Background
Tryon was born in Butte, Montana on September 4, 1901.
Tryon was born in Butte, Montana on September 4, 1901.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the undergraduate school in 1924, and as a graduate student he earned his Doctor of Philosophy in 1928 with thesis titled Individual differences at successive stages of learning.
His series of experiments with laboratory rats showed that animals can be selectively bred for greater aptitude at certain intelligence tests, but that this selective breeding does not increase the general intelligence of the animals. He spent most of his life at the University of California Berkeley. After graduating from the school he spent two years as a National Research Council fellowship
During the War he served in Washington District of Columbia as the deputy chief of the planning staff for the Office of Strategic Services.
Aside from that short period, he was always in Berkeley. On September 27, 1967 he died in Berkeley, California.
In 1931, he became a faculty member of the college’s Department of Psychology, of which he was a member for 31 years.