Posted by Top Influential Psychologists Today: In the ever-evolving realm of psychology, a pick group of visionary people has risen to prominence, shaping the discipline’s trajectory and fostering profound insights into human thoughts.
These luminaries, often revered as the “Top Influential Psychologists Today,” are at the vanguard of groundbreaking research, innovative healing procedures, and the dissemination of know-how that transcends academia. Their contributions span an extensive spectrum, encompassing cognitive psychology, scientific psychology, neuroscience, and social psychology, among other domains.
In this exploration of the Top Influential Psychologists Today, we can delve into the lives and work of these first-rate thinkers, dropping light on their transformative thoughts, groundbreaking experiments, and their effect on society at big. From the intricacies of cognitive improvement to the intricacies of mental health treatment, those psychologists are making indelible marks in their respective fields, frequently tough established paradigms and galvanizing future generations.
As we embark on this journey, we are able to benefit from insights into the profound influence that those current psychologists wield, in the end shaping the manner we recognize and navigate the complexities of the human psyche inside the 21st century.
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Top Influential Psychologists Today: Who Are They?
The Most Important Psychologists embody a broad group of academics and professionals who have significantly advanced the field today. Several well-known names include:
Dr. Angela Duckworth has altered our understanding of success and happiness. She is renowned for her study of grit and perseverance.
Daniel Kahneman, MD Dr. Kahneman, an economics Nobel winner, has made significant contributions to psychology and other sciences through his research on behavioral economics and decision-making.
Dr. Carol S. Dweck: Dr. Dweck’s research on the growth mindset has changed the way we approach learning and progress.
Dr. Martin Seligman: Known as the “Father of Positive Psychology,” Dr. Seligman has devoted his career to the study of thriving, resilience, and well-being.
Dr. Temple Grandin is an expert on autism and a researcher whose understanding of the illnesses on the autism spectrum has made a significant positive impact on the lives of people with autism.
Dr. Steven Pinker: A cognitive psychology expert, Dr. Pinker studies language, cognition, and the human mind in his works.
Dr. Jordan Peterson: Dr. Peterson is a psychologist and philosopher whose ideas on psychology and philosophy have spurred heated debates on issues like gender, identity, and private responsibility.
Dr. Mary Ainsworth’s research has had a significant impact on developmental psychology. She is renowned for her ground-breaking work on the attachment principle.
Dr. Philip Zimbardo: Best known for his Stanford prison experiment, Dr. Zimbardo’s research has emphasized the importance of contextual factors in human behavior.
Dr. Ellen Langer: Dr. Langer’s research on opportunity psychology and mindfulness has questioned accepted psychological wisdom.
What are some of these influential psychologists’ most significant contributions?
These psychologists have significantly impacted a number of psychological subfields, including:
The significance of grit and tenacity in obtaining fulfillment has been clarified by Angela Duckworth.
Daniel Kahneman has altered our understanding of biases and decision-making by developing concepts like the “prospect theory” and the “availability heuristic.”
The boom attitude was popularized by Carol Dweck, who emphasized the power of having faith in one’s ability to advance via effort and education.
Positive psychology was founded by Martin Seligman, who placed a strong emphasis on well-being, resiliency, and the pursuit of happiness.
We now have a better grasp of both autism and animal behavior because to Temple Grandin.
Steven Pinker has studied language, cognition, and human nature and has offered illuminating perspectives on how people think.
Discussions about the psychology of perception, identity, and private duty have been raised by Jordan Peterson.
Our understanding of baby development and interpersonal interactions has been greatly influenced by Mary Ainsworth’s attachment theory.
The Stanford jail test by Philip Zimbardo illuminated the influence of contextual factors on behavior.
With her works on mindfulness and the psychology of possibility, Ellen Langer has questioned accepted psychological wisdom.
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What impact have the psychologists had on psychology?
In many ways, these psychologists have irrevocably changed psychology:
Research developments: They have carried out ground-breaking studies that have improved our understanding of human thought, emotion, and behavior.
Innovative Theories: Through their artwork, forward-thinking psychological theories and concepts that have the power to influence the field have improved.
Numerous of their results have applications in the real world, such as improving education, mental health, and decision-making.
Future Generations Inspired: Countless college students and professionals have been motivated by these famous psychologists to pursue careers in psychology and related fields.
Public Engagement: Through publications, seminars, and media appearances, some have actively engaged with the public, making psychology more accessible to a larger audience.
How have training and satisfaction been changed by Angela Duckworth’s study on grit and perseverance?
The study of grit and tenacity by Angela Duckworth has had a significant influence on academic performance. Her research has brought attention to the importance of perseverance and resolve in achieving goals. In order to encourage students to develop grit as a personal quality, educators and institutions of higher learning have incorporated her concepts into coaching tactics and curriculum design.
In the corporate world, where recruiting people with grit is valued because they are more likely to endure through difficulties and contribute to the success of the company, Duckworth’s work has also had an impact. Overall, Duckworth’s research has changed how we perceive success and the factors that contribute to it.
What has Daniel Kahneman contributed to the field of decision-making and behavioral economics?
The study of behavioral economics and decision-making has greatly benefited from Daniel Kahneman’s work. He developed the “prospect concept,” which contradicts conventional financial theories by demonstrating how psychological biases influence people’s decisions. Kahneman’s paintings have revealed a number of cognitive biases, like the anchoring effect and the provision heuristic, which influence people’s decision-making.
Kahneman’s research has practical applications in marketing, public policy, and finance since it makes it possible to identify and counteract biases that might lead to poor decisions. His seminal book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” made these ideas accessible to a large audience, furthering his influence in the field.
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What effects has Carol Dweck’s increase mindset theory had on learning and personal growth?
Education and personal growth have been altered by Carol Dweck’s concept of the growth mindset. The growth mindset is the idea that intelligence and talent can be developed through work, education, and perseverance. This idea has changed how educators approach teaching and learning, emphasizing the importance of applauding effort rather than intrinsic ability.
Increased mindsets have encouraged resiliency and continuous improvement in workplaces and colleges. It exhorts individuals to accept challenging circumstances and see failure as a chance for personal development. People have been given the tools they need by Dweck’s work to reach their full potential and get rid of self-limiting beliefs.
What are some of the fundamental tenets of good psychology, as promoted by Martin Seligman?
In his excellent psychology, Martin Seligman places a strong emphasis on well-being, resiliency, and the pursuit of happiness. Some fundamental ideas include:
The acronym PERMA, which stands for Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment, was introduced by Seligman. These elements are regarded as the foundations of well-being.
Character traits: Along with courage, appreciation, and kindness, Seligman identified 24 unique traits that contribute to meaningful lives.
Positive interventions: Positive psychology promotes using treatments and sports to enhance happiness and well-being.
Building resilience is another theme in Seligman’s artwork that focuses on assisting individuals in overcoming adversity.
By shifting the focus from disease to strengths and positive attributes, positive psychology has stimulated a variety of sectors, including organizational improvement and the treatment of mental health issues.
List Of 15 Top Influential Psychologists Today
From This Line Are All The Top Influential Psychologists Today
1. Michael Seligman
Areas of Specialization: Learned Helplessness, Positive Psychology
At the University of Pennsylvania, Martin Seligman currently holds the title of Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology, Michael Seligman, here tops our list of top influential psychologists today. He previously served as president of the American Psychological Association and taught at Cornell University. In 1964, Seligman graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a doctorate. 1967 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Martin Seligman is well regarded for his contributions to the field of excellent psychology and his corresponding ideas of well-being. He is also a well-known author of self-help books. Seligman is likely best known for his work for launching research into the concept of realized helplessness. Seligman advanced a check utilizing electroshock on dog topics as a result of his interest in depression and the actions of depressed people. In plainer terms, Seligman discovered that if a subject feels helpless in their situation, they may do little to nothing to try to change it and end up with their fate. He identified it as a “discovered” helplessness that had to be overcome through intervention.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, a book Seligman co-authored with Christopher Peterson, mentions Seligman’s contributions to excellent psychology. Seligman contends that positive psychology places an emphasis on excellent traits, virtues, and what occurs in the absence of disease in contrast to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which specializes in illness. Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death and Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life are just a couple of Seligman’s other published works.
Seligman has received a long number of accolades, including the American Psychological Association Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology and a Guggenheim fellowship.
2. Steven Pinkerr
Areas of Specialization: Cognitive Science, Psycholinguistics, Experimental Psychology
Steven Pinker is a cognitive scientist, linguist, and author who serves as the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Pinker is rated one of the top influential psychologists today. Pinker previously served as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Pinker received both his Ph.D. and his bachelor’s degree in psychology from McGill University in 1976. In 1979 at Harvard in experimental psychology.
