Learn more about his life, career, and contributions to the field of psychology.
He was born in New York and raised on a farm in rural Michigan.
In 1918, he was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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During this time, he began researching the measurement and prediction of aptitude and published his bookAptitude Testingin 1928.
He became one of the first psychologists to empirically studyhypnosis.
During this time, he also began to develop what would eventually become his drive theory of behavior.
Like other behaviorists, Hull believed that all behavior could be explained by conditioning principles.
According to Hulls drive reduction theory, biological deprivation creates needs.
These needs activate drives which then motivate behavior.
The resulting behavior is goal-directed, since achieving these goals aids in the survival of the organism.
Hull was influenced by Darwin and believed that the evolutionary process impacted these drives and resulting behaviors.
He suggested that learning occurred whenreinforcementof behaviors resulted in meeting some bang out of survival need.
These drives are then temporarily reduced.
It is this reduction of drives that serves as reinforcement for the behavior.
For example, Miller and Dollard applied Hulls basic theory more broadly to includesocial learningand imitation.
Clark Hull also influenced a number of other psychologists.
He became one of the most frequently cited psychologists during the 1940s and 1950s.
Prior to the cognitive revolution of the 1960s, his theories had a more dominant influence in American psychology.
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Hull, C. (1943).Principles of Behavior.
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Hull, C. et al.
(1940).Mathematico-Deductive Theory of Rote Learning.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica.Clark L. Hull.
Updated May 20, 2019.
Hothersall, D.History of Psychology(3rd ed.).
New York: McGraw-Hill; 1995.
Hull, C.Principles of Behavior.
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts; 1943.
Miller, N. & Dollard, J.Social Learning and Imitation.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; 1941.
Spence K.Clark Leonard Hull: 1884-1952.The American Journal of Psychology.
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