Théodule-Armand Ribot (18 December 18399 December 1916) was a French psychologist. He was born at Guingamp, and was educated at the Lycée de St Brieuc. He is known as the founder of scientific psychology in France, and gave his name to Ribot's Law regarding retrograde amnesia. In 1856 he began to teach, and was admitted to the École Normale Supérieure in 1862. He passed his

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''profes ...

in philosophy, this allowed him to teach in high school. He worked as a high school teacher in Vesoul (1866–1868), and then in Laval (1868–1872). On the 9 April 1888 at The Collège de France he gave the first lecture in psychology in France. In 1885 he gave a course of lectures on Experimental Psychology at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, and in 1888 was appointed professor of that subject at the

College of France A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

. His thesis for his doctors' degree, republished in 1882, ''Hérédité: étude psychologique'' (5th ed., 1889), was his most important and best known book. L'Hérédité psychologique is considered to have introduced Darwinian and Spencerian evolutionary ideas to France. Following the experimental and synthetic methods, he brought together a large number of instances of inherited peculiarities. He paid particular attention to the physical element of mental life, ignoring all spiritual or nonmaterial factors in man. In his work on ''La Psychologie anglaise contemporaine: l'école expérimentale'' (1870), he showed his sympathy with the sensationalist school, and again in his translation of Herbert Spencer's ''Principles of Psychology''. Ribot was in 1889 the co-president (with

Jean-Martin Charcot Jean-Martin Charcot (; 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He worked on hypnosis and hysteria, in particular with his hysteria patient Louise Augustine Gleizes. Charcot is known ...

) of the first international congress for experimental psychology and in 1890 the president for the fourth congress. From the first 12 such international congresses, the

International Union of Psychological Science The International Union of Psychological Science, abbreviated IUPsyS or the Union, is the global umbrella organization for psychology. History Starting in 1889, an International Congress of Psychology has been held every few years. The Interna ...

eventually emerged. Besides numerous articles, he wrote on

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...

, ''Philosophie de Schopenhauer'' (1874; 7th ed., 1896), and on the contemporary psychology of Germany (''La Psychologie allemande contemporaine'', 1879; 13th ed., 1898), also four little monographs on ''Les Maladies de la mémoire'' (1881; x3th ed., 1898); ''De la volonté'' (1883; 14th ed., 1899); ''De la personnalité'' (1885; 8th ed., 1899); and ''La Psychologie de l'attention'' (1888), which supplied useful data to the study of

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. In 1896 he introduced the term

Anhedonia Anhedonia is a diverse array of deficits in hedonic function, including reduced motivation or ability to experience pleasure. While earlier definitions emphasized the inability to experience pleasure, anhedonia is currently used by researchers t ...

describing the inability to feel pleasure.

Bibliography

Works

*''La Psychologie anglaise contemporaine: l'école expérimentale (1870)
''La philosophie de Schopenhauer''
(1874) *''Psychologie de l'attention (1889)''
''La Psychologie des sentiments''
(1896) *''L'Evolution des idées générales'' (1897) *''Essai sur l'imagination créatrice'' (1900) *''La Logique des sentiments'' (1904) *''Essai sur les passions'' (1906)

English editions

''English Psychology'' (1873)
*''Heredity: a Psychological Study of its Phenomena, Laws, Causes, and Consequences'' (1875)
''Diseases of Memory: An Essay in the Positive Psychology''
(1882)
''Diseases of the Will'' (New York, 1884), (tr. MM Snell, Open Court Publishing, Chicago 1894; 1903)''German Psychology of to-day'', tr. JM Baldwin (New York, 1886)''The Psychology of Attention''
Archive.org
''Diseases of Personality'' (Chicago
1895)
''The Psychology of the Emotions''
(1897) Internet Archive *''The Evolution of General Ideas'', tr. FA Welby (Chicago, 1899)
''Essay on the Creative Imagination'', tr. AHN Baron (1906).
Librivox audio in English

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ribot, Theodule-Armand 1839 births 1916 deaths People from Guingamp University of Paris faculty Collège de France faculty French psychologists École Normale Supérieure alumni Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Fellows of the British Psychological Society Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Scientists from Brittany

Bibliography

Works

English editions

See also

References

External links