The following is a list of academics, both past and present, noted for their contributions to the field of

developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the science, scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult deve ...

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Edith Ackermann Edith K. Ackermann (1946 – December 24, 2016) was a Swiss-born American psychologist who explored the interactions between developmental psychology, play, learning and design. A graduate of the University of Geneva, and a protege to Jean Piage ...

(1946–2016) * Lauren Adamson * Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999) * Martha W. Alibali *

Louise Bates Ames Louise Bates Ames (October 29, 1908 – October 31, 1996) was an American psychologist specializing in child development. Ames was known as a pioneer of child development studies, introducing the theory of child development stages to popular disc ...

(1908–1906) *

Jeffrey Arnett Jeffrey Jensen Arnett is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Clark University in Massachusetts. His main research interest is in "emerging adulthood", a term he coined, which refers to the distinct phase between adolescence and young adu ...

* Louise Arseneault James Mark Baldwin 1917

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* Renée Baillargeon * James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934) *

Simon Baron-Cohen Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of ...

Rachel Barr Rachel Barr is a professor at Georgetown University. She is currently the co-director of graduate studies in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on understanding the learning and memory mechanisms that devel ...

Nancy Bayley Nancy Bayley (28 September 1899 – 25 November 1994) was an American psychologist best known for her work on the Berkeley Growth Study and the subsequent Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Originally interested in teaching, she eventually gaine ...

(1899–1994) * Diana Baumrind (1927–2018) *

Leann Birch Leann L. Birch (born Leann Elsie Traub; – ) was an American developmental psychologist, best known for her research on children's eating behaviors. Early life and education Birch was born in Owosso, Michigan, and grew up primarily in Southe ...

(1946–2019) *

David F. Bjorklund David Fredrick Bjorklund (born June 13, 1949) is an American professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University. His areas of research interest include cognitive development and evolutionary developmental psychology. His works include authorin ...

* John Bowlby (1907–1990) * Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) * Christia Spears Brown * Jerome Bruner (1915-2016) *

Charlotte Bühler Charlotte Bühler (née Malachowski; December 20, 1893 – February 3, 1974) was a German-American developmental psychologist. Life Bühler was born Charlotte Berta Malachowski in Berlin, the elder of two children of Jewish government archite ...

Erica Burman Erica Burman (born 1960) is a critical development psychologist based in the United Kingdom. While little known in the developmental psychology research community, her work has been a conceptual resource for critiques of the field, notably femini ...

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Stephen J. Ceci Stephen J. Ceci is an American psychologist at Cornell University. He studies the accuracy of children's courtroom testimony (as it applies to allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect), and he is an expert in the development of intel ...

* Edouard Claparède (1873-1940) * Mamie Phipps Clark (1917–1983) * K. Alison Clarke-Stewart (1943–2014) *

Cynthia García Coll Cynthia García Coll is an American developmental psychologist, and the former editor-in-chief of ''Child Development''. She is currently an adjunct professor in the Pediatrics Department at the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus. ...

Wendy Craig Anne Gwendolyn "Wendy" Craig (born 20 June 1934) is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms ''Not in Front of the Children (TV series), Not in Front of the Children'', ''...And Mother Makes Three'', ''...And M ...

* Nicki R. Crick (1958–2012) Andreas Demetriou

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* Brian D'Onofrio *

Kazimierz Dąbrowski Kazimierz Dąbrowski (1 September 1902 in Klarów – 26 November 1980 in Warsaw) was a Polish psychologist, psychiatrist, and physician. He is best known for his theory of " positive disintegration" as a mechanism in personality development. H ...

* Kirby Deater-Deckard * Andreas Demetriou *

Martin Deutsch Martin Deutsch (29 January 1917 – 16 August 2002) was an Austrian-American professor of physics at MIT. He is best known for being the discoverer of positronium. Early life Deutsch was born in Vienna during the First World War to a Jewish ...

* Rheta DeVries * Adele Diamond *

Judith Dunn Judith Frances Dunn, (born 1939) is a British psychologist and academic, who specialises in social developmental psychology. Early life and education Dunn was the daughter of James Pace and Jean Stewart. She studied at New Hall, Cambridge, gra ...

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Jacquelynne Eccles Jacquelynne Sue Eccles (born 1944) is an American educational psychologist. She is the Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of California, Irvine and formerly the McKeachie/Pintrich Distinguished University Professor of Psycholo ...

* Kieran Egan (1942-) * Bruce J. Ellis *

Erik Erikson Erik Homburger Erikson (born Erik Salomonsen; 15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994) was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychological development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity cr ...

(1902–1994)

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Shirley Feldman Sarah Shirley Feldman (born March 1, 1944) is an American developmental psychologist and Senior Research Scientist in Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where she is also associate director in the Program in Human Biol ...

Anne Fernald Anne Fernald is an American psychologist. She serves as the Josephine Knotts Knowles Professor in Human Biology at Stanford University and has been described as "the leading researcher in infant-directed speech". Fernald received a Ph.D. in psych ...

