Famous psychologists (and their most known accomplishments) that you should know for the AP Psychology Exam.
4200367147 | Mary Ainsworth | Studied attachment in infants using the "strange situation" model. Label infants "secure", "insecure" (etc.) in attachment | ![]() | 0 |
4200367148 | Solomon Asch | Conducted famous conformity experiment that required subjects to match lines. | ![]() | 1 |
4200367149 | Albert Bandura | Famous for the Bobo Doll experiments on observational learning & influence in the Socio-Cognitive Perspective | ![]() | 2 |
4200367150 | Alfred Binet | Created first intelligence test for Parisian school children | ![]() | 3 |
4200367152 | Noam Chomsky | Created concept of "universal grammar" | ![]() | 4 |
4200367153 | Hermann Ebbinghaus | Memorized nonsense syllables in early study on human memory | ![]() | 5 |
4200367154 | Erik Erikson | Known for his 8-stage theory of Psychosocial Development | ![]() | 6 |
4200367155 | Sigmund Freud | Developed psychoanalysis; considered to be "father of modern psychiatry" | ![]() | 7 |
4200367158 | Harry Harlow | Studied attachment in monkeys with artificial mothers | ![]() | 8 |
4200367159 | William James | created Functionalist school of thought; early American psychology teacher/philosopher | ![]() | 9 |
4200367162 | Lawrence Kohlberg | Famous for his theory of moral development in children; made use of moral dilemmas in assessment | ![]() | 10 |
4200367163 | Elizabeth Loftus | Her research on memory construction and the misinformation effect created doubts about the accuracy of eye-witness testimony | ![]() | 11 |
4200367164 | Abraham Maslow | Humanistic psychologist known for his "Hierarchy of Needs" and the concept of "self-actualization" | ![]() | 12 |
4200367165 | Stanley Milgram | Conducted "shocking" (Ha!) experiments on obedience | ![]() | 13 |
4200367166 | Ivan Pavlov | Described process of classical conditioning after famous experiments with dogs | ![]() | 14 |
4200367167 | Jean Piaget | Known for his theory of cognitive development in children | ![]() | 15 |
4200367168 | Carl Rogers | Developed "client-centered" therapy | ![]() | 16 |
4200367169 | Stanley Schachter | Developed "Two-Factor" theory of emotion; experiments on spillover effect | ![]() | 17 |
4200367170 | B.F. Skinner | Described process of operant conditioning | ![]() | 18 |
4200367171 | Edward Thorndike | Famous for "law of effect" and research on cats in "puzzle boxes" | ![]() | 19 |
4200367172 | John Watson | Early behaviorist; famous for the "Little Albert" experiments on fear conditioning | ![]() | 20 |
4200367173 | Benjamin Lee Whorf | Famous for describing concept of "liguistic determinism" | ![]() | 21 |
4200367174 | William Wundt | Conducted first psychology experiments in first psych laboratory | ![]() | 22 |
4200367175 | Philip Zimbardo | Conducted Stanford Prison experiment | ![]() | 23 |
4200367176 | Hans Selye | Described General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) | ![]() | 24 |
4200367177 | Karen Horney | Neo-Freudian; offered feminist critique of Freud's theory | ![]() | 25 |
4200367180 | Alfred Adler | Neo-Freudian; introduced concept of "inferiority complex" and stressed the importance of birth order | ![]() | 26 |
4200367182 | Aaron Beck | Developed cognitive-behavior therapy, created a "depression inventory" test | ![]() | 27 |
4200367184 | Phineas Gage | his survival of a horrible industrial accident taught us about the role of the frontal lobes (okay, he's not really a psychologist...) | ![]() | 28 |
4200367187 | Mary Whiton Calkins | first female president of the APA (1905); a student of William James; denied the PhD she earned from Harvard because of her sex (later, posthumously, it was granted to her) | ![]() | 29 |
4200367188 | Charles Darwin | his idea, that the genetic composition of a species can be altered through natural selection, has had a lasting impact on psychology through the evolutionary perspective | ![]() | 30 |
4200367192 | Paul Broca | the part of the brain responsible for coordinating muscles involved in speech was named for him, because he first identified it | ![]() | 31 |
4200367193 | Carl Wernicke | an area of the brain (in the left temporal lobe) involved in language comprehension and expression was named for him because he discovered it | ![]() | 32 |
4200367194 | Michael Gazzaniga | Conducted the "HE-ART" experiments with split brain patients | ![]() | 33 |
4200367198 | Ernst Weber | best known for "________'s Law" (last name), the notion that the JND magnitude is proportional to the stimulus magnitude | ![]() | 34 |
4200367200 | Robert Rescorla | researched classical conditioning; found subjects learn the predictability of an event through trials (cognitive element) | ![]() | 35 |
4200367201 | Edward Tolman | researched rats' use of "cognitive maps" | ![]() | 36 |
4200367202 | Wolfgang Kohler | considered to be the founder of Gestalt Psychology | ![]() | 37 |
4200367204 | Alfred Kinsey | his research described human sexual behavior and was controversial (for its methodology & findings) | ![]() | 38 |
4200367206 | Lev Vygotsky | founder of "Social Development Theory" (note: not "social learning theory" OR "psychosocial" development...); emphasizes importace of More Knowledge Others (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development | ![]() | 39 |
4200367208 | Carl Jung | neo-Freudian who created concept of "collective unconscious" and wrote books on dream interpretation | ![]() | 40 |
4200367211 | Howard Gardner | best known for his theory of "multiple intelligences" | ![]() | 41 |
4200367212 | Charles Spearman | creator of "g-factor", or general intelligence, concept | ![]() | 42 |
4200367213 | Robert Sternberg | creator of "successful intelligence" theory (3 types) | ![]() | 43 |
4200367214 | Lewis Terman | advocate of intelligence testing in US; developed Standford-Binet test and oversaw army's use of intelligence testing during WWI | ![]() | 44 |
4200367215 | David Weschler | Developer of WAIS and WISC intelligence tests | ![]() | 45 |
4200367219 | Paul Ekman | Interested in the universality of facial expressions: facial expressions carry same meaning regardless of culture, context, or language. Use of microexpressions to detect lying. | ![]() | 46 |
4200367220 | William Masters & Virginia Johnson | Used direct observation and experimentation to study sexual response cycle (4 stages) | ![]() | 47 |
4200367222 | Raymond Cattell | Intelligence: fluid & crystal intelligence; personality testing: 16 Personality Factors (16PF personality test) | ![]() | 48 |
4200367223 | Edward Bradford Titchener | Student of Wundt and founder of structuralism. Used introspection to search for the mind's structural elements. | ![]() | 49 |