He received his AB degree from the undergraduate school in 1924, and as a graduate student he earned his Ph.D. in 1928 with a thesis titled Individual differences at successive stages of learning.
During the War he served in Washington DC as the deputy chief of the planning staff for the Office of Strategic Services.
[1] In the 1940s, influenced by the studies of his former professor Edward C. Tolman, Tryon decided to test the theory that intelligence is an inherited trait.
With each successive generation, the ability to navigate the maze increased in the brights and decreased in the dulls.
[3] Known as Tryon's Rat Experiment, this study was highly influential in the field of psychology for showing that specific behavioral traits may be hereditary.