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

(1856–1939) * Robyn Fivush * Uta Frith (1941–) *

Hans G. Furth Hans Gerhard Fürth or Hans G. Furth (December 2, 1920, Vienna – November 7, 1999, Takoma Park, Maryland) was a Professor emeritus in the Faculty of Psychology of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Early life in Europe Hans ...

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* Howard Gardner (1943–) *

Eleanor J. Gibson Eleanor Jack Gibson (7 December 1910 – 30 December 2002) was an American psychologist who focused on reading development and perceptual learning in infants. Gibson began her career at Smith College as an instructor in 1932, publishing her firs ...

(1910–2002) *

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Roberta Michnick Golinkoff holds the Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Chair in the School of Education at the University of Delaware and is also a member of the Departments of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Linguistics and Cognitive Science. An auth ...

Florence Goodenough Florence Laura Goodenough (August 6, 1886 – April 4, 1959) was an American psychologist and professor at the University of Minnesota who studied child intelligence and various problems in the field of child development. She was president o ...

(1886–1959) *

Gail Goodman Gail S. Goodman is an American psychologist, known as one of the first in her field to study children's roles in the legal system, specifically children's eyewitness testimony pertaining to the Sixth Amendment. Her awards for her contributions t ...

* Alison Gopnik *

Thérèse Gouin-Décarie Therese or Thérèse is a variant of the feminine given name Teresa. It may refer to: Persons Therese *Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1773–1839), member of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and a Duchess of Mecklenburg *Therese of Br ...

Clare W. Graves Clare W. Graves (December 21, 1914 – January 3, 1986) was a professor of psychology and originator of the ''emergent cyclical theory'' of adult human development, aspects of which were later popularised as '' Spiral Dynamics''. He was born in N ...

(1914-1986) * Giordana Grossi

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G. Stanley Hall Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1846 – April 24, 1924) was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on human life span development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psy ...

(1844–1924) *

Isoko Hatano Isoko Hatano (Japanese: 波多野勤子 ''Hatano Isoko''; – ) was a Japanese developmental psychologist and writer. Her 1951 book, ''Shōnenki'', was a national bestseller that was adapted into a feature film. She was awarded the Order of the ...

(1905–1978) * Jutta Heckhausen *

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Deborah Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she directs the Temple University Infant Language Laboratory. She is the author of 14 books and over 200 publications on ear ...

Lois Holzman Lois Holzman is director and co-founder of the East Side Institute in New York, New York, where she developed social therapy methods with Fred Newman (philosopher), Fred Newman. She is known for her research and work on play therapy, social therap ...

Ruth Winifred Howard Ruth Winifred Howard (March 25, 1900 – February 12, 1997) was an American psychologist. She is best known for her psychological work concerning students with special needs at Children's Provident Hospital School. She is one of the first Af ...

(1900–1997)

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* Bärbel Inhelder (1913–1997) *

Susan Sutherland Isaacs Susan Sutherland Isaacs, CBE (née Fairhurst; 24 May 1885 – 12 October 1948; also known as Ursula Wise) was a Lancashire-born educational psychologist and psychoanalyst. She published studies on the intellectual and social development of chi ...

(1885–1948) *

Jana Iverson Jana Marie Iverson is a developmental psychologist known for her research on the development of gestures and motor skills in relation to communicative development. She has worked with various populations including children at high risk of auti ...

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* Robert Kegan * Melanie Klein (1882–1960) *

Grazyna Kochanska Grazyna Kochanska is a Polish-American developmental psychologist known for her research on parent-child relationships, developmental psychopathology, child temperament and its role in social development. She is the Stuit Professor of Developmen ...

* Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987) *

Helen L. Koch Helen Lois Koch (August 26, 1895 – July 14, 1977) was an American developmental psychologist and a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Chicago. Koch developed nursery school teacher training programs during ...

(1895-1977)

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Daniel Levinson Daniel J. Levinson (May 28, 1920 – April 12, 1994), a psychologist, was one of the founders of the field of positive adult development. Levinson is most well known for his theory of stage-crisis view, however he also made major contributions ...

(1920–1994) * Lee C. Lee (1935–2006) * Abraham Low (1891–1954) * Margaret Lowenfeld (1890–1973)

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Eleanor Maccoby Eleanor Emmons Maccoby (May 15, 1917 – December 11, 2018) was an American psychologist who was most recognized for her research and scholarly contributions to the fields of gender studies and developmental psychology. Throughout her career she ...

(1917–2018) *

James Marcia James E. Marcia is a clinical and developmental psychologist. He previously taught at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada and the State University of New York at Buffalo in Upstate New York. He is also active in clinical private pr ...

* Ann Masten *

Daphne Maurer Daphne Maurer is a Canadian developmental psychologist and professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomen ...

Andrew N. Meltzoff Andrew N. Meltzoff (born February 9, 1950) is an American psychologist and an internationally recognized expert on infant and child development. His discoveries about infant imitation greatly advanced the scientific understanding of early cognition ...

