The Psychology of the Inventor: A Study of the Patentee

The profound alteration in our physical environment, especially during the last hundred years, has been affected almost entirely by our inventors. It is also generally acknowledged that the entire progress of the human race from primitive tissue to its present level has been made possible by the inventor of physical devices. As an innovator and leader, the inventor performs one of the most important functions in society, for he holds the key to further progress. It is more than astonishing to find that practically no systematic and adequate psychological study of the inventor has been made to date, although the inventor has been of cardinal importance to the human race. The economists, sociologists, psychologists and anthropologists frequently refer to the inventor and they generally recognize his inertance to the progress of civilization and culture. However, the behavior and the mental processes of the inventor have only been cursorily touched upon by the psychologists and the problem of the inventor has been dismissed with a few casual remarks and generalizations, having few facts to support them.The object of the present study is to make a pioneer contribution to the hitherto neglected subject of the psychology of the inventor. A true understanding of invention and the inventor can only come from such study. A thorough knowledge of the psychological background of the inventor will enable society to encourage invention in a truly scientific manner and make it possible to control the future progress of our civilization. It will enable us to select latent inventors and to train them, thus giving society its most powerful tool for social control.The results given here represent the culmination of about three years work which was begun in 1327. The extent and scope of this investigation have been necessarily limited by my personal means and resources but it is hoped that this study will stimulate further research along the lines suggested here.