Edward Alexander Bott (April 11, 1887 – January 28, 1974) was a Canadian

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

Biography

Bott was born near

Ingersoll, Ontario Ingersoll is a town in Oxford County on the Thames River in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The nearest cities are Woodstock to the east and London to the west. Ingersoll is situated north of and along Highway 401. Oxford County Road 119 (formerly ...

, in 1887. In 1912, he joined the Faculty at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

and took over the psychological laboratory which had been established by

James Mark Baldwin James Mark Baldwin (January 12, 1861 – November 8, 1934) was an Americans, American philosophy, philosopher and psychologist who was educated at Princeton University, Princeton under the supervision of Scottish philosopher James McCosh and who ...

in 1891. In 1925, he established the ''St. George's School for Child Study'' at the university which became the Institute of Child Studybr>
In 1926, he established an independent Department of Psychology and remained its Head until he retired in 1960. He was one of the founders of organized psychology within Canada. In 1938, prior to the onset of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

a group of psychologists came together to agree how they could assist in the process of personnel selection for the military. This group included Roy B. Liddy, Ned Bott, John MacEachran, George Humphrey, and George Ferguson. From this group was established 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 ...

in 1939. In 1940, Liddy became its inaugural President and in the following year, Bott became president. He conducted research into the application of psychology to

social issues A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...

. He was married to Helen McMurchie Bott who worked with him at the Institute of Child Study and was the father of noted network analyst and

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...

Elizabeth Spillius.

Awards

* 1947 -

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for development of training procedures for

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

* Fellow,

* 1969 - Centennial Medal,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bott, Edward Alexander 1887 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Canadian psychologists People from Ingersoll, Ontario University of Toronto alumni Presidents of the Canadian Psychological Association