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William Kaye Estes | |
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Born | June 17, 1919 Minneapolis, Minnesota, US |
Died | August 17, 2011 | (aged 92)
Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
Known for | Stimulus sampling theory, Mathematical Psychology |
Scientific career | |
Fields | psychology Mathematical Psychology Cognitive Psychology |
Thesis | An Experimental Study of Punishment (1943) |
Doctoral advisor | B. F. Skinner |
William Kaye Estes (June 17, 1919 – August 17, 2011) was an American psychologist. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Estes as the 77th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.[1] In order to develop a statistical explanation for the learning phenomena, William Kaye Estes developed the Stimulus Sampling Theory in 1950 which suggested that a stimulus-response association is learned on a single trial; however, the learning process is continuous and consists of the accumulation of distinct stimulus-response pairings.