exist Famous psychologists Very important that have stood out above the others. They are the founders of the great schools (psychoanalysis, humanism, behaviorism, cognitive psychology) and have made great contributions to human science and knowledge.
They are classics that any student or lover of psychology will have read several times, because they are the most recognized in the field of human behavior.
I have made a list that is based on the popularity of each psychologist in the general culture, but also on the importance of their contributions to psychology. The order can vary, each of them have been important.
I mentioned very briefly the contributions of each of them, although if you want to know them better, I have left in them a link to Wikipedia.
I would like to know which is the one that has influenced you the most, or the one you have read the most. Have I missed any? You can comment at the end of the article. I'm interested!
You may also like These phrases of psychology .
List with the 51 most famous and important psychologists
- Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
He is known above all for formulating the law of the conditional reflex that for an error in the translation of his work to the English language was called conditioned reflex, which developed between 1890 and 1900.
- Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
He was an Austrian neurologist doctor of Jewish origin, father of the psychoanalysis And one of the greatest intellectual figures of the twentieth century.
- Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990)
He led a pioneering work in experimental psychology and defended Behaviorism , Which considers behavior as a function of environmental reinforcement stories.
- William James (1842-1910)
He was an American philosopher with a long and brilliant career at Harvard University, where he was professor of psychology, and was founder of functional psychology.
- Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Creator of genetic epistemology, famous for his contributions to the study of childhood with Cognitive development And for his constructivist theory of the development of intelligence.
- Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Famous for having developed the first laboratory of experimental psychology (in Leipzig)
- Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
Together with Abraham Maslow, he would found the Humanist approach In psychology.
- Albert Bandura (1925-Act.)
Recognized for his work on the theory of social learning and its evolution toSociocognitivism, as well as for having postulated the category of self-efficacy.
- Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
Known as one of the founders and leading exponents of humanistic psychology, he stands out by introducing the Pyramid of needs .
- Erich Fromm (1900-1980)
He was one of the main renovators of psychoanalytic theory and practice in the mid-twentieth century.
- Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
He was interested in the research of group psychology and interpersonal relationships.
- Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
Its basic concepts are those of character, inferiority complex and conflict between the real situation of the individual and his aspirations.
- Albert Ellis (1913-2007)
He was a cognitive-American psychotherapist who since 1955 developed Rational behavioral emotional therapy (TREC) .
- John Watson (1878-1958)
He was one of the most important American psychologists of the 20th century, known for having founded the Behavioral Psychology School.
- Gordon Allport (1897-1967)
He became the theorist of character traits, focused on describing how traits differ in each person.
- Solomon Asch (1907-1996)
He became famous in the 1950s because of the experiments he conducted on conformity, where it was shown that social pressure on people can voluntarily induce them to error.
- Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
He was a German psychoanalyst of German origin, noted for his contributions in developmental psychology.
- Viktor Frankl (1905-1997)
He was an Austrian neuropsychiatrist and founder of Logotherapy. It survived from 1942 to 1945 in several Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau.
- Paul Ekman (1934-Act.)
Pioneer in the study of the emotions and the facial expression of the same ones. He has been considered one of the hundred most outstanding psychologists of the twentieth century.
- Raymond Cattell (1905-1998)
Theorized on the intelligence and the personality, proposing the existence of a fluid intelligence and a crystallized intelligence.
- Hans Eysenck (1916-1997)
Thanks to his research we can affirm that current cognitive behavioral therapies have a demonstrable empirical basis.
- Aaron Beck (1921 Act)
He developed the system of psychotherapy called Cognitive Therapy (also known as "Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy"or"CBT" ).
- Alfred Binet (1857-1911)
He is known for his essential contribution to psychometry and Differential psychology As a designer of the school performance prediction test.
- Daniel Kahneman
He was awarded the"Nobel Prize"for Economics for having integrated aspects of psychological research in economic science, especially in regard to human judgment and decision making under uncertainty.
- Francis Galton (1822-1911)
He contributed to different areas of science such as psychology, biology, eugenics, technology, geography, statistics or meteorology. He applied his principles to many fields, mainly to the study of human beings and individual differences.
- Jerome Bruner (1915-Act.)
His studies in the Field of evolutionary psychology And social lapsychology were focused on generating changes in the teaching that allowed to overcome the reductionist, mechanistic models of rote learning centered on the figure of the teacher, and that impeded the development of the intellectual potentialities of the students.
- Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
His main contributions were trial / error learning and the law of effect. His studies on animal behavior allowed him to develop the theory of connectionism.
- Lev Vygotski (1896-1934)
One of the most prominent theorists of developmental psychology, founder of historical-cultural psychology and clear forerunner of Neuropsychology Soviet, of which would be maximum exponent the Russian doctor Alexander Luria.
- Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
Key figure in the initial stage of psychoanalysis; Later founder of the school of analytical psychology, also called complex psychology and deep psychology.
- Virginia Satir (1916-1988)
She was a noted author and social worker, American psychotherapist, known especially for her family therapy approach.
- Milton H. Erickson (1901-1980)
He was an American hypnotherapist and doctor, innovator and pioneer in changing the techniques of hypnotism applied to lapsicoterapia.
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934-Act.)
He has excelled by his work on happiness, creativity, subjective well-being and fun, but he is most famous for his creation of the idea of flow and for the work he has done for a long time on that subject.
- Martin Selingman (1942 Act)
He is best known for his experiments on learned helplessness and his relationship to depression. In recent years he is also known for his work and influence in the field of Positive psychology .
- Harry Harlow (1905-1981)
Known for his experiments with rhesus monkeys on maternal separation, dependency needs and social isolation.
- Fritz Perls (1893-1970)
He was the creator, along with his wife, Laura Posner, of Gestalt Therapy.
- Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
He used repetition as a measure for memory and, using himself as an experimental subject and poetry and series of syllables without consonant-vowel-consonant sense as an instrument, was devoted to his study.
- Hermann Rorschach (1844-1922)
Known especially for the elaboration of the test that bears his name, the Rorschach Test.
- Anna Freud (1895-1982)
Daughter of Sigmund Freud, she focused her research on child psychology.
- Steven Pinker (1954 Act)
He is known for his energetic and far-reaching advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind.
- Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956)
Although he studied entomology in the university, his most important contribution to humanity - due to which he gained renown - was his study on the sexual behavior of men and women.
- Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916)
Pioneer of applied psychology, he laid the foundations of industrial psychology.
- Robert Rosenthal (1933 Act)
Known for his research into self-fulfilling prophecy and the effect on students of teachers' expectations.
- Robert Cialdini (1945-Act.)
He is known internationally for being one of the leading scholars in the social psychology of persuasion.
- Leon Festinger (1919-1989)
He presented his theory of cognitive dissonance, which revolutionized the field of social psychology, and has had multiple applications in areas such as motivation, group dynamics, the study of changing attitudes and decision making.
- Jacques Lacan (1901-1981)
Known for the theoretical contributions he made to psychoanalysis based on Freud's analytical experience and reading, incorporating elements of structuralism, structural linguistics, mathematics and philosophy.
- John Dewey (1859-1952)
He was"the most important American philosopher of the first half of the twentieth century,"and was, along with Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, one of the founders of the philosophy of pragmatism.
- Rollo May (1909-1994)
Pioneer of existential psychology and psychotherapy in America. It showed an acute understanding of the tragic dimensions of human existence.
- Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)
Proposed Ecological theory on development And the change of behavior in the individual through his theory of ambient systems that influence the subject and his change of development.
- Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)
He led the experiments of the small world (the source of the concept of the six degrees of separation) and the Milgram Experiment on Obedience to Authority.
- Robert Hare (1934-Act.)
He developed the PCL (Psychopathy CheckList) and the Psychopathy CheckList Revised, used to diagnose cases of psychopathy and useful in predicting possible violent behaviors.
-Philip Zimbardo (1933-Act.)
His work in social psychology, especially the Stanford prison experiment, is well-known both in academia and abroad.
- Timothy Leary (1920-1996)
He was a famous proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of using LSD.
- Daniel Goleman (1946 Act)
Acquired worldwide fame from the publication of his book Emotional Intelligence (in Spanish Emotional intelligence ) in 1995.
- Gustav Fechner (1801-1887)
Known for formulating, in 1860, an equation for quantifying the relationship between a physical stimulus and the associated sensation. He had a very animistic concept of the world, thinking that each matter was endowed with a spirit.
- Robert Sternberg (1949 Act)
Among his principal investigations are those related to intelligence, creativity, love, hate, and wisdom. He has devoted much of his life to the study of intelligence, seeks to achieve a broader notion and encompasses more areas of this concept. Here you can read An interview we did.
And what has influenced you the most? Who do you think is most influential? Do you tell me any more? I am interested in your opinion!