AP Psychology Theorists
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- Erik Erikson
- Theorist who proposed that as humans develop, they have psycho-social tasks that, if completed, lead to healthy development.
- Jonathan Haidt
- Theorist who proposed that moral thoughts were not necessarily logical, because they are prompted by moral feelings, which are the equivalent of gut feelings.
- Lawrence Kolberg
- Theorist who developed the concept that human morality develops in stages as cognitive development does.
- William James
- Late nineteenth century philosopher and psychologist; founded the Functionalist school of psychology.
- Herman von Helmholtz
- Theorist who both aided in the development of the trichromatic theory of color perception and Place theory of pitch perception.
- Rene Descartes
- Seventeenth century French Philosopher and Mathematician who believed that knowledge was innate; also theorized that the brain contained"animal souls" which flowed through tubes throughout the body and moved muscles, which became the precursory theory to the nervous system.
- Jean Piaget
- Developmental and cognitive psychologist who believed that humans develop through distinct stages; is famous for defining several stages of infant development.
- Wilhelm Wundt
- Founder of Leipzig University in Germany; Psychology's first real scientist.
- Francis Bacon
- Sixteenth century English Philosopher and proponent of scientific empiricism; mused over topics such as illusory correlations and selective memory.
- Albert Bandura
- Defined Observational Learning with his preschool Bobo doll demonstration.
- John B. Watson
- Radical proponent of behaviorism; conducted "Little Albert" experiment.
- Atkinson and Shiffrin
- Theorists who constructed the three part Modal Model of Memory.
- B. F. Skinner
- Theorist who defined Operant Conditioning with his Operant Chamber, or Skinner Box.
- George Sperling
- Experimenter who defined the capacities of sensory memory with his letter flashing experiment.
- Edward Bradford Titchener
- Student of Wilhelm Wundt; founder of Structuralist school of psychology.
- Ivan Pavlov
- Theorist who defined Classical conditioning with his dog-salivation experiment.
- Charles Darwin
- Theorist who coined the concept of "natural selection"; theorized that certain psychological traits had been "selected" by the environment because they enhanced our ancestor's (hominid and otherwise) survival.
- Harry Harlow
- Experimenter who demonstrated the two accepted forms of attachment in monkeys.
- Aristotle
- Student of Plato, founder of the scientific Lyceum Academy, and (arguably) the earliest known philosopher to promote empiricism, in contrast to his mentor Plato; believed that people were born with blank brains to be sculpted by experience.
- Socrates
- Believed that people are born with all knowledge and only relearn it during their lives; also believed that the mind/soul was separable from the body and immortal.
- Franz Gall
- Nineteenth century phrenologist; invented phrenology, or the study of the correlation between head-shape and behavior.
- Hermann Ebbinghaus
- Experimenter who discovered and defined several characteristics of short and long term memory in his Nonsense-Syllable experiments.
- John Locke
- Seventeenth century English Political philosopher, encouraged scientific empiricism; popularized the term "tabula rasa", which means "blank slate" in Latin, to describe the human mind upon birth.
- Edward L. Thorndike
- Defined the Law of Effect, which was validated by B. F. Skinner's experiments.