- Overview
- Timeline
- Theories of Personality
- People and Further Reading
- Key Terms and Study Questions
Sigmund Freud:
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the founder of psychoanalytic theory. His theories emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, childhood experiences, dreams, and symbolism.Further Reading:
Erik Erikson:
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was an ego psychologist trained by Anna Freud. His theory of psychosocial stages describes how personality develops throughout the lifespan.Further Reading:
- Erik Erikson Biography
- Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development
- Erikson, E. H. (1982) The Life Cycle Completed. W. W. Norton & Company.
B. F. Skinner:
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) was a behaviorist best known for his research on operant conditioning and the discovery of schedules of reinforcement. Schedules of reinforcement influence how quickly a behavior is acquired and the strength of a response. The schedules described by Skinner are fixed-ratio schedules, fixed-variable schedules, variable-ratio schedules, and variable-interval schedules.Further Reading:
Albert Bandura:
Albert Bandura’s (1925-Present) research in behavioral psychology emphasized the role of observational learning. Bandura is best known for his “bobo doll studies,” in which young children watched a film showing a woman beating up a doll. Children were then allowed to play with the same doll they had observed in the film. The effect of observational learning became apparent when the children began beating up the doll, imitating the behavior of the woman in the film. Bandura currently works at Stanford.Further Reading:
Abraham Maslow:
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was a humanist psychologist who developed the well-known hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy includes physiological needs, safety and security needs, love and affection needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualizing needs.Further Reading:
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Maslow, A. (1954) Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper.
Carl Rogers:
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanist psychologist who believed that all people have an actualizing tendency-a drive to fulfill individual potential that motivates behavior. Rogers called healthy individuals "fully-functioning", describing these individuals as those who are open to experience, live in the moment, trust their own judgement, feel free, and are creative.Further Reading
Study Guide Menu
- Overview
- Timeline
- Theories of Personality
- People and Further Reading
- Key Terms and Study Questions
