Elias Porter
| Elias Porter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1914 Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | December 13, 1987 (aged 73) Pacific Palisades, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Psychology |
| Institutions |
University of Oregon University of Chicago University of California, Los Angeles University of California, San Diego |
| Alma mater |
University of Oregon Ohio State University |
| Known for | Relationship awareness theory, contributions to Rogerian psychology (e.g., client-centered therapy), systems and human factors training |
| Influences | Kurt Lewin, Edward Tolman, Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm |
Elias Hull Porter (1914 – December 13, 1987) was an American psychologist. While at the University of Chicago Porter was a peer of other notable American psychologists, including Carl Rogers, Thomas Gordon, Abraham Maslow and Will Schutz. His work at Ohio State University and later at the University of Chicago contributed to Rogers’ development of client-centered therapy. Porter’s primary contributions to the field of psychology were in the areas of non-directive approaches, relationship awareness theory and psychometric tests. His career included military, government, business and clinical settings.
In the mid-1930s, Porter was a student of Calvin S. Hall (who had just completed doctoral studies with Edward C. Tolman at University of California, Berkeley) and Robert W. Leeper (who was heavily influence by Kurt Lewin). He completed his masters work in 1938 at the University of Oregon, which documented that learning occurs in rats in mazes, even without the presence of rewards - and that the learning could be accessed later in the presence of rewards. In 1941, he completed his doctoral work at the Ohio State University where he was a student and assistant professor of psychology under Carl Rogers. His dissertation was the first of many studies to empirically document the effectiveness of the non-directive approach in counseling.
In the late 1930s Porter was employed as the merit system supervisor for the Oregon State Public Welfare Commission and during World War II served as a classification officer in the United States Navy. Following WWII, he returned to academia and his association with Carl Rogers by joining the faculty of the University of Chicago's Counseling Center. In the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, he was employed as the assistant director of human factors directorate, System Development Corporation (an affiliation of the RAND Corporation) and senior system scientist, Technomics, Inc. In the late 1960s, he maintained independent practice, several university connections and was an author for Atkins-Katcher Associates. In 1971, he founded Personal Strengths Publishing, serving as its president, and he continued various university connections.
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