Pinker, a prominent supporter of evolutionary psychology and the computational idea of ideas, is known for his interdisciplinary paintings that combine psychology, cognitive science, and linguistics. Despite having decades of study and educational work to his credit, Pinker is best known for being the author of renowned science books in which he elaborates on concepts from linguistics and evolutionary psychology in a way that is accessible to a wider audience.
In particular, Pinker frequently expands on Noam Chomsky’s ideas, contending that language is an entirely distinct and intrinsic faculty of the human mind and that (in his own view) it develops through evolution and herbal choice. Pinker’s opinions have not been adopted without debate.
Pinker is known as a somewhat significant figure in psychology, linguistics, and popular science for his paintings. He has won numerous honors and accolades, including being named one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine, the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences, the Boyd Candless and Early Career Awards from the American Psychological Association, and two times being a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is also the founding member of the club for scientists with luxurious flowing hair (no question).
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, How the Mind Works, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, and most recently, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress are some of Pinker’s well-known works.
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3. Daniel Kahneman
Areas of Specialization: Prospect Theory, Loss Aversion, Behavioral Economics, Cognitive Biases
The Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University is home to Israeli-American psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman, who is currently a Professor Emeritus of psychology and public affairs, he is another big name when we talk about the top influential psychologists today. Kahneman has gained widespread recognition for his seminal works on the psychology of judgment and decision-making. For his research on financial concepts and human reason, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.
Kahneman and his colleague Amos Tversky are well renowned for their research on the cognitive causes of human errors caused by heuristics and biases, which people utilize as regular decision-making tools. In the late 1970s, Kahneman developed the concept of prospect through his paintings (created with Tversky). In his 2011 best-seller Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman released the famous version of his lifetime’s research on cognitive errors. Kahneman is also well-known for his contributions to hedonic psychology, a branch of psychology that examines the factors that make us happy (or unhappy) and contribute to fulfillment.
In addition to winning the Nobel Prize, Kahneman has received other honors and accolades. In 2001, he was chosen to join the National Academy of Sciences. His significant contributions to the study of psychology were recognized in 2007 when he received the American Psychological Association’s Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. In 2011 and 2012, he was listed among the top 50 Bloomberg Influential People in Global Finance for two years in a row.
4. Albert Bandura
Areas of Specialization: Social Psychology, Social Cognitive Theory, and Cognitive Psychology
Albert Bandura was the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University until his death in July 2021. Bandura, a well-known figure in social psychology, was created in Mundare, Alberta, Canada, and received his bachelor’s degree in arts from the University of British Columbia in 1949. He promptly relocated to America. and graduated from the University of Iowa with his MA in 1951 and his PhD in 1952. In 1953, Bandura began instructing at Stanford.
Bandura is one of the most well-known psychologists in the field’s (relatively) recent records. He is credited with creating the social mastery principle, a revolutionary approach to human social growth. Bandura developed his hypothesis of how people copy the behaviors they observe in others as a form of “social gaining knowledge” from his well-known “Bobo doll test,” i.e. investigating their social abilities and limitations.
Bandura was particularly interested in how children interpret the adult behaviors they observe, particularly hostility. This led to the development of the social cognitive principle, which looks at how social knowledge affects cognition rather than just conduct. Everything from the field itself to education, recreation, rehabilitation, and schooling has been significantly impacted by this, among other things.
Self-Efficacy in Changing Societies, Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control, and Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm and Live with Themselves are some of Bandura’s best-known publications.
Bandura has received numerous honors and awards for his paintings, including a fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the American Psychological Association, the Thorndike Award for Distinguished Contributions of Psychology to Education, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, and a large number of honorary doctorates.
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5. Jordan Peterson
Social Psychology and Personality are my areas of specialization.
A Canadian scientist in psychology, Jordan Peterson. In Canada, he teaches psychology at the University of Toronto. Due to his use of the University of Toronto students’ use of preferred pronouns as justification for his assertion of free speech rights, Peterson has gained notoriety in Canada, the US, and throughout the world. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta as well as bachelor’s degrees in political science and psychology. from McGill University in clinical psychology.
Since he started broadcasting his principled opposition to Bill C-16, “An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code,” on YouTube in 2016, Peterson has transformed from a professor of education conducting research and imparting scientific psychology to a media darling. He frequently lectures and presents talks on subjects like abnormal, social, and character psychology.
His writings on personal growth, accepting responsibility, and the significance of traditional belief systems for mental health and growth have drawn a sizable online audience (numbering in the hundreds of thousands). His 2018 publication, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, quickly rose to the top of the bestseller list. Peterson is also known for taking a strong stand against political correctness, which he sees as being detrimental to free speech and a stable society.
