Jacob Robert Kantor

Jacob Robert Kantor (1888-1984), also known as J.R. Kantor, was a prominent psychologist who pioneered a naturalistic system in psychology.

Biography
Kantor was born in 1888 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He entered the University of Chicago with an interest in chemistry, but then discovered his love for psychology. In 1914 Kantor earned a Ph.B. He earned his Ph.D. in 1917 and was an instructor at the University of Chicago from 1917 to 1920. He then became a professor at Indiana University for 39 years.

Kantor retired in 1959 but continued teaching as a visiting professor at New York University and then at the University of Maryland. He was appointed to the position of research associate at the University of Chicago in 1964 and he worked there until the time of his death twenty years later.

Contributions to psychology
One of Kantor's biggest contributions to psychology was his development of naturalistic viewpoints in psychology. Kantor strove to create scientific method for studying psychology, much like the scientific methods for biology, chemistry and physics. Kantor used this method of objective psychology to research further in the areas of social psychology and behavioral psychology. He is one of the most famous modern philosophers of science. Kantor's additions to the field of psychology helped develop it into the science it is today.

Papers

 * Kantor,J.R.(1987)What qualifies interbehavioral psychology as an approach to treatment? In: Ruben, D.H. & Delprato, D.J. (Eds.). New ideas in therapy. Introduction to an interdisciplinary approach. Westport: Greenwood Press. 3-8. Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1981)Axioms and their role in psychology. Revista Mexicana de Análisis de la Conducta,Vol. 7, Num. 1., 5-11.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1979) Wundt, Experimental Psychology and Natural Science. Revista Mexicana de Análisis de la Conducta,Vol. 5, Num. 2., 117-129.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1978) Cognition as Events and as Psychic Constructions. The Psychological Record,28, 329-342.[http://web.utk.edu/~wverplan/kantor/pspsg.html Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1978) The principle of specificity in psychology and science in general. Revista Mexicana de Análisis de la Conducta,4, 117-132.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1974) Interbehavioral Psychology: How Related to the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. En Aportaciones al Análisis de Ia Conducta: Memorias del Primer Congreso, Mexico, Ed. Trillas,, pp.15-22.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1929) La Psychologie Organique. Revue de Psychologie Concréte, 1, 75-88.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1922) Memory: a triphase objective action. Journal of Philosophy, 19, 624-639.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1921) A tentative analysis of the primary data of psychology, Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, Scientific Method,18, 253-269.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1920) Intelligence and mental tests, Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, Scientific Method,17, 260-268.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1919) Instrumental transformism and the unrealities of realism. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and the Scientific Methods,17, 449-461.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1919) Human personality and its pathology, The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and the Scientific Methods,16. pp. 236-246.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1919) Psychology as a science of critical evaluation. Psychological Review, 26, 1-15.Full text


 * Kantor,J.R.(1919) The ethics of internationalism. International Journal of Ethics, 29, 29-38.Full text