{{Short description|Canadian psychologist (1887–1974)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Edward Alexander Bott | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1887|4|11}} | birth_place = Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|1974|1|28|1887|4|11}}<ref>{{cite news |title=E. A. Bott Dies at 86 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/421273603/?article=6fe5f154-61f0-4e22-8b74-0f7b9352c2a2&focus=0.5062645,0.7289176,0.62119746,0.96865404&xid=3355 |access-date=11 February 2025 |work=The Montreal Gazette |date=February 1, 1974 |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |page=39 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> | death_place = | fields = Psychology | workplaces = University of Toronto | alma_mater = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | religion = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | signature_alt = | footnotes = }} '''Edward Alexander Bott''' (April 11, 1887 – January 28, 1974) was a Canadian psychologist.
==Biography== Bott was born near Ingersoll, Ontario, in 1887.<ref name="Slater2005">{{cite book|last=Slater|first=John G.|title=Minerva's Aviary: Philosophy At Toronto, 1843-2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zAdhk7aI2fAC&pg=PA201|access-date=26 January 2013|date=22 August 2005|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-3870-8|pages=201–}}</ref>
In 1912, he joined the Faculty at the University of Toronto and took over the psychological laboratory which had been established by James Mark Baldwin in 1891.<ref>{{cite web |title=Psychology Department Museum |url=https://www.psych.utoronto.ca/our-department/psychology-department-museum#museum-accordion-1 |website=University of Toronto Department of Psychology |date=2 May 2019 |access-date=6 October 2020}}</ref> In 1925, he established the ''St. George's School for Child Study'' at the university which became the Institute of Child Study.[http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ICS/resources/Hist%20of%20ICS.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306092324/http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ICS/resources/Hist%20of%20ICS.pdf |date=2008-03-06 }}. In 1926, he established an independent Department of Psychology and remained its Head until he retired in 1960.<ref name="FreemanWellman1995">{{cite journal|url=http://moreno.ss.uci.edu/71.pdf|title=A Note on the Ancestral Toronto Home of Social Network Analysis|last=Freeman|first=Linton C.|author-link=Linton Freeman|author2=Barry Wellman|author2-link=Barry Wellman|year=1995|volume=18|issue=2|publisher=University of Irvine / International Network for Social Network Analysis|journal=Connections|pages=15|access-date=6 October 2020|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044214/http://moreno.ss.uci.edu/71.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He was one of the founders of organized psychology within Canada.<ref name="cwu.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.cwu.edu/~warren/calendar/cal0411.html|title=APA Historical Database: Selected Entries|publisher=Central Washington University|access-date=26 January 2013}}</ref> In 1938, prior to the onset of the Second World War a group of psychologists came together to agree how they could assist in the process of personnel selection for the military. This group included Roy B. Liddy, Ned Bott, John MacEachran, George Humphrey, and George A. Ferguson. From this group was established the Canadian Psychological Association in 1939. In 1940, Liddy became its inaugural President and in the following year, Bott became president.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conway |first1=John |title=A Chronicle of the Work of the CPA 1938-2010 |date=2012 |publisher=Canadian Psychological Association |location=Ottawa}}</ref>
He conducted research into the application of psychology to social issues.<ref name="CM cit">{{cite book |last1=Sloan |first1=E.P. |title=Citation for the Centennial Medal |date=1969 |publisher=Canadian Psychological Association}}</ref>
He was married to Helen McMurchie Bott who worked with him at the Institute of Child Study and was the father of noted network analyst and psychoanalyst Elizabeth Spillius.<ref name="Dagg2001">{{cite book|last=Dagg|first=Anne Innis|author-link=Anne Innis Dagg|title=The Feminine Gaze: A Canadian Compendium of Non-Fiction Women Authors and Their Books, 1836-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJwyLyaT9KYC&pg=PA45|access-date=25 January 2013|date=1 January 2001|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-88920-845-2|pages=45–}}</ref>
==Awards== * 1947 - Order of the British Empire for development of training procedures for Royal Air Force<ref name="FreemanWellman1995"/> * Fellow, Canadian Psychological Association * 1969 - Centennial Medal, Canadian Psychological Association<ref name="CM cit" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bott, Edward Alexander}} Category:1887 births Category:1974 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian psychologists Category:People from Ingersoll, Ontario Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Presidents of the Canadian Psychological Association