He was the founder, along with his wife Carol H. Ammons, of Psychological Reports and Perceptual and Motor Skills, peer-reviewed academic journals.
He graduated from San Diego High School and then San Diego State College, majoring in psychology, political science, history and German.
He graduated in 1939 and went on to earn his teaching credentials from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1940.
He earned his master's degree from the University of Iowa in general psychology a year later and then went on to earn a Ph.D. in clinical and experimental psychology from the University of Iowa in 1946.
Ammons was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a nonprofit with the goal of helping scientists and scientific innovation flourish.