Daniel Ellis Berlyne (April 25, 1924 – November 2, 1976)
was a British and Canadian psychologist. Berlyne worked at several universities both in Canada and the United States. His work was in the field of experimental and exploratory psychology. Specifically, his research focused on how objects and experiences are influenced by and have an influence on curiosity and arousal.
Biography
Berlyne was born in
Salford, Greater Manchester
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county aft ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on April 25, 1924.
There he attended
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...
and
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
. From there he received his Bachelor's Degree in 1947 and Master's Degree in 1949. From there he went to
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
where, while teaching full-time at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
in New York City, he earned his PhD in 1951.
In 1953 Berlyne was forced to leave the United States because of problems with his visa. He worked in Scotland as a professor until his return to the United States in 1957.
Awards and recognition
Berlyne held fellowships at the
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...
, the
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom.
History
It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the organ ...
, and at several other American and Canadian psychological associations. He also served as president of the
Canadian Psychological Association
The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) is the primary organization representing psychologists throughout Canada. It was organized in 1939 and incorporated under the Canada Corporations Act, Part II, in May 1950.
Its objectives are to imp ...
from 1971 to 1972 and of the General Psychology and Psychology and Arts departments of the American Psychological Associations from 1973 to 1974. That year, 1974, he was co-president of the XVIIIth International Congress of Applied Psychology in Montreal, vice president of the Canadian and American departments of the Interamerican Society of Psychology, and as president of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics.
Work
Academic and teaching
Berlynes first academic teaching position was at
St. Andrew's University in Scotland while he was still a student at Cambridge. He then worked at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
while pursuing his PhD at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. During his return to Great Britain, Berlyne worked at the
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
for four years, from 1953 until 1957. He was also a resident member at the Centre International d'Epistemologie Genetique in Geneva, Switzerland from 1958 to 1959, and a visiting scientist and the National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland from 1959 until 1960. He worked as an associate professor at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
until 1962, when he was hired as a professor of psychology at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, where he remained until his death in 1976.
Writing
Berlyne has published seven books, including: ''Conflict, Arousal and Curiosity'' (1960), ''Humor and its Kin'' (1972), ''Invited Commentary: B.F. Skinner's Beyond Freedom and Dignity'' (1972), and ''Behaviorism? Cognitive Theory? Humanistic Psychology?— To Hull with Them All'' (1974). He has also authored hundreds of articles and chapters such as Interest' as a Psychological Concept'' in 1949, an article which he claims to have introduced the concept of curiosity into psychological literature.
Research
Berlyne is often considered the heir to
C.L. Hull's Hullian School of behavior.
Thus, most of Berlyne's work focused on the effects of and reactions to curiosity and arousal, rather than focus on the ideas as states of being. His work focused on "why organisms display curiosity and explore their environment, why they seek knowledge and information".
He believed that objects impact on three levels, psychophysical, environmental, and collative. The last of these was a term coined by Berlyne which attempted to describe the hedonic levels of arousal fluctuation through stimuli such as novelty, complexity, surprisingness, incongruity. Ultimately, he believed that arousal was best and most effective when at a moderate level and influenced by the complexity and novelty of the arousing object.
References
External links
Obituary and BiographyEncyclopedia entry on Berlyne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlyne, Daniel
20th-century American psychologists
Philosophers from Massachusetts
1924 births
1976 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Yale University alumni
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
Boston University faculty
University of Toronto faculty
British emigrants to Canada
Canadian expatriates in the United States
Brooklyn College faculty
Presidents of the Canadian Psychological Association