(1950-)

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Katherine Nelson Katherine Nelson (1930 – August 10, 2018) was an American developmental psychologist, and professor. Education Nelson completed her dissertation research on the organization of free recall of verbal information in children at the University o ...

(1930–2018) * John Nesselroade * Erich Neumann *

Elissa L. Newport Elissa Lee Newport is a Professor of Neurology and Director of the Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery at Georgetown University. She specializes in language acquisition and developmental psycholinguistics, focusing on the relationship bet ...

Anat Ninio Anat Ninio ( he, ענת ניניו; born August 10, 1944) is a professor emeritus of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. She specializes in the interactive context of language acquisition, the communicative functions of spe ...

Mary Louise Northway Mary Louise Northway ( – ) was a Canadian psychologist, recognized for her work in the area of sociometry (the measurement of social relationships). She was a faculty member at the University of Toronto. Biography Northway was born in Toront ...

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* Jelena Obradovic *

Kristina Olson Kristina Reiss Olson is a psychologist and a professor at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ. She is known for her research on the development of social categories, transgender youth, and variation in human gender development. Olson was rec ...

Joy Osofsky Joy D. Osofsky is a clinical and developmental psychologist, known for her research on infant mental health, how parents nurture their infants and children, and the repercussions that follow exposure to traumatic events and violence. Some of ...

Willis Overton Willis Franklin Overton, Jr. is an American psychologist whose research is in the fields of clinical and developmental psychology. He is the Thaddeus L. Bolton Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Temple University, where he was the chair of the ...

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* Juan Pascual-Leone * Jean Piaget (1896–1980) *

Debra Pepler Debra Pepler is a Canadian psychologist known for her research and advocacy within the field of childhood aggression and bullying. She is currently a distinguished research professor at York University in Toronto, Ontario. Career Pepler comp ...

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Harriet Lange Rheingold Harriet Lange Rheingold (February 13, 1908 – April 29, 2000) was a child development psychologist who taught at the University of North Carolina, and the author of many publications, some still cited today. ''The New York Times'' labeled her “ ...

(1908-2000) *

Gina Rippon Gina Rippon (born 1950) is a British neurobiologist and feminist. She is a professor emeritus of cognitive neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University, Birmingham. Rippon has also sat on the editorial board of the '' International ...

* Michael Rutter (1933-2021) Elizabeth Spelke - 26931829525

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Jenny Saffran Jenny Saffran is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She specializes in language acquisition and early cognitive development, and she also conducts research on music cognition. Saffran views language acquisition as ...

* Arnold J. Sameroff * Núria Sebastián Gallés * Michael Siegal *

Linda Siegel Linda S. Siegel (born 1942) is an American-born psychologist and academic known for her research into the cognitive aspects of learning disabilities. She is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Spec ...

Robert S. Siegler Robert S. Siegler (born 12 May 1949) is an American psychologist and professor of psychology at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the American Psychological Association's 2005 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. He specializes in ...

* Marian Sigman *

B.F. Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974. ...

(1904–1990) *

Sara Smilansky Sara Smilansky ( he, שרה סמילנסקי, January 28, 1922, Jerusalem, Israel – December 5, 2006) was a professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel and was a senior researcher for The Henrietta Szold Institute: The National Institute for Resea ...

(1922–2006) *

Linda B. Smith Linda B. Smith (born 1951) is a professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Indiana University. Smith earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. Smith is the author (or co-author) of more than 100 publications on cognitive ...

* Andrea Smorti *

Catherine E. Snow Catherine Elizabeth Snow (born December 14, 1945) is an educational psychologist and applied linguist. In 2009 Snow was appointed to the Patricia Albjerg Graham Professorship in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, having previously held ...

Aletha Solter Aletha Jauch Solter (born 1945) is a Swiss/American developmental psychologist who studied with Jean Piaget in Switzerland before earning a PhD in psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her specialist areas are attachment, p ...

* Edmund Sonuga-Barke *

Elizabeth Spelke Elizabeth Shilin Spelke FBA (born May 28, 1949) is an American cognitive psychologist at the Department of Psychology of Harvard University and director of the Laboratory for Developmental Studies. Starting in the 1980s, she carried out experi ...

Margaret Beale Spencer Margaret Beale Spencer is an American psychologist whose work centers on the effects of ethnicity, gender, and race on youth and adolescent development. She currently serves as the Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education in the Department ...

Clara Stern Clara Stern (née Joseephy; March 12, 1877 – 1945) was a German developmental psychologist. Biography Clara was born into a wealthy Jewish family and was one of seven children. Her father was a banker named Julius Joseephy and her mother's n ...

(1877–1945) *

Robert Stoller Robert Jesse Stoller (December 15, 1924 – September 6, 1991), was an American Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA Medical School and a researcher at the UCLA Gender Identity Clinic. He was born in Crestwood, Yonkers, New York, Crestwood, New York, ...

(1925–1991)

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Esther Thelen Esther Thelen (May 20, 1941 – December 29, 2004) was an expert in the field of developmental psychology. Thelen's research was focused on human development, especially in the area of infant development. Thelen was also president of the Society ...

Barbara Tