Walter Dill Scott was a prominent psycologist who paved the way for the advertising agency as well as Industrial-Orginizational Psychology.
Scott was born May 1, 1869 in Cooksville, Illinois. He attended [Illinois State Normal University, Northwestern University, McCormick Theological Seminary and University of Leipzig in Germany, where he received his Ph. D.
By 1900 he was working as a professor of psychology at Northwestern, where he published The Theory of Advertising, The Psychology of Public Speaking, The Psychology of Advertising, and The Psychology of Advertising in Theory and Practice (among others). His first book, The Theory of Advertising, focused on suggestion and argument as means of influencing people. By Psychology of Advertising, he moved towards the improvement of human efficiency, using imitation, competition, loyalty and concentration as focal points.
By World War I, Scott, commissioned as Colonel, was a crucial component to the application of personnel procedures in the Army (including tests such as the Army Alpha)
Walter Dill Scott was elected president of the APA as well as Northwestern University. He received honorary degrees from Cornell College and University of Southern California, and was elected Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. He retired from teaching in 1939, and died in Evanston, IL in 1955.