In addition, Peterson worked as a post-doctoral researcher at McGill University and an associate professor of psychology at Harvard University, where he finished his research on the correlation between drug and alcohol misuse and increases in violence. His broad range of intellectual interests include the rise of totalitarian governments, which he is also interested in. He has researched the Cold War era in the West as well as the totalitarian regimes of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The groundbreaking psychologist Carl Jung is one of his most significant influences.
6. Christopher French
Areas of Specialization: Pseudoscience, Cognitive Biases, and Parapsychology
Christopher French is a British psychologist who focuses on the study of the paranormal, which is a term used to describe phenomena that are represented in folklore and tradition but don’t have rational or scientific explanations. French is the director of the University of London’s Anomalistic psychology studies unit in addition to being a professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Chris French has dealt with a variety of phenomena involving outdoor technology, including astrology and extrasensory experience. French has said on his well-known Skeptic Zone podcast that he once had beliefs in paranormal happenings but later found conceptual explanations for their superiority to be appealing.
He has specifically conducted research with themes including the use of healing stones and various new age and popular culture symbols that demonstrated significant placebo effects. Additionally, he has researched paranormal claims such as ghosts, telepathy, alien or UFO abductions, and religion revival.
Psychology, Parapsychology, and Pseudoscience is the name of French course at Goldsmiths and Birkbeck College in the UK. In addition to his well-known podcast, he once served as The Skeptic magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. He is also a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Chartered Psychologist. In 2014, he published Anomalistic Psychology: Exploring Paranormal Belief and Experience.
French has a solid following in British homes thanks to her appearances on ITV’s Haunted Homes program.
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7. James Alcock
Areas of Specialization: Social Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Parapsychology
James Alcock is a professor of psychology at York University in Canada, a skeptic, and a Canadian educator. Alcock is most known for his fundamental stance toward parapsychology, the examination of psychic phenomena such as extrasensory perception (telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and psychometry), as well as other alleged unexplained reports including near-death experiences. Alcock earned both a Ph.D. and a Bachelor of Science in physics from McGill University. inside McMaster University.
Alcock’s career in psychology has mostly consisted of an effort to substantiate erroneous assertions that, if widely accepted, may turn out to be a systematic study in psychology. Notably, he serves on the Executive Council and is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is on the magazine’s editorial board and frequently contributes to The Skeptical Inquirer. A panel named Alcock one of the top skeptics of the 20th century in 1999 due to his outspokenness and success as a critic of the mystical. He is a skilled amateur magician, perhaps mockingly.
Parapsychology-Science Or Magic? is a book by Alcock. The main source for psychologist Chris French’s “conversion” to skepticism concerning paranormal claims in terms of time-honored psychological science was the 1981 book A Psychological Perspective.
8. Susan Fiske
Areas of Specialization: Cognitive Miser, Ambivalent Sexism Theory, Stereotype Content Model, and Social Psychology
At Princeton University, Susan Fiske currently holds the title of Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology, Susan is a well known big name when we talk about the top influential psychologists today. Fiske has formerly held posts at Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Fiske obtained both her undergraduate and doctoral degrees. 1978, at Harvard.
Fiske, a social psychologist, is well known for her research on prejudice, stereotypes, and social cognition. In a unique way, Fiske’s artwork is great for fusing the two disciplines of cognitive psychology and social psychology. Sexism, gender relations, and gender disparities in social contexts are the main topics Fiske has focused on. She also contributed to the expansion of the stereotype content model. Fiske also provided testimony in the US as a professional. Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins case before the Supreme Court.
Envy Up, Scorn Down: How Status Divides Us, Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture with Shelley E. Taylor, and more recently the fourth edition of Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology are among Fiske’s published works.
The National Academy of Sciences includes Fiske as a member. She has won various accolades, including a William James Fellow Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fellowship with the British Academy, and the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.
9. Girishwar Misra
Areas of Specialization: Indian Psychology and Social Psychology
One of the pioneers in the developing field of Indian psychology is Girishwar Misra, who currently holds the position of vice chancellor at the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in India. Misra served as a Fulbright Fellow at Swarthmore College and the University of Michigan prior to taking the role of Vice-Chancellor. He graduated with an MA and a PhD. At Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University in India, in Psychology.
For his contributions to social science and psychology studies, Misra is arguably best known. Notably, from the end of 2005 to 2015, he was the editor of Psychological Studies, a publication of the National Academy of Psychology, India. In Indian psychology, a field that attempts the systematic examination and development of ideas originating from conventional Indian non-religious and cultural traditions, he is also regarded as a prominent scholar.
