Boring, Edwin Garrigues, 1886-1968, American psychologist, b. Philadephia. He taught experimental psychology at Clark Univ. (from 1919) and at Harvard (1922-68). Boring was strongly influenced by Edward Titchener and is best known for his work in sensory psychology. Boring's classic History of Experimental Psychology (1929) made him a pioneer historian of the field. Other important works include Physical Dimensions of Consciousness (1933), and his memoirs, Psychologist at Large (1961).

Edwin Garrigues Boring (October 23, 1886-July 1, 1968) was an experimental psychologist who later became one of the first historians of psychology.

Life

From 1924 to 1949 Boring was director of the psychological laboratory at Harvard University, where his goal became to free psychology from its status as a subsection of the Department of Philosophy. Boring was successful and established an independent Department of Psychology in 1934. His emphasized the use of the experimental method to investigate psychological questions rather than the tools of philosophy.

He was president of the American Psychological Association in 1928.

Books

Boring, E. G. (1942). Sensation and perception in the history of experimental psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Boring, E. G. (1950). A history of experimental psychology (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Notes

External links

• Short biography
• National Academy of Sciences
• Edwin G. Boring
• The History Channel - Boring
• Revisionist view of Boring