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Edwin G. Boring was an American psychologist first recognized for his experimental work but later known as a historian of psychology.
Edwin Garrigues “Gary” Boring was an experimental psychologist and a historian of psychology.

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Edwin Boring

American psychologist (1886–1968)

Edwin Garrigues (Garry) Boring (October 23, 1886 – July 1, 1968) was an American experimental psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Clark University and at Harvard University, who later became one of the first historians of psychology. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Boring as the 93rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century, tied with John Dewey, Amos Tversky, and Wilhelm Wundt.^[1]

Early life

Boring was born on October 23, 1886, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in a Quaker family interested in science. His elder sister was the zoologist, Alice Middleton Boring. In 1904, Boring attended Cornell University, where he studied electrical engineering. He earned a ME degree in electrical engineering in 1908 and then took a job at Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Boring returned to Cornell for an AM in physics, but he was instead drawn to the world of psychology by I. Madison Bentley's animal psychology course.^[2]

Boring notes that his inte

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Boring, Edwin Garrigues

(b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 23 October, 1886; d. 1 July, 1968, Cambridge, Massachusetts),

psychology, history of psychology, psychology of scientific creativity and progress, visual illusions.

From the 1920s to the 1960s Boring, known as “Mr. Psychology,” was a leading figure in academic psychology. He was a tireless builder of the discipline. In his writings and his administrative work he helped achieve the formal separation of psychology from philosophy and helped secure experimentation as the dominant form of inquiry for psychologists. He was the leading historian of psychology and promoted the careful examination of scientific change and scientific creativity.

Early Life and Education. Boring was a lonely and insecure child from a matriarchal family. His father, Edwin McCurdy Boring, a druggist, was a member of the Moravian Church. His mother, Elizabeth Garrigues, was raised in a Quaker family. The young Boring attended a Moravian Church but an Orthodox Quaker school. He credited his religious background with instilling an “ever-present

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Edwin Garrigues Boring (October 23, 1886-July 1, 1968) was an American experimental psychologist and one of the most influential leaders of the discipline from the 1920s to the 1960s. Boring later became one of the first historians of psychology. So respected and influential was Edwin Boring that Robert Yerkes once dubbed him Mr. Psychology.

Boring's work may not have itself have uncovered great secrets of human nature and so directly contributed to our understanding of ourselves as human beings. However, his contribution was a great foundation for others to advance such pursuits. Boring's own research was very much focused on the physical aspects of human behavior, studying sensory and perceptual systems. Originally an electrical engineer by training, he was strictly scientific in his approach, which allowed psychology to separate from philosophy, a necessary step in its development. In his own way, Boring attempted to unify an ever diversifying field, solidifying its scientific status, and presenting a picture that was comprehensible and of interest to all people