The study of currently popular sports such as yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda, the latter of which is the study of Indian opportunity medications frequently used for general well-being, is one fascinating area of Indian psychology.
In 2009, the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh awarded Misra the National Award for Social Science.
10. Jonathan David Haidt
Social Psychology, Moral Psychology, and Positive Psychology are some of my areas of specialization.
Here is another big name on the list of top influential psychologists today. Professor of Ethical Leadership at Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership is how Jonathan David Haidt is currently referred to. Prior to this, Haidt worked at the University of Virginia and Princeton University. Furthermore, Haidt is a co-founder of the nonprofit organization Heterodox Academy. Haidt graduated with his Ph.D. and his BA in philosophy from Yale University in 1985. 1992 at the University of Pennsylvania in psychology.
Haidt is well known for his contributions to social psychology, particularly in the fields of ethical psychology, moral psychology, and high-quality psychology. As the creator (or co-creator) of such well-known standards as moral disgust, the Disgust Scale, ethical elevation, and the social intuitionist interpretation of ethical judgment, Haidt deserves credit.
Perhaps Haidt’s most significant contribution was the Moral Foundations Concept, in which he (along with Craig Joseph and Jesse Graham) proposed five “innate” ethical foundations: care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and sanctity/degradation, in an effort to explain move-cultural moral distinction.
Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, and The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion are some of the major works written with the help of Haidt.
11. Rodney L. Lowman
Areas of Specialization: Consulting psychology and industrial-organizational psychology
Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Alliant International University and President of Lowman & Richardson, a consulting psychology firm in San Diego, California, are both Rodney L. Lowman. Prior to receiving a BA in psychology from the University of Oklahoma in 1973, Lowman originally graduated with a BS in business from Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City in 1969. Later, in 1979, he received his MA and PhD in industrial-organizational psychology from Michigan State University.
Outside of academia, Lowman’s paintings are just as well-known as they are inside. Lowman is a leading authority in consulting psychology because he primarily specializes in industrial-organizational psychology and provides consultation on how psychology concepts can be utilized to better operate groups. Lowman is particularly interested in ethics and the manner which ethics might be applied by using psychology as a consultant.
As well-known in management as he is in consulting, Lowman has held a number of positions with excessive public exposure, including department head at Louisiana Tech University, acting president of Alliant International University, and president of Lake Superior State University. He has also served on the boards of the American Psychological Association and the Committee on Professional Practice and Standards.
Over the course of his career, Lowman has won numerous accolades and distinctions, including fellowships with various APA sections, the Richard Kilburg Service Award from the Society of Psychologists in Management, and the Society of Consulting Psychology’s Service Award.
An Introduction to Consulting Psychology: Working With Individuals, Groups, and Organizations and The Ethical Practice of Consulting Psychology are two of Lowman’s notable posted works.
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12. Wiseman, Richard
Applied social psychology and performance psychology are my areas of specialization.
Wiseman is a professor of psychology with a focus on the general public at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom Mr. Richard is known to be one of the top influential psychologists today. Wiseman’s writings have been translated into more than 30 different languages, and he is well known for his perceptive and frequently hilarious commentary on human behavior. Along with Chris French and James Alcock, he also opposes parapsychology, which he views as pseudoscience. He graduated from University College London with a diploma in psychology and then earned a doctorate. from the Scottish University of Edinburgh in Psychology.
Wiseman is involved in a number of initiatives that, in large part, aim to inform and amuse the public about psychology research and statistics. In particular, he has worked with the BBC on a chain about mendacity; his book, The Luck Factor, appears on the role of attitude in attributions of luck (whether we say we’re fortunate, or unfortunate); and as a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, he has been active in disproving paranormal claims.
Before starting his instructional research in psychology, Wiseman worked as a street performer in the UK. He also recently launched a website devoted to releasing jokes and finding “the world’s funniest” humorous story. He is a beginning magician. In excess of 150 television programs have featured his study. Packages. He frequently appears on BBC Radio 4.
13. Roy Baumeister
Social psychology and evolutionary psychology are my areas of specialization.
Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, Roy Baumeister currently holds this position. At Florida State University and Case Western Reserve University, he had held academic positions, he is without doubt on of the top influential psychologists today. Before going back to Princeton for his doctorate, Baumeister received his BA from Princeton University and his MA from Duke University.
