John Bissell Carroll

John Bissell Carroll (June 5, 1916 – July 1, 2003) was an American psychologist known for his contributions to psychology, educational linguistics and psychometrics.

Carroll was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Early in his life, Carroll became interested in music and language. His interest in language was further sparked by becoming friends with Benjamin Lee Whorf at the age of thirteen and discussing Whorf’s ideas about a close connection between culture and language. Carroll also helped to edit and publish Whorf’s Language, Thought and Reality in 1956.

Carroll studied at Wesleyan University, majoring in Classics and graduating summa cum laude in 1937. He attended the University of Minnesota to earn a doctoral degree in Psychology. At the University of Minnesota, Carroll began studying under B. F. Skinner, but soon discovered that he was more interested in working with large numbers of subjects rather than Skinner’s individual subjects approach. Skinner directed Carroll to L. L. Thurstone at the University of Chicago, where he was able to pursue his interest in psychometrics. During this time, he focused his studies on verbal aptitude and completed his dissertation, “A Factor Analysis of Verbal Abilities,” in 1941.

After finishing his education, Carroll’s first position was at Mount Holyoke College (1940–42). Mary Searle, who received her B.A. in psychology from Mount Holyoke in 1941, married Carroll after graduation.

After Mount Holyoke, Carroll taught at Indiana University (1942–43), the University of Chicago (1943–44), Harvard Graduate School of Education, (Roy E. Larsen Professor of Education, 1949–67) and the University of North Carolina, (William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology 1974-82, Director of L. L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory, 1974–79).