Key Psychologists
Wilhelm Wundt (1870s - 1910s): "father of psychology," first to separate psychology from biology & philosophy
William James (1880s - 1900s): developed early theories on emotion, intelligence, religion; wrote first psych textbook
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1880s - 1900s): studied memory, developed the concept of a "forgetting curve"
Alfred Binet (1880s - 1900s): developer of intelligence testing
G. Stanley Hall (1880s - 1920): founder of the American Psychological Association
Sigmund Freud (1880s - 1930s): father of psychoanalysis, developer of theory of id, ego and superego
Edward Titchner (1890s - 1920s): developer of structuralism and introspection
Alfred Adler (1900s - 30s): developed the ideas of the "inferiority complex" and "individual psychology"
Edward L. Thorndike (1900s - 40s): early researcher on learning, developer of "puzzle boxes"
John B. Watson (1900s - 50s): first behaviorist, studied learning; ran the "Little Albert" experiment
Carl Jung (1900s - 50s): neo-Freudian who advanced Freud's theories, but de-emphasized sexual motives
Ivan Pavlov (1910s): discoverer of conditioned (or "Pavlovian") responses; studied salivating dogs
Hermann Rorschach (1910s - 20s): developer of "Rorschach inkblots;" psychoanalyst
Wolfgang Kohler (1910s - 1950s): developer of idea of overt and covert motivations for behavior
Lev Vygotsky (1920s - 30s): developed theories about how children learn through socio-cultural lens
Karen Horney (1920s - 40s): developed the 10 Neurotic Needs, opposed Freudian approach as sexist
Jean Piaget (1920s - 70s): researched psychosocial developmental stages in children
Anna Freud (1920s - 70s): first to apply psychoanalysis to children
Alfred Kinsey (1930s - 50s): first to scientifically study human sexual behaviors and norms
Erik Erikson (1930s - 60s): developmental psychologist, developed stages of psychosocial development
Abraham Maslow (1930s - 60s): developer of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; humanist
Raymond B. Cattell (1930s - 70s): researcher in personality, developed idea of fluid vs. crystal intelligence
Solomon Asch (1930s - 70s): social psychologist who focused on Gestalt psychology
Harry Harlow (1930s - 70s): experiments on social isolation using rhesus monkeys, "Pit of Despair" experiment
B.F. Skinner (1930s - 80s): developed ideas of "shaping" behavior through rewards & punishments
Carl Rogers (1930s - 80s): humanist; developed the person-centered approach to client therapy
Roger Sperry (1940 - 80s): studied brain and neurological structures, particularly split-brain patients
Mary Ainsworth (1950s - 80s): developed idea of "attachment theory"
Lawrence Kohlberg (1950s - 80s): researcher in field of moral psychology, creator of the "Hans Dilemma"
Albert Bandura (1950s - 2010s): developer of social learning theory, Bobo Doll experiment
Noam Chomsky (1950s - 2010s): developer of linguistic (language) theory
William Masters & Virginia Johnson (1960s - 70s): studied human sexual response, homosexuality, sexual dysfunction
Stanley Milgram (1960s - 80s): studied obedience to authority, "six degrees of separation" phenomena
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (1960s - 90s): developer of stages of grief; author of On Death and Dying
Philip Zimbardo (1960s - 2010s): studied the "Lucifer Effect;" conducted Stanford Prison experiment
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1960s - 2010s): developer of theories on happiness, cognitive flow, and creativity
Martin Seligman (1970s - 2010s): developed theories of learned helplessness, positive psychology
Robert Sternberg (1970s - 2010s): developer of triarchic theory of intelligence, theories on love
Howard Gardner (1970s - 2010s); developed theory of multiple intelligences and learning styles