Prominent Psychologist

 Paul Ekman

Date of Birth: 15.2.1934

Place of Birth: Washington, D.C.

University and Subject: New York University- Clinical Psychology

Field of Professional Study: Nonverbal Communication, Emotion

Important theories: Neurocultural theory of emotion

Explanation of theories: The theory posits the existence of universal facial expressions that provide a one-to-one mapping between the emotion a person feels and the facial expression the person displays. The facial expression displayed is the same for all people in all cultures, and therefore everyone expresses emotion in the same manner in nonsocial settings.

Solomon Asch

Date of Birth: 14.09.1907

Place of Birth: Warsaw, Poland

Date of Death: 20.02.1996

Place of Death: Haverford, Pennsylvania

University and subject:  College of the City of New York, Social psychology

Field of professional Study: Researches on group conformity, the effects of propaganda and indoctrination at Brooklyn College

Important theories: The effects of propaganda and indoctrination

Explanation of theories: That propaganda was most effective when fear and ignorance played a part in affecting the intended targets.

Roger Wolcott Sperry

Date of Birth: 20.8.1913

Place of Birth: Hartford, Connecticut

Date of Death: 17.4.1994

Place of Death: Pasadena, California

University and subject:  University of Chicago-zoology, Oberlin College- Neuropsychology and neurobiologist

Field of professional Study: Split-brain

Important theories: Chemoaffinity hypothesis

Explanation of theories: Chemoaffinity hypothesis states that neurons make connections with their targets based on interactions with specific molecular markers. The markers are generated during cellular differentiation and aid not only with synaptogenesis, but also act as guidance cues for their respective axon.

Gordon H. Bower

Date of Birth: 30.12.1932

Place of Birth: Scio, Ohio

University and subject: Yale University, Stanford Psychology Department, Experimental psychology

Field of professional Study: Mathematical models of memory

Profesional field of study: Cognitive level of memory and emotions

Important theories: Chunking

Explanation of theory: A person groups objects together to improve their memory. The huge benefits of mnemonic aids and how these aids are often converted into visual images, human associative memory and propositional learning, state dependent memory, connectionist modeling for categorical learning, and how we remember narratives.

Harry Harlow

Date of Birth:  31.10.1905

Place of Birth: Fairfield, lowa, U.S.

Date of Death:  6.12.1981

Place Of Death: Tucson, Arizona, U.S.

University and s

ubject: Stanford University

Field of Professional Study: Human Resources Research, Department of the Army, the Division of Anthropology and Psychology of the National Research Council

Important Theories: Cupboard theory

Explanation of Theories:  infants only had an attachment to their mothers because they were the source of food, thus associating the mother with positive feelings. Because of the baby rhesus monkeys’ attachment to the cloth mothers, this led researchers to conclude that attachment and the need for affection was deeper than the need for food.

Leon Festinger

Date of Birth: 08.05.1919

Place of Birth: New York City

Date of Death:11.02.1989

Place of Death: New York City

University and subject: City College of New York in 1939 where he gets a Bachelor of Science, in 1942 University of lowa- subject studied social psychology.

Important theories:Social Comparison Theory

Explanation of theories: People are comparing themselves to others in a close proximity such as co-workers, friends and family members. Festinger defined two types of comparisons upward comparisons and downward comparisons. An upward comparison involves a person comparing themselves to someone that is above them in some form e.g. someone who suffers from depression comparing themselves to someone who is generally happy.  Downward comparison is when an individual compares themselves to someone who is considered beneath them e.g. when a person who has worked hard to attain some knowledge now views those without that knowledge as inferior.

Carl Rogers

Date of Birth: 08.02.1902

Place of Birth:Oak Park, Illinois 

Date of Death: 04.02.1987

Place of Death: San Diego, California, U.S.

Universities and subjects studied: Wisconsin-Madison, Teachers Colleges, Columbia University where he had been study the clinical psychology, University of Ronchester. Subjects studied: Human personality and Human relationships, then he became a psychotherapist of client-centered therapy and student-centered therapy

Important theories: Person-centered theory. 

Explanation of theories: the self-concept is the most important feature of personality, and it includes all the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs people have about themselves. Rogers believed that people are aware of their self-concepts.

Albert Bandura

Date of Birth: 04.12:1925

Place of Birth: Mundare,  Alberta, Canada

Universities and subject studied: T 

Importnt theories: Bobo doll experiment

Explanation of theories: Studying children´s behavior after watching a model punching a bobo doll and getting rewarded, punished or suffering no consequences for it.  It shows that people not only learn by being rewarded or punished itself and they can learn from watching somebody being rewarded or punished, too. Bandura found that the children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act in physically aggressive ways than those who were not exposed to the aggressive model.

Kurt Lewin

Date of Birth: 09.09.1890

Place of Birth: Mogilno, County of Mogilno, Province of Posen

Date of Death: 12.02.1947

Place of Death: Newtonville, Massachusetts

Universities and subject studied: He  entered the University of Freiburg to study medicine, but transferred to University of Munich to study biology. He studied psychology

Important theories: Group Dynamics Theory

Explanation of theories:  Describe the way groups and individuals act and react to changing circumstances.  Based on the feelings and emotions members of a group form a common perception. The interactive psychological relationship in which members of a group form this common perception is actually "Group Dynamics".

Erik Erikson

Date of Birth: 15.06.1902

Place of Birth: Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Date of Death: 12.04.1994

Place of Death: Harwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Universities and subject studied: Development Psychology on Harvard Medical School, University of Vienna

Important theories: Theory on psychosocial development

Explanation of theories:  the development of ego identity. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others.