William James
William James is one of the widely read philosophers globally, and his significant contribution in the field of psychology is related to his theory on pragmatism. Based on this theory, the ideas’ value is entirely dependent upon its usefulness within the practical world rather than the absolute truth. Further, he asserted that the truth is legitimate if a particular statement is in line with the theory and at the same time, it must cohesively fit together for it to be considered as verifiable.
Charles Darwin
Darwin is widely known for his contribution to survival for the fittest theory which became the greatest contribution to the field of psychology. Based on him, the strongest species would survive, but the inferior ones would disappear from the face of the earth. He also developed the natural selection theory that claims that certain traits in the plants, animals and man are favorable to their survival and are the one which often wins the reproductive game. This contribution added an important subject to psychology that has continued to influence the modern day psychologists.
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Wilhelm Wundt
He is considered the father of the experimental psychology based on his first experiment he carried out for the first time in history. He successfully separated psychology from biology and philosophy which made psychology a distinct field. He wrote the first psychology book “Principles of Physiological Psychology, 1873-4,” that further added in-depth information critical information to the field of psychology. He also established the first ever experimental psychology’s laboratory which became one of the most important inventions for other psychology experiments. Further, he employed the scientific method in studying both perception and sensation. Lastly, he successfully illustrated that introspection might be used to study the mental state in a replicable laboratory experiment.
Sigmund Freud
He became the first person to ever use the term psychoanalysis in the year 1896 making his theory to blossom. Currently, psychoanalysis theory has been extensively used throughout the world where other psychologists have applied it in understanding human consciousness and behaviour. He also played a critical role in making the following principal terms: conscious and unconscious. The two terms are imperative in understanding how the human brain functions. It was accomplished through the theory of psychological reality: superego, id and ego that significantly impacted the field of psychology. Therefore, Sigmund Freud’s contribution to psychology is so great that almost every student must learn about it in the field of psychology showing how important it has to turn out to be.
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov’s contribution to the field of psychology is through his research on the physiology of digestion leading to the development of what became the first ever experimental model of learning, classical conditioning. Classical learning experiment became a defining moment for Pavlov as he conditions the dogs to act in a particular way. It set a way to study human behaviour and how to prevent certain human behaviours that are harmful such as nicotine smoking. The research was carried out using a salivating dog conditioned to act in a particular way using a bell and food. His contribution became a major step in psychology and had influenced other psychologists studying classical conditioning.
Mary Whiton Calkins
She was a psychologist of the late 19th and early 20th century who played a greater role in psychology through introducing self-psychology field. Self-psychology later became famous in psychology to understand how self-psychology function and influences other disciplines. Mary also became the first woman ever to be a president of the American Psychological Association. Being the first woman to become the American Psychological Association’s president became a defining moment for the women who were greatly considered to have their place at home. She came to a conclusion that there is a close connection between an individual’s conscious state and the dream state offering a counterpoint to Sigmund Freud theory.
Margret Floy Washburn
She was a leading American psychologist throughout the 20th century, and she was famously known for the experimental work in the motor and behaviour theory development. Being among the few women to have done excellent work in psychology, Washburn influenced other women who had the desire to explore the field. However, she is extensively known for her experimental work that focused on understanding the functioning of motor and behaviour theory development which further added more information and subjects to the field of psychology. Therefore, she further significantly contributed to the field of psychology by her experiment on animal psychology.
Albert Bandura
He is widely considered as the most influential social cognitive psychologists know for his contribution to social learning theory. Social learning theory has thus been extensively used to understand how behaviours are learned and acquired socially uniquely impacting the field of psychology. Further, he is also famous for his self-efficacy concept in addition to the famous Bobo doll experiment. He proposed Reciprocal Determinism which gives equal emphasis to the roles of Person, environment and behaviour in influencing each other. Based on this, psychologists are now able to understand that various components play a role in determining an individual behaviour. He theorized Observational Learning in which a person learns vicariously from a model.
Stanley Milgram
Milgram was also the most influential social psychologist who is widely remembered for his infamous obedience experiment in the field of psychology. Obedience became his most interesting area of analysis with an aim to determine what factors lead to obedience and disobedience. Therefore, the experiment significantly impacted psychology introducing more information in the field. Despite the fact that his experiment was highly defining and relevant in psychology, the entire process he used to conduct the experiment came under a greater criticism from various psychologists. His experiment on obedience was highly controversial in nature but contributed to changes in how an experiment can be carried out today. It introduced new laws that ought to be followed when conducting an experiment using human beings as the subjects.
Solomon Asch
Solomon Eliot Asch is currently considered as the pioneer in the social psychologist who is widely known for his research on the conformity psychology. He is commonly referred to as Polish gestalt psychologist who made a tremendous contribution to social psychology in the US. Further, he is known for introducing many topics in social psychology including conformity, impression formation in addition to prestige suggestion. In his research, he employed the Gestalt approach in studying social behaviour. Gestalt approach asserts that the whole is not greater compared to the sum of the parts, but the nature of the whole alters the parts. He further went on to suggest that social acts ought to be viewed regarding their particular setting.
Philip Zimbardo
Zimbardo is famous for his significant contribution in the field of psychology particularly in his social psychology experiment. One area that he is well known for is his Stanford Prison Experiment that was carried out in 1971 that established dramatic impacts of putting normal, healthy students in some form of a mock prison. In the experiment, he recruited 18 college male students who were to play the role of the inmates and guards in the form of a makeshift prison at the psychology department’s basement. The students learned and internalized the primary functions of the powers and powerful.
