Pictures of Famous Psychologists

These pictures include some of the most famous psychologists as well as other great thinkers who made important contributions to psychology.

Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler was an Austrian doctor and originally a colleague of the famous Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Adler was eventually booted out of Freud's inner circle, but he went on to found his own set of theories known as Individual Psychology. He is perhaps best known for his concept of the inferiority complex.

Alfred Binet

Alfredo Binet — Materialscientist / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Alfred Binet was a French psychologist who was commissioned by the French government to create an assessment tool to identify children who needed specialized assistance at school. Binet's work led to the creation of the Binet-Simon Intelligence test. This test remains the basis for many modern tests of intelligence.

Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson developed an eight-stage theory of human development that looked at how people change and grow over the course of the entire lifespan. Erikson is also famous for his concept of the identity crisis.

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud may be one of the best-known figures in history, but he is also one of the most controversial. He was the founder of the school of psychology known as psychoanalysis. He is also known for his concept of the unconscious mind as well as his stage theory of psychosexual development.

G. Stanley Hall

G. Stanley Hall founded the first American psychology lab at John Hopkins University and also became the first president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1892.

Karen Horney

Karen Horney was a prominent psychoanalyst best-known for her theories of neurosis, feminine psychology, and self-psychology. While Horney was a neo-Freudian, she also challenged many of Sigmund Freud's theories about female psychology. For example, Horney countered Freud's assertion that women experience "penis envy" by suggesting that men feel "womb envy" because they are unable to bear children.

William James

William James is known as one of the founders of American psychology and author of the classic textbook The Principles of Psychology.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist remembered for his concept of the collective unconscious and four major archetypes. While he was originally a protege of Freud's, he eventually split from his mentor to pursue his own theories, which he referred to as analytical psychology.

Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who is frequently referred to as the founder of humanistic psychology. He is perhaps best known for his famous hierarchy of needs and his emphasis on the concept of self-actualization.

Hugo Munsterberg

Hugo Munsterberg was a pioneer in the field of applied psychology, particularly in the areas of industrial-organizational and forensic psychology.

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist, but he became forever entwined with the field of psychology thanks to his discovery of the classical conditioning process. Pavlov's work had a major influence on other thinkers, including John B. Watson, and played an important role in the development of behaviorism.

Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who is best-remembered for his famous stage theory of cognitive development.

Carl Rogers

Carl Ransom Rogers sitting in front of a plant, looking away — Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist who created an influential approach to psychotherapy known as client-centered therapy. In one ranking of the most eminent psychologists of the 20th century, Rogers was ranked at number six.

B. F. Skinner

B. F. Skinner's research on operant conditioning (also known as instrumental conditioning) made him one of the leaders of behaviorism, but his theories and research also made him a target for controversy.

Wilhelm Wundt

Wilhelm Wundt is best-known for establishing the very first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany. He is often credited with founding the structuralist school of thought, although it was actually his student Edward Titchener who did so.

13 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd
Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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