In his typical social psychology work, Baumeister concentrates on issues with the self, the self-concept, and how the self relates to others. Relationships and belonging, self-destructive conduct, sexuality, self-control, and unbridled will are all included in this understanding. In particular, Baumeister’s most well-known work makes the case that people have an inbuilt want for attachment and belonging, that we constantly seek to sate this desire, and that losing interest in it has extremely negative effects on many different elements of our life.
Popular Baumeister publications include The Power of Bad, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, and Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty.
Baumeister has received accolades and awards for his work, including the Jack Block Award, the William James Fellow Award, and the James McKeen Cattell Fund Sabbatical Fellowship Award.
14. Joseph G. Ponterotto
Areas of Specialization: Multicultural Counseling and Education, Psychobiography, Acculturation, Immigration
At Fordham University, Joseph G. Ponterotto is a professor of counseling psychology and the program coordinator for mental health counseling. At Iona University, Ponterotto received his BA in psychology in 1980, in our list of top influential psychologists today, Joseph Ponterotto is rated amongst the best of them all. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, he received his PhD in 1985. Ponterotto previously held a teaching position at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Ponterotto is highly regarded for his contributions to counseling psychology, particularly for his efforts to bring minority cultural elements—such as race, ethnicity, cultural history, wealth, level of education, and the effects of prejudice—to the forefront of the field’s scholarly debate. The Quick Discrimination Index, the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey, the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale, and the Multicultural Personality Inventory are just a few of the survey instruments that Ponterotto, a practicing clinician, invented and which now serve as standards.
These initiatives have shown professional counselors how to better understand their clients from a variety of backgrounds. His 2012 book, A Psychobiography of Bobby Fischer, which explores the mental development (and decline) of the former chess champion, is also immensely well-known. Other excellent books by Ponterotto include Handbook of Multicultural Assessment: Clinical, Psychological, and Educational Applications and Preventing Prejudice: A Guide for Counselors, Educators, and Parents.
Ponterotto has received honors and awards for his artwork, including the Fordham School’s Distinguished Contribution to Multicultural Education Award and the Scanlon Award, the Early Career Scientist/Practitioner Award from Division 17 of the American Psychological Association, and the Visionary Leadership Award from the APA National Multicultural Conference and Summit in Seattle.
15. Barbara Fredrickson
Positive psychology and the broad-and-build theory of emotion are my areas of specialization.
As director of the social psychology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Barbara Fredrickson currently has the title of Kenan Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology.
She also serves as the Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory, President of the International Positive Psychology Association, and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania’s Authentic Happiness program, Barbara is indeed one of the top influential psychologists today. She has previously worked at Duke University and the University of Michigan. At Carleton College, Fredrickson completed her undergraduate studies and obtained her doctorate. 1990, Stanford University.
For her contributions to the field of excellent psychology, Fredrickson is well known. Her expand-and-construct principle of emotion, which contends that emotional states indicate both mental and physical changes in people and have an evolutionary meaning, is specifically blamed for her diagnosis.
Along these lines, Fredrickson contends that positive emotions aren’t merely surface-level, but rather essential to human survival; experiencing positive emotions simply makes one feel physically well. Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3-to-1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life, a best-selling book by Fredrickson, provides useful advice for leading a high-quality life. Love 2.0: Finding Happiness and Health in Moments of Connection is one of Fredrickson’s other books.
The American Psychological Association’s Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology, the Society of Experimental Social Psychology’s Career Trajectory Award, and the Christopher Peterson Gold Medal have all been given to Fredrickson for her artwork.
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16. Janet Helms
Theory of Racial Identity, Culture and Ethnicity, Gender Psychology, Self and Identity are some of my areas of specialization.
At Boston College, Janet Helms teaches counseling psychology as the August Long Professor of Counseling Psychology. She graduated with a B.A. Additionally to an M.A. at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Department of Psychology. She received her Ph.D. from Iowa State University in psychology, she is known as one of the top influential psychologists today.
Her theory of racial identity, which aims to explain how race, culture, and gender contribute to personality in addition to counseling approaches, is a specialty of Helms’ work in psychology. Notably, she also studies issues related to race or gender and mental health. When she originally began her studies in psychology, such topics did not initially arouse the same level of curiosity as she eventually did. Helms has been a thought leader in not just advancing but also inventing this topic in reputable psychological studies.
Helms received the American Psychological Association’s 2006 Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology award. She participates in the forums of many important journals in psychology, such as The Counseling Psychologist, the Journal of Psychological Assessment, and the Journal of Counseling Psychology.
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