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Who's Who In Psychology List
This list is meant to be used as a quick-reference guide to names in psychology. Actually, it's meant to include something semi-intelligent on my homepage so it's not all strictly Mr. T vs X and so-and-so Ate My Balls links.
Below, the names are arranged alphabetically. Next, in parentheses, will be what field of psychology the individual contributed to, and/or which school of thought they introduced to the world. Any other significant contributions will be listed as well.
This list is by no means complete. I will add more names to it as I find the time or come across them.
Sorry I didn't put in a lot of colors and fonts. That would take forever.
This is the first compilation, and lists most of the "big" names. More to follow. This was posted on April 4, 2000.
Adler, Alfred (1870-1937). (Individual Psychology) A protegee of Freud. Proposed that humans are basically good in nature, and may merely become discouraged on the way to achieving life's goals. Interpretations of experiences are more important than experiences themselves.
Bandura, Albert (1925- ). (Social-Cognitive Theory) Humans have a vast potential that can be fashioned through direct and observed experiences, which are symbolized in the mind. We are goal directed, striving for specific results rather than a grand scheme. Stresses conscious thought over unconscious.
Erikson, Erik (1902-1975?) (Ego Psychology, Psychosocial Development) Proposed the eight stages of psychosocial development, where the individual must resolve an inner conflict at each stage of development before moving on to the next stage. Similar to Freud's idea of stage development, and has received the most acceptance.
Dollard, John (1900-1980). (Learning Theory, cognition) Worked with Neal Miller. People are neither good nor evil, but rather endowed with the ability to learn behavior, be it good or bad. Learning is causal, or based on experience. Conclusions may also be reached unconsciously.
Jung, Carl Gustav (1875-1961). (Analytical Psychology) A protegee of Freud, who built upon his ideas and gave us the concepts of the Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Also did extensive dream research.(My personal favorite.)
Freud, Anna. Daughter of Sigmund Freud, and a psychoanalyst in her own right.
Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939). (Psychoanalysis, Psychosexual development) The father of modern psychology. His concepts are somewhat outdated now, but were monumental in his time and paved the way for future research. ID, Ego, Superego, ring a bell? Oedipus/Electra complex. Also did dream research, but proposed that they were all sexual in nature.
Fromm, Eric. (Psychoanalytic Social Theory)
Horney, Karen. (Psychoanalytic Social Theory)
Kernberg, Otto (1928- ). (Object Relations Theory) Internalized object relationships.
Kohut, Heinz (1913-1981). (Object Relations Theory) Emphasized how the self evolves from a vague and indifferntiated image to a clear and precise sense of individual identity. Believe that all infants are narcissistic, and will either grow out of it or develop an ongoing grandiose self-image.
Klein, Melanie (1882-1960). (Object Relations Theory) Stresses the importance of early childhood (5-6 months) relations with the mother, and consistent patterns of interpersonal relationships. Human drives have objects as the goals, such as food or the sexual organs.
Mahler, Margaret (1897-1985). Continued Klein's work on Object Relations. The first three years of life involve a psychological birth of the person as an individual.
Mandase, Chloe. (Paradoxical Intervention, Family therapy) Encouraged the use of paradoxical intervention, such as a family assisting in a bulemic child's binging and purging, or a father helping his pyromaniac son start fires. Her methods had a strange way of working.
Maslow, Abraham. Proposed the idea of a Need Hierarchy, in which certain basic needs like food, shelter, and safety must be satisfied before one can wrestle with higher-order mental conflicts. Few people ever reach the final stage, Self-Actualization, in which there is a striving for spiritual wholeness and meaning.
Miller, Neal A. (1909- ). See Dollard, John above.
Pavlov. Spent a lot of time making dogs salivate with a bell and meat powder. No one knows why.
Skinner, B.F. (1904-1990). ([Radical/Scientific] Behaviorism) Deterministic. Didn't subscribe to unconscious/ambiguous motives. Behavior is not willfully constructed, but rather is lawfully determined and can be studied scientifically and predicted perfectly.
Sullivan, Henry Stack (1892-1949). (Interpersonal Theory) Proposed that personality is developed in a social context, and that without others, we have no personality. Similarities are more important than differences, because people are more like other people than anything else.