Biography of Amos Tversky, mathematician and cognitive psychologist

Amos Tversky’s biography began in 1937, when he was born in Haifa, a city in Israel, he is known to have been a mathematician and cognitive psychologist who introduced a completely new term in the field of psychology: cognitive bias.

In addition, he is considered a pioneer of cognitivism, a field of psychology that studies the mental processes involved in knowledge.

  • Throughout his professional career.
  • Amos Tversky has maintained a deep friendship with Daniel Kahneman.
  • One of the psychologists highly recognized for winning a Nobel Prize.
  • In which Tversky has also collaborated.

Therefore, we will learn more about this psychologist by delving into his biography.

As mentioned above, Amos Tversky was born in Haifa, his father was a veterinarian and his mother was a social worker who later became a member of parliament of the Workers’ Party (Mapai). Tversky also had a 13-year-old sister. older than him.

During his teenage years, Tversky was not only interested in literary criticism, but also became the leader of Nahal, a youth movement that fought military service.

Later, Amos Tversky served as a paratrooper for the Israel Defense Forces, where he won an award for his bravery.

“It’s scary to think you might not know anything. Is it even scarier to think that the world is ruled by people who think they know what’s going on?. – We love Tversky-“

After these experiences, as early as 1961, Tversky graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, four years later he completed his doctorate. at the University of Michigan and worked as a professor and researcher in psychology and economics.

His last job was at Stanford University’s Advanced Center for Behavioral Science Studies, where he worked until 1996, when he died of melanoma at the age of 59.

The friendship between Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman did not go unnoticed; the two psychologists worked together several times.

The first publication they made was an article entitled “Belief in the Law of Small Numbers”, which had a great influence in the field of economics. Both have also made many subsequent publications, such as: “Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases?and ‘In the Psychology of Prediction’.

The work they did together was so important that, 6 years after Tversky’s death, when Daniel Kahneman received his Nobel Prize, he said 😕 With my friend and colleague Amos Tversky, who died in 1996?

His full speech can be read in the text Daniel Kahneman: Nobel Prize in Economics 2002.

Tversky’s contributions to the field of cognitive psychology were very important, so he has received several awards and distinctions in his research career.

Among them, he highlights the fact that he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Another award he received was from the APA (American Psychology Association) for his outstanding scientific contributions.

Finally, Amos Tversky has received honorary doctorates from several universities, including the University of Chicago, Gothenburg University and New York State University.

“Intelligence is not just the ability to reason; Is it also the ability to find relevant material in memory and focus attention when needed?. – We love Tversky-

As you can see, Amos Tversky was a pioneer of cognitive psychology, together with his friend Daniel Kahneman, he has made very interesting contributions to the region.

In addition, Tversky has created an intelligence test named after him, the important aspects of which are contained in the article Uncertainties of Dimensional Intelligence Analysis.

All publications in Amos Tversky’s biography are very interesting and can be understood by both those familiar with psychology problems and by the general public.

The concept of cognitive bias and the way he combined psychology and mathematics were undoubtedly surprising contributions.

If you want to know more about all the work Amos Tversky has done with his friend Daniel Kahneman and this friendship, we recommend reading The Undo Project: The Friendship that changed the way we think, written by Michael Lewis.

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