Robert Tryon
behavioral psychologist (1901–1967)
Robert Choate Tryon (September 4, 1901 – September 27, 1967) was an American behavioral psychologist, who pioneered the study of hereditary trait inheritance and learning in animals. His series of experiments with laboratory rats showed that animals can be selectively bred for greater aptitude at certain intelligence tests, but that this selective breeding does not increase the general intelligence of the animals.
Life
Tryon was born in Butte, Montana on September 4, 1901. He spent most of his life at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his AB degree from the undergraduate school in 1924, and as a graduate student he earned his Ph.D. in 1928 with a thesis titled Individual differences at successive stages of learning. After graduating from the school he spent two years as a National Research Council fellow. In 1931, he became a faculty member of the college's Department of Psychology, of which he was a member for 31 years. During the War, he served in Washington DC as the deputy chief of the planning staff for the Office of Strategic Services. Aside from that short period, he was always in Berkeley. On September 27, 1967, he died in Berkeley, California.
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