilities. Hence he pursued a doctorate in ps
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