[1] He grew up in Philadelphia and was initially drawn to a diplomatic career.

He was working for the American Embassy in Berlin when he was attracted to psychology.

He took a faculty position at Harvard University and ultimately went to Princeton University, where he became the psychological laboratory director and later the department chair for psychology.

[2] While at Princeton he also directly influenced the ecological psychology approach of J. J. Gibson through his phenomenological ideas.

[5] He died from heart disease in Princeton, New Jersey on February 25, 1958.