Who are today's most influential psychologists?

When it comes to the field of psychology, most of us have heard of the likes of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and their trailblazing contemporaries of the 20th and 21st century. Undoubtedly some of the most influential psychologists who ever lived, they are sadly long since deceased. So, who is picking up the mantle today? 

 The science and study of psychology is continually evolving, not least as a result of advances in technology, which have led to innovative methods for diagnosis and testing, such as brain imaging, and the different stresses of modern day life, such as terrorism, climate change and lockdown.

Whether it is new evidence, novel discoveries or fresh ideas, we are learning more than ever before about human behaviour and the complexities of the human mind. 

Below, we take a look at some of the key players in the world of psychology today and their contribution to this fascinating field. 

America 

Philip Zimbardo (1933- ) 

New York City, US 

Philip Zimbardo, a social psychologist, educator and professor emeritus at Stanford, is probably most well-know for his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE), which looked at the effects on student participants given roles of guard or prisoner in a six-day prison simulation.

His research proved that people’s behaviour changes – sometimes negatively – according to different social situations. His book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, was based on the prison study findings. In 2004, he was a defence witness concerned with the court martial of an Abu Ghraib prison guard. 

Roy Baumeister (1953-  ) 

Cleveland, Ohio, US 

Roy Baumeister is currently Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. A social psychologist, he focuses on willpower, self-control, and self-esteem, and how they relate to human morality and success. This extends to topics including relationships and belonging, irrational behaviour, self-destructive behaviour, sexuality, self control, and free will. His 2011 book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength (with John Tierney) was a New York Times bestseller. 

Martin Seligman (1942- ) 

Albany, New York 

Martin Seligman is credited as the father of Positive Psychology and its efforts to scientifically explore human potential. He developed the theory of ‘learned helplessness’ after a study of dogs, in which he noticed that some dogs would not quit and did not ‘learn’ helplessness.

He is currently the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the university’s Positive Psychology Center. A past president of the American Psychological Association, he is the author of a number of best-selling books. 

Elliot Aronson (1932- ) 

Chelsea, Massachusetts, US 

Elliot Arsonon is best known for his experiments on cognitive dissonance, the feeling of discomfort that occurs when subjects experience inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes as they struggle with behavioural decisions and changing attitudes. He also invented the Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative teaching technique which facilitates learning while reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice.

He is the author of the widely used social psychology textbook The Social Animal (1972). In 2007, he received the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science (APS). 

Canada 

Jordan Peterson (1962- ) 

Alberta, Canada 

Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He became internationally known in the 2010s for his views on cultural and political issues. He has published more than a hundred scientific papers advancing the modern understanding of alcoholism, antisocial behaviour, play, emotion, creativity, competence and personality.

His first book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, published in 1999, combines psychology, mythology, religion, literature, philosophy and neuroscience to analyse systems of belief and meaning. He shares his work via videos and podcast, many of which have received millions of views. 

Germany 

Hans-Werner Gessmann (1950- ) 

Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 

Hans-Werner Gessmann is a German psychologist and psychodrama therapist, a long-term guest professor at the Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, Russia, director of the International Center of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy (Germany), and professor at the Moscow State Psychological University (MGPPU).

As well as being the founder of humanistic psychodrama, a form of therapy that involves role reversal, in 1986, he established Germany’s first home-based sleep laboratory. He also guided the development of tongue muscle training as an alternative treatment against sleep apnoea. 

Hong Kong 

Sylvia Chen (Not known- ) 

Hong Kong 

Sylvia Xiaohua Chen is Director of the Yan Oi Tong Au Suet Ming Child Development Centre and a Professor and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is currently President of the Asian Association of Social Psychology.

Her research has appeared in leading journals, such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Social Psychological and Personality Science, American Psychologist, and Psychological Science. Her interests lie in the social psychology of bilingualism and biculturalism, globalisation and multiculturalism, personality and social behaviour in cultural contexts, as well as cultural diversity and mental health.  

India 

Ashis Nandy (1937- ) 

Bhagalpur, Bihar, British India 

Ashis Nandy is an internationally renowned psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist and was Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in New Delhi from 1992 to 1997. In 2019, he received the prestigious Hans-Kilian-Prize recognising his academic lifetime achievement in bringing together social and cultural scientific research, and adapting Western traditions of thought to a non-Western context.

His work focuses on the socially creative and destructive potential of human beings, primarily sourced within Indian history and contemporary trends. 

Israel 

Daniel Kahneman (1934- ) 

Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel) 

Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli economist and psychologist, specialising in the fields of behavioural economics, psychology of judgment and decision-making, and the economics of happiness. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. In 2002, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work bridging the fields of economics and psychology.

His research found that people often make decisions using rules of thumb rather than rational analysis, based on factors economists traditionally don’t consider, such as fairness, past events and aversion to loss. His economic model to better explain analogous economic behaviour – prospect theory – now forms the basis for much of the applied research in economics. 

Kashmir 

Ufra Mir (Not known- ) 

Srinagar, Kashmir 

Ufra Mir, the first and only peace-psychologist from Kashmir and South-Asia, has been creatively exploring the intersection of peacebuilding, psychology, transformation and changemaking for over a decade, both in local and international contexts.

She received the Human Rights Award 2022 from the International Council of Psychologists in recognition of her work to advance human rights by designing and facilitating peace psychology training, and advocacy for social justice and wellbeing, including programs for peacebuilders in their own local communities. The peace psychology training assists people in coping with the psychological stress of living in conflict zones, with a particular focus on South Asia, inclusive of Myanmar, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Kashmir. 

Slovenia 

Slavoj Žižek (1949- ) 

Ljubljana, PR Slovenia, FPR Yugoslavia 

Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher and cultural theorist, currently international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London. He has published over 50 books on topics ranging from philosophy and Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, to theology, film, opera and politics. His first book, The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989), considered his masterpiece, considers the question of human agency in a postmodern world, exploring the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society. 

United Kingdom 

Brenda Milner (1918- ) 

Manchester, England 

Brenda Milner is widely regarded as the ‘founder of neuropsychology’. She developed the concept of multiple memory and her long-term studies on patients before and after well-documented brain excisions have significantly enhanced our scientific understanding of the structure of the human brain.

She is currently a professor at McGill University’s Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery as well as a professor of psychology at the Montreal Neurological Institute. The many honours she has received for her work include the prestigious Gairdner Award and the Order of Canada. 

Susan Blackmore (1951- ) 

London, England 

Susan Blackmore started out as a parapsychologist and believer in the paranormal, something which she later denounced. As a psychologist, TV presenter and best-selling author, she now dedicates her time to understanding the scientific nature of consciousness, in particular, the existence of memes – bits of knowledge, lore, habit that are spread using human brains as carriers.

She was named in Gianluigi Ricuperati’s book, 100 Global Minds: The Most Daring Cross-Disciplinary Thinkers in the World (2015), which recognised 100 international academics, artists and activists who have boldly crossed disciplinary frontiers and created revolutionary ideas at the intersection. 

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