I. Madison Bentley, also known as Isaac Madison Bentley and later as Madison Bentley (June 18, 1870, in Clinton, Iowa – May 29, 1955, in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

) was an American psychologist. His first publication in 1897 was under the name "I. Madison Bentley." Bentley was one of the first to write about

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

in his 1945 publication ''Sanity and Hazard in Childhood''.

Early life and education

Isaac Madison Bentley was born to Charles Eugene Bentley and Persis Orilla Freeman on June 18, 1870. The Bentleys were from Upstate New York, the town of Warners northeast of Syracuse. Bentley studied psychology at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. Harry Kirke Wolfe was his mentor. He also studied under Wilhelm Wundt at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

during the AY1886-1887, later taking his bachelor's degree in 1895. He then commenced graduate work at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

under the supervision of Edward B. Titchener, receiving his PhD in 1899. Isaac Madison Bentley was christened Isaac Madison, but abbreviated his first name to "I." sometime early in his adulthood. In 1909, he dropped the "I" because it was often misprinted as "J", especially in German publications.

Academic career

Teaching at Cornell, Bentley was elevated to assistant professor in 1902; chairman of the Psychology Department in 1910. He left Cornell for Illinois in 1912. During the First World War, he conducted U.S. Army Air Corps research on the ear. In 1928, Bentley returned to Cornell and became Titchener's successor as the Sage Professor of Psychology and Chairman of the Psychology Department.

Theoretical disposition

Bentley opposed both the

behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...

and mentalism movements of psychology. In his view, psychological functions were different. They surmounted a distinction between the

organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...

and the environment. The environment was absorbed by the organism. Research into psychological functions ought to describe the functions modes and derivations.

Writings

Bentley's works include approximately 159 publications up until approx. 1952. Bentley's contribution to the field of psychology was prolific. He wrote on the memory image, analysis of complex sensations, learning in paramecia, mental disorders, and anthropological psychology.American Journal of Psychology (1947) at 479. But I. Madison Bentley's greatest skill was that of editing. He was cooperating editor, American Journal of Psychology, as early as 1903. He remained with the Journal until 1950, finishing out as co-editor. He also tended The Psychological Index (1916 to 1925), served as associate editor, Journal of Comparative Psychology (1921–1935); editor, Journal of Experimental Psychology (1926–1929).

Member

At the University Nebraska, Madison tapped into the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, I. Madison 1870 births 1955 deaths Leipzig University alumni American science writers Cornell University alumni Cornell University faculty Presidents of the American Psychological Association University of Nebraska alumni