Key Psychologists and Theories in Psychology: Conformity, Development, and Perspectives

Solomon Asch

Conducted the famous line experiment to study conformity.

Albert Bandura

Conducted the Bobo Doll experiment and developed social learning theory.

Mary Whiton Calkins

First female president of the APA, denied a PhD by Harvard.

Charles Darwin

Whose theory of evolution influenced the evolutionary perspective in psychology.

Dorothea Dix

Activist who pushed for the creation of mental asylums and humane treatment of the mentally ill.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Created the forgetting curve to show how quickly we forget information over time.

G. Stanley Hall

Established the first psychology lab in the U.S. and founded the APA.

Paul Ekman

Identified six universal facial expressions.

Erik Erikson

Created the 8 stages of psychosocial development.

Gustav Fechner

Founded psychophysics and helped establish experimental psychology.

Sigmund Freud

Considered the father of psychoanalysis and believed the unconscious mind influences behavior.

Harry Harlow

Studied attachment using infant monkeys and artificial mothers.

William James

Wrote Principles of Psychology and helped found functionalism.

Lawrence Kohlberg

Developed the 3 stages of moral development.

John Locke

Believed the mind was a blank slate and all knowledge comes from experience.

Elizabeth Loftus

Studied the misinformation effect and false memories.

Abraham Maslow

Developed the hierarchy of needs and believed in self-actualization.

Stanley Milgram

Conducted an obedience experiment involving fake electric shocks.

Ivan Pavlov

Discovered classical conditioning through his experiments with dogs.

Jean Piaget

Developed a theory of cognitive development in children involving four stages.

Carl Rogers

Developed client-centered therapy.

B.F. Skinner

Associated with operant conditioning and created the 'Skinner Box'.

Edward Titchener

Structuralist psychologist who used introspection and studied under Wundt.

Margaret Floy Washburn

First woman to earn a PhD in psychology and studied animal behavior.

Max Wertheimer

Gestalt psychologist who argued that the mind perceives wholes, not just parts.

Wilhelm Wundt

Established the first psychology lab and is considered the father of modern psychology.

Philip Zimbardo

Led the Stanford Prison Experiment to study the effects of role-playing on behavior.

Behavioral Perspective

Emphasizes learning through rewards, punishments, and observation.

Cognitive Perspective

Focuses on mental processes like memory, thinking, and problem-solving.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Emphasizes the influence of unconscious drives and childhood experiences.

Biological / Neuroscience Perspective

Focuses on the brain, genetics, and chemical processes in behavior.

Humanistic Perspective

Focuses on personal growth, free will, and self-actualization.

Evolutionary Perspective

Focuses on how behaviors have evolved to ensure survival.

Sociocultural Perspective

Considers how behavior and thinking vary across cultures and situations.

Biopsychosocial Perspective

Blends biological, psychological, and social factors.

Structuralism

School of psychology focused on breaking down mental processes into basic components using introspection.

Functionalism

Emphasized the functions of consciousness and how it helps organisms adapt to their environment.

Psychoanalysis

Approach that emphasized unconscious motives and conflicts.

Behaviorism

School that focuses on observable behavior only, ignoring mental processes.

Humanism

School that emphasized the human capacity for growth and free will.

Gestalt Psychology

Psychological approach focused on how we perceive whole patterns instead of parts.