George Mandler (June 11, 1924 – May 6, 2016) was an Austrian-born American psychologist, who became a distinguished professor of psychology at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
.
Career
Mandler was born in Vienna, Austria in 1924. He received his B.S. from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
, and his Ph.D. degree from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in 1953 after serving in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service and Counter Intelligence Corps in World War II. Later he studied at the University of Basel and taught at Harvard University and the University of Toronto. In 1965 he became the founding chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of California at San Diego and the founding Director of the Center for Human Information Processing (CHIP) the home of scientists such as
Geoffrey Hinton
Geoffrey Everest Hinton One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 6 December 1947) is a British-Canadian cognitive psychologist and computer scientist, most noted for his work on a ...
,
Donald A. Norman and
David E. Rumelhart. His
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
was published in 1991. He retired in 1994 and also became a Visiting Professor at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
. In 2004, UCSD named Mandler Hall in recognition of his contributions to the university. Mandler had emigrated from Vienna to England and eventually to the US after the German invasion in 1938. In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...
.
Mandler was a leader and participant in the so-called
cognitive revolution
The cognitive revolution was an intellectual movement that began in the 1950s as an interdisciplinary study of the mind and its processes. It later became known collectively as cognitive science. The relevant areas of interchange were between th ...
in mid-twentieth century. His contributions related the fields of cognition and emotion and the importance of autonomic feedback, the development and use of
organization theory
Organizational theory refers to the set of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also attempts to explain how interrelated units of organiz ...
for an understanding of memory storage, recall, and recognition (see "Organization and memory" in Spence & Spence, and, the development of dual process recognition theory, and the revival of the role of consciousness in modern psychology. A consequence of the structural and organizational approach to human information processing (Mandler, 1967) was the postulation of a general limit on the structures of human thought (Mandler, 2013), following Miller's initial foray (1956). Mandler discussed the limit of 4 ± 1 to working memory, categorization, subitizing, and reasoning. In the 1950s, together with S. B. Sarason, he initiated research on
test anxiety
Test anxiety is a combination of physiological over-arousal, tension and somatic symptoms, along with worry, dread, fear of failure, and catastrophizing, that occur before or during test situations.Zeidner M. (1998). ''Test anxiety: The state of th ...
. Among his books are ''Mind and Emotion'', ''Mind and Body'', ''Human Nature Explored'', ''Consciousness Recovered'', and ''A History of Modern Experimental Psychology''. He was a Fellow at the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social and ...
, received the William James Award from the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
(APA), a
Guggenheim Fellowship, and Fellowship status in the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
, the
Society of Experimental Psychologists
The Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP), originally called the Society of Experimentalists, is an academic society for experimental psychologists
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determin ...
, and the
Cognitive Science Society
The Cognitive Science Society is a professional society for the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science. It brings together researchers from many fields who hold the common goal of understanding the nature of the human mind. The society pr ...
.
Mandler's professional contributions include the editorship of
Psychological Review, Governing Board member and chair of the Psychonomic Society, president of two Divisions of APA (Experimental Psychology and General Psychology), chair of the Council of Editors of APA, chair of the Society for Experimental Psychologists, and founding president of the
Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences.
He died in May 2016 at the age of 91.
Books by George Mandler
* Mandler, G., and Kessen, W. (1959). ''The Language of Psychology.'' New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
:* Reprinted in Science Editions, 1964. Reprint edition: Huntington, N.Y.: Krieger, 1975.
:* Italian edition: ''Il linguaggio della psicologia.'' Bologna: Il Mulino, 1977.
* Mandler, Jean M., and Mandler, G. (1964). ''Thinking: From Association to Gestalt.'' New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
:* Reprint edition: Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982.
* Mandler, G. (1975). ''Mind and Emotion.'' New York: Wiley. Reprint edition: Melbourne, Florida: Krieger, 1982.
:* German edition: ''Denken und Fühlen.'' Paderborn: Junfermann, 1980.
* Mandler, G. (1984). ''Mind and body: Psychology of emotion and stress.'' New York: Norton.
:* Behavioral Sciences Book Club selection, 1985.
:* Japanese edition: Seishin Shobo Publishers, 1987.
* Mandler, G. (1985). ''Cognitive psychology: An essay in cognitive science.'' Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
* Mandler, G. (1997). ''Human nature explored.'' New York: Oxford University Press.
* Mandler, G. (2002). ''Interesting times: An encounter with the 20th century.'' Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
* Mandler, G. (2002). ''Consciousness recovered: Psychological functions and origins of conscious thought.'' Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
* Mandler, G. (2007). ''A history of modern experimental psychology: From James and Wundt to cognitive science.'' Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Reprint edition: Prentice-Hall.
References
Sources
*Baars, B. J. (1986). The cognitive revolution in psychology. New York, N.Y.: Guilford Press.
*Kessen, W., Ortony, A., & Craik, F. (1991). Memories, thoughts, and emotions: Essays in honor of George Mandler. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
*Kintsch, W., Miller, J. R., & Polson, P. G. (1984). Method and tactics in cognitive science. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
*Mandler, G. (2001). Interesting times: An encounter with the 20th century, 1924-. Mahwah, NJ: Larry Erlbaum Associates.
External links
George Mandler's home pageDescriptions of Mandler's books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandler, George
1924 births
2016 deaths
University of California, San Diego faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American people of Austrian-Jewish descent
20th-century American psychologists
United States Army personnel of World War II
Austrian emigrants to the United States
Austrian Jews
United States Army soldiers
Emotion psychologists
Academics of University College London
Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellows
Ritchie Boys