Wilhelm Wundt: German; Wundt conducted many of the first experiments into human behavior in trying to unravel the mysteries of the mind. His laboratory was wildly successful in churning out new psychologists to help in the expansion of this new field.
William James: Teacher; James is known for the theory of self, the James-Lange theory of emotion, pragmatic theory of truth, and the two-stage model of free will. His theory of self suggested that individuals divide themselves into two categories, Me and I. “Me” is divided into the material self, the social self, and the spiritual self, while the “I” James considered to be pure ego.
BF Skinner: American; Skinner is known for his focus on reliable, replicable experimental designs in the study of behavior. “Skinner box.” By manipulating either a lever or a disk in a way, an animal in the box (most often a rat or pigeon) could receive a reward.
Edward Thordike: Thorndike’s work focused on the development of the field of educational psychology — the study of how people learn in order to understand and develop better educational materials and methods for teaching. The most famous of these experimental methods was through using puzzle boxes.
Sigmund Freud: Austrian; As a part of his studies, he worked for six years in a physiology lab, studying the brains of humans and other mammals. Freud led an illustrious life in his role as the father of psychoanalytic theory.
Alfred Binet: French; He is the man partially responsible for the IQ test. Binet developed the first attempt to objectively measure intelligence in children, from ages 3 to 13. The purpose of this effort, called the Binet-Simon Scale, was to help in understanding the best way to educate all children.
Harry Harlow: American; He’s best known for his “monkey studies,” because he studied the behavior of monkeys in a laboratory environment while at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In order to thrive psychological and emotionally, the baby monkeys needed “contact comfort.”
Mary Calkins: Mary Whiton Calkins is best known for her studies and writings in self-psychology, a new theory building upon other schools of thought related to the study of the self. In 1905 she was elected president of the American Psychological Association and she established her own psychology lab in the U.S.
Ivan Pavlov: Russian; He developed the theory of classical conditioning to help explain behavior, demonstrating the external stimuli can have a direct influence in a behavioral response. He came to his theory through experimentation with dogs and examining their anticipatory salivation when presented with the possibility of food in conjunction with the ringing of a bell.