AP Psychology Important People

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

1856-1939; Field: psychoanalytic, personality; Contributions: id/ego/superego, reality and pleasure principles, ego ideal, defense mechanisms (expanded by Anna Freud), psychoanalysis, transference

Anna Freud

1895-1982; Field: psychoanalysis; Contributions: focused on child psychoanalysis, fully developed defense mechanisms, emphasized importance of the ego and its constant struggle

Carl Jung

1875-1961; Field: neo-Freudian, analytic psychology; Contributions: people had conscious and unconscious awareness; archetypes; collective unconscious; libido is all types of energy, not just sexual; Studies: dream studies/interpretation

Erik Erikson

1902-1994; Field: neo-Freudian, humanistic; Contributions: created an 8-stage theory to show how people evolve through the life span. Each stage is marked by a psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?"

Lawrence Köhlberg

1927-1987; Field: cognition, moral development; Contributions: created a theory of moral development that has 3 levels; focuses on moral reasoning rather than overt behavior

Carol Gilligan

1936-pres; Field: cognition; Contributions: maintained that Köhlberg's work was developed by only observing boys and overlooked potential differences between the habitual moral judgments of boys and girls; girls focus more on relationships than laws and principles

William James

1842-1910; Field: functionalism; Contributions: studied how humans use perception to function in our environment; Studies: Pragmatism, The Meaning of Truth

William Wundt

1832-1920; Field: structuralism, voluntarism; Contributions: introspection, basic units of experience; Studies: 1st psychological laboratory in world at University of Leipzig

BF Skinner

1904-1990; Field: behavioral; Contributions: created techniques to manipulate the consequences of an organism's behavior in order to observe the effects of subsequent behavior; Studies: Skinner box

John B Watson

1878-1958; Field: behaviorism; Contributions: generalization-inductive reasoning, emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; Studies: Little Albert

Jean Piaget

1896-1980; Field: cognition; Contributions: created a 4-stage theory of cognitive development, said that two basic processes work in tandem to achieve cognitive growth (assimilation and accommodation)

Harry Harlow

1905-1981; Field: development; Contributions: realized that touch is preferred in development; Studies: Rhesus monkeys, studied attachment of infant monkeys (wire mothers v. cloth mothers)

Carl Rogers

1902-1987; Field: humanistic; Contributions: founded person-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard, fully functioning person

Abraham Maslow

1908-1970; Field: humanism; Contributions: hierarchy of needs-needs at a lower level dominate an individual's motivation as long as they are unsatisfied, self-actualization, transcendence

Karen Horney

1885-1952; Field: neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; Contributions: criticized Freud, stated that personality is molded by current fears and impulses, rather than being determined solely by childhood experiences and instincts, neurotic trends

Alfred Adler

1870-1937; Field: neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; Contributions: basic mistakes, style of life, inferiority/superiority complexes, childhood influences personality formation; Studies: Birth Order

Gordon Allport

1897-1967; Field: trait theory of personality; Contributions: list of 11,000 traits, 3 levels of traits-cardinal, central, and secondary

Hermann Rorschach

1884-1922; Field: personality, psychoanalysis; Contributions: developed one of the first projective tests, the Inkblot test which consists of 10 standardized inkblots where the subject tells a story, the observer then derives aspects of the personality from the subject's commentary

Solomon Asch

1907-1996; Field: social psychology; Contributions: studied conformity, found that individuals would conform even if they knew it was wrong; Studies: conformity, opinions and social pressures

Stanley Schachter

1922-present; Field: emotion; Contributions: stated that in order to experience emotions a person must be physically aroused and know the emotion before you experience it

Stanley Milgram

1933-1984; Field: social psychology; Contributions: wanted to see how the German soldiers in WWII fell to obedience, wanted to see how far individuals would go to be obedient; Studies: Shock Study

Philip Zimbardo

1933-present; Field: social psychology; Contributions: proved that peoples behavior depends to a large extent on the roles they are asked to play; Studies: Stanford Prison Study-studied power of social roles to influence people's behavior

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

1926-2004; Field: development; Contributions: 5 stages the terminally ill go through when facing death (1. death, 2. anger/resentment, 3. bargaining with God, 4. depression, 5. acceptance)

Elizabeth Loftus

1944-present; Field: memory; Contributions: expert in eyewitness testimony (false memories or misinformation effect); Studies: Reconstruction of Auto. Destruction, Jane Doe Case (repressed memories of Nicole Taus' sex abuse)

Robert Sternberg

1949-present; Field: intelligence; Contributions: devised the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (academic problem-solving, practical, and creative)

Albert Bandura

1925-present; Field: sociocultural; Contributions: pioneer in observational learning, stated that people profit from the mistakes/successes of others; Studies: Bobo Dolls-adults demonstrated 'appropriate' play with dolls, children mimicked play

Raymond Cattell

1905-1998; Field: intelligence; Contributions: fluid & crystal intelligence; 3 domains of personality sphere (personality, ability, & motivation), 16 Personality Factors (personality test)

Aaron Beck

1921-present; Field: cognitive; Contributions: father of Cognitive Therapy, created Beck Scales-depression inventory, hopelessness scale, suicidal ideation, anxiety inventory, and youth inventories

Noam Chomsky

1928-present; Field: language; Contributions: disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated there is an infinite # of sentences in a language, humans have an inborn native ability to develop language

Edward Thorndike

1874-1949; Field: behaviorism; Contributions: Law of Effect-relationship between behavior and consequence; Studies: Law of Effect with cats

HJ Eysenck

1916-1997; Field: personality; Contributions: asserted that personality is largely determined by genes, used introversion/extroversion

Mary Ainsworth

1913-1999; Field: development; Contributions: compared effects of maternal separation, devised patterns of attachment; Studies: The Strange Situation-observation of parent/child attachment

