J. McVicker Hunt

Joseph McVicker Hunt (March 19, 1906 – January 9, 1991) was a prominent American educational psychologist and author. He promoted and researched concepts related to the malleable nature of child intelligence (also promulgated by Benjamin Bloom). That work eventually led to the theory of learning centered on the concept of the information processing system.

Early life Joseph McVicker Hunt was born in Nebraska on March 19, 1906, to parents R. Sanford and Carrie Pearl Hunt, who were both University of Nebraska graduates. Hunt was an active student with interests in both academic and nonacademic areas such as sports.

Education Hunt enrolled in the University of Nebraska in the mid-1920s. He became president of the League of Industrial Democracy and Student Christian Association as well as participating in football and wrestling. He was also a writer for a newspaper and sold life insurance while in school to earn extra money. His interest in psychology did not begin until his junior year, when Joy Paul Guilford returned to the University of Nebraska to direct the psychology laboratory. Hunt took advice from one of his sociology professors and enrolled in a course taught by Guilford who eventually asked him to complete graduate work in psychology. Hunt accepted and became a graduate student in 1929 at the University of Nebraska.

His latest job before his death was as professor of psychology at the University of Illinois in 1951. Before that he taught at a number of universities, including Brown University, Columbia University, the University of Nebraska, and New York University. At the University of Illinois, he started out being interested in the origin of human intelligence and its development. Although other research emphasized the genetic component of intelligence, Hunt thought that experience played just as large a role in the development of intelligence. Hunt was also interested in the neurophysiological basis of behavior and was impressed with Donald Hebb's assertions. Therefore, he developed the A/S ratio, which suggested that aspects of motivation were connected to the ratio of association areas to sensory areas in the brain. This idea led to the understanding of intrinsic motivation.

Notable works

Hunt contributed to the two-volume landmark publication entitled Personality and the Behavior Disorders, which was published in 1944 during his time at Brown. This work summarized work pertaining to mental disorders and personality and provided ideas for future research from both a psychodynamic and psychoanalytic perspective.