who is your favourite psychologist?

Clare Wood answered on 5 Nov 2021:

Uta Frith, because of the work she has done on both Autism and reading development and she is a really nice person! She is really encouraging and supportive of younger researchers.

James Bartlett answered on 5 Nov 2021:

Jacob Cohen. He wrote many articles highlighting what kind of mistakes psychologists can make when they do research. He was ahead of his time highlighting how many studies use too few people. He was also influential in the way psychologists analyse their data, where he has several methods named after him.

Natalie Butcher answered on 5 Nov 2021:

Tough question. It was Elizabeth Loftus’ research that sparked my interest in psychology when I was doing my A-Levels but now I’d probably pick Andy Young. He developed an influential model of face recognition with Vicki Bruce in the 80s and continues to conduct fantastic work on the topic of face recognition. I also admire how supportive he is of younger researchers at conferences, always supportive and constructive sharing his ideas with them. So he’s not only an excellent psychological scientist, he’s an inspirational character too.

Xun He answered on 6 Nov 2021:

Glyn Humphreys. He did excellent research in visual attention and many other topics. Along with his very active and productive research, he also showed great leadership by being the Head of Department (at University of Birmingham, then University of Oxford). He was a very nice gentleman as well. Many people treasured the days working with him.

Nicola O'Donnell answered on 6 Nov 2021:

I wouldn’t say I have one ‘favourite’ psychologist, but different psychologists who have influenced me over time. When I first started studying psychology at A-Level, it was attachment psychologists like Bowlby and Ainsworth that sparked my interest. Later on I learnt a lot from the work of Donald Winnicott, and his theories on attachment and identity (particularly true self/false self and ‘good enough parenting’). Now that I work in health psychology, the work of Susan Michie has been really inspiring. Along with her colleagues, Prof. Michie developed a resource (the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy) to help reliably identify techniques that will help change behaviours. This is important because it helps other psychologists to develop good behaviour change interventions that will hopefully help people (for example, if you wanted to design an intervention to help people stop smoking/do more exercise, you might look at this resource to help you).

Alex Baxendale answered on 7 Nov 2021:

I really like the work of Mark Ashcraft who set up a lot of the foundational knowledge in my area – whenever I read a research paper his name always turns up in the references list! He was able to demonstrate the negative cognitive effects of math anxiety and show how the effects can be conditional

Emma Sullivan answered on 7 Nov 2021:

My favourite psychologist is Prof Matthew Walker, you may know him as the author of the bestselling book ‘Why we sleep’, which outlines why sleep is so important and how we can prioritise it more in a society where ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ is a modern conception. His lab in Berkeley California has done some amazing research over the years which is helping us to find out more about how sleep impacts on our memories and emotions. He came up with a new theory known as the ‘sleep to remember, sleep to forget’ hypothesis whereby when we experience something emotional e.g. loss of a loved one, we remember the content of this memory but we forget the emotional tone attached to this memory so that when we do reflect on it, we don’t have the same emotional reaction we did at the time. This is a clever way for the brain to stop us from developing disorders such as PTSD and depression (although sometimes this is not always the case). He’s done a really cool TED talk as well and has his own podcast. My dream is to go work in his lab one day!

Paul Hanna answered on 8 Nov 2021:

My favourite psychologist has to be Michael Billig. I remember reading his work when I was an undergraduate student and was fascinated by his ability to show the ways in which the language we use creates differences in society. His book ‘Banal Nationalism’ is a good book to get a sense of his ideas.

Natali Bozhilova answered on 8 Nov 2021:

Francesca Happe. She is a psychologist, who has made an incredible impact on the field of Autism (i.e., shifting the focus from “deficits view” to “cognitive style”, fractionation of the ASD triad). She is also a fascinating leader, who really cares about her academic staff and students. Most of all, she has a beautiful mind, which has changed the course of psychology as a field.

Hannah Slack answered on 8 Nov 2021:

Great question! It’s a tough one, but I’d have to say Nicola Byrom. She currently works at Kings College London. Her research looks at the impact of peer support groups on university students’ mental health. She founded Student Minds, the UK’s only student mental health charity. She’s an inspiration!

Michelle Smith answered on 8 Nov 2021:

That’s a difficult question as there are quite a few psychologists that I think have shaped my thinking and career. I’d say the one who stands out for me is Carl Rogers. He was instrumental in the development of the humanistic approach to psychology and Client/Person centred therapy. His book ‘On Becoming a Person’ was one of the first psychology texts I ever read and it captured my interest in psychology. It has probably been the foundation for most of my clinical/forensic work with clients ever since. His focus was always on the relational aspects of working in clinical settings and his ideas have been applied within many other therapeutic and teaching areas.

Charlotte Griffin answered on 10 Nov 2021:

My favourite psychologist is Philip Zimbardo, for the drama if nothing else! His famous Stanford Prison Experiment was so controversial and unethical and holds up a really grim view of human behaviour in relation to group identification. The details of the study are absolutely wild (there’s a recreation on Netflix which is really good and I highly recommend if you want to know more!). I teach about this study to my master’s students every year and it always leads to really interesting discussions about human behaviour and the ethics of research.

Emily McDougal answered on 10 Nov 2021: last edited 10 Nov 2021 2:10 pm

I spent a while thinking about my answer to this, but I have to agree with Charlotte – Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment was really what got me so interested in psychology. Although this study was incredibly unethical, it was also one of the most influential experiments as it taught us so much about how to conduct psychological research – at a time when psychology was still a relatively ‘new’ science. I was lucky enough to hear him speak when studying for my A-Levels and really enjoyed hearing more about his work first hand.

Caitlin Sorrell answered on 11 Nov 2021:

@samw, I’ve had to really think long and hard about this question. What a cracking thing to ask! I’m going to say Carl Rogers because every day I take from his teachings. He was one of the founders of the humanistic school of psychology, and he pioneered the person-centred approach. What I like about his ideas is that he believed that all humans strive for growth, and he practised what he called “unconditional positive regard”, which is about accepting people and refraining from judgement. That is something that I try to put into practice every day not just in my psychology work.

Aífe Hopkins-Doyle answered on 12 Nov 2021:

One of my favourite psychologists is Alice Eagly. She developed Social Role Theory which explains common stereotypes about women and men (for example that women are more caring; and that men are better leaders) as originally stemming from the switch between hunter-gather societies (which some scientists believe were more gender equal) to farming societies (where women typically worked in the home, and men engaged in travel/trade). Her research mixes ideas from psychology, biology, and evolutionary anthropology.

Danielle Paddock answered on 18 Nov 2021:

Tough questions. I’d say Professor Sonia Livingstone – she has done some incredibly work in voicing children and young people’s digital experiences and rights. She has worked with UNICEF on projects about children’s rights in a digital world. Her work really is ground breaking and such an inspiration. She’s also super lovely 🙂

Question: who is your favourite psychologist?

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