Kenneth Clark

1914-2005; Field: social psychology; Contributions: research evidence of internalized racism caused by stigmatization; Studies: Doll experiments-black children chose white dolls

Lev Vygotsky

1896-1934; Field: child development; Contributions: investigated how culture & interpersonal communication guide development, zone of proximal development; play research

Martin Seligman

1942-present; Field: learning; Contributions: Positive Psychology, learned helplessness; Studies: Dogs demonstrating learned helplessness

Howard Gardner

1943-present; Field: intelligence; Contributions: devised the theory of multiple intelligences (logical-mathematic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, linguistic, musical, interpersonal, naturalistic)

Kurt Lewin

1890-1947; Field: social psychology; Contributions: German refugee who escaped Nazis, proved the democratic style of leadership is the most productive; Studies: Leadership syles-studied effects of 3 leadership styles on children completing activities

Ivan Pavlov

1891-1951; Field: Gastroenterology; Contributions: developed foundation for classical conditioning, discovered that a UCS naturally elicits a reflexive behavior; Studies: dog salivation

Hermann Ebbinghaus

1850-1909; Field: memory; Contributions: 1st to conduct studies on forgetting: first, a rapid loss followed by a gradual declining rate of loss; Studies: memory-series of meaningless syllables/words

Benjamin Whorf

1897-1941; Field: language; Contributions: his hypothesis is that language determines the way we think

Robert Rosenthal

1933-present; Field: social psychology; Contributions: focus on nonverbal communication, self-fulfilling prophecies; Studies: Pygmalion Effect-effect of teacher's expectations on students

Judith Langlois

dates ?; Field: developmental; Contributions: social development & processing, effects of appearance on behavior, origin of social stereotypes, sex/love/intimacy, facial expression

David Rosenhan

dates?; Field: social psychology; Contributions: proved that once you are diagnosed with a disorder, your care would not be very good in a mental health setting; Studies: Hospital experiment-checked into hospital to check diagnosis

Daniel Goleman

1946-present; Field: intelligence; Contributions: emotional intelligence

Charles Spearman

1863-1945; Field: intelligence; Contributions: found that specific mental talents were highly correlated, concluded that all cognitive abilities showed a common core which he labeled 'g' (general ability)

Albert Ellis

1913-2007; Field: cognitive-behavioral; Contributions: Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), focuses on altering client's patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behavior and emotions

Harry Stack Sullivan

1892-1949; Field: psychoanalysis; Contributions: groundwork for enmeshed relationships, developed the Self-System-a configuration of personality traits

Robert Yerkes

187601956; Field: intelligence, comparative; Contributions: social behavior of gorillas/chimps, Yerkes-Dodson law-level of arousal as related to performance

Alfred Binet

1857-1911; Field: testing; Contributions: general IQ tests, designed test to identify slow learners in need of remediation-not applicable in the U.S. because too culture-bound (French)

Little Albert

ca. 1920; Field: behaviorism; Contributions: subject in John Watson's experiment, proved classical conditioning principles: Studies: Little Albert-generalization of fear

Karl Wernicke

1848-1905; Field: perception; Contributions: area of left temporal lobe involved language understanding; Studies: person damaged in this area uses correct words but they do not make sense

Ernst Weber

1795-1878; Field: perception; Contributions: just-noticeable-difference (JND) that eventually becomes Weber's law; Studies: 1st study on JND

Gustav Fechner

1801-1887; Field: perception; Contributions: stated that the magnitude of a sensory experience is proportionate to the # of JND's that the stimulus causing the experiences above the absolute threshold

Mary Cover-Jones

1896-1987; Field: learning; Contributions: systematic desensitization, maintained that fear could be unlearned

Robert Zajonc

1923-present; Field: motivation; Contributions: believes that we invent explanations to label feelings

Henry Murray

1893-1988; Field: intelligence, testing; Contributions: devised the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) with Christina Morgan, stated that the need to achieve varied in strength in different people and influenced their tendency to approach and evaluate their own performances

Paul Ekman

1934-present; Field: emotion; Contributions: found that facial expressions are universal

Clark Hull

1884-1952; Field: motivation; Contributions: maintains that the goal of all motivated behavior is the reduction or alleviation of a drive state, mechanism through which reinforcement operates

David McClelland

1917-1998; Field: intelligence, testing; Contributions: devised a way to measure Murray's theory (TAT), developed scoring system for TAT's use in assessing achievement motivation, not the TAT

Francis Galton

1822-1911; Field: differential psychology AKA "London School" of Experimental Psychology; Contributions: behavioral genetics, maintains that personality & ability depend almost entirely on genetic inheritance; Studies: Twin Studies-compare identical & fraternal twins, Hereditary Genius-used bell curve for normal distribution, & "Law of Errors"-differences in intellectual ability

Charles Darwin

1809-1882; Field: geology, biology; Contributions: transmutation of species, natural selection, evolution by common descent; Studies: "The Origin of Species" catalogs his voyage on the Beagle

Lewis Terman

1877-1956; Field: testing; Contributions: revised Binet's IQ test and established norms for American children

Phineas Gage

1823-1860; Field: neurobiology; Contributions: 1st person to have a frontal lobotomy (by accident), his accident gave information on the brain and which parts are involved with emotional reasoning

William Sheldon

1898-1977; Field: personality; Contributions: theory that linked personality to physique on the grounds that both are governed by genetic endowment: endomorphic (large), mesomorphic (average), and ectomorphic (skinny)

David Weschler

1896-1981; Field: testing; Contributions: established an intelligence test especially for adults (WAIS)

Walter B. Cannon

1871-1945; Field: motivation; Contributions: believed that gastric activity as in empty stomach, was the sole basis for hunger; Studies: inserted balloons in stomachs