Edward Chase Tolman (1896–1959) developed purposive behaviorism. He studied rats in mazes and the routes they chose to get to the end of the maze. The rats behaved as though they had a mental map of the maze. The rats’ performance in the maze also varied depending on whether they got desirable foods at the end of the maze.
Early Years and Education
Edward Chace Tolman was born and raised in West Newton, MA. His family was committed to humanitarian causes, social justice, and pacifism, which reflected the values of their Quaker and Unitarian Church ancestors (see Carroll 2017for a detailed biography of Tolman and his ancestors). After high school, Tolman earned a BSc in electrochemistry from Boston Tech [which is now called the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)]. He chose this program because he was good at high school math and science and because his father wanted him to get appropriate training so he could contribute to the family business, J. P. Tolman & Co., which was...
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References
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Digdon, N. (2019). Edward C. Tolman. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1692-1
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