Gordon H. Bower

Gordon Howard Bower (December 30, 1932 – June 17, 2020) was a cognitive psychologist studying human memory, language comprehension, emotion, and behavior modification. He received his Ph.D. in learning theory from Yale University in 1959. He held the A. R. Lang Emeritus Professorship at Stanford University. In addition to his research, Bower also was a notable adviser to numerous students, including John R. Anderson, Lawrence W. Barsalou, Lera Boroditsky, Keith Holyoak, Stephen Kosslyn, Alan Lesgold, Mark A. Gluck, and Robert Sternberg, among others.

He was voted number 42 in the list of most notable psychologists of the 20th century, published by the Review of General Psychology. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2005.

General Information Gordon H. Bower was a cognitive psychologist. His main areas of study include human memory, mnemonic devices, retrieval strategies, recording strategies, and category learning. He was interested in cognitive processes, emotion, imagery, language and reading comprehension as they relate to memory. He was married to Sharon, the founder of a communication consulting firm who has published three self-help books on speech anxiety. Together, they have three children.

Early life Bower was born on December 30, 1932, in Scio, Ohio, to Clyde Ward and Mabel (Bosart). His father worked as a grocery store owner and his mother was a teacher. During high school, he was encouraged by his teachers to pursue a career in psychiatry. Out of high school, he accepted a four-year scholarship to play baseball at Cleveland's Western Reserve University and during his freshman year, began working in the Cleveland State Mental Hospital. In order to avoid the military draft, Bower opted for graduate school, but his experiences in the mental hospital dissuaded him from a career as a psychiatrist.

While Bower was attending Yale for his degree in Experimental Psychology, under Neal Miller, he discovered a passion for learning theory and presented his findings on dual reward-punishment in rats to the American Psychological Association. During this time, he and Bill Estes also revised Edward Tolman's vicarious trial and error model to include human choices among commodity options. Bower married Sharon Anthony on January 30, 1957. In 2005, Bower took emeritus status from Stanford and received the President's National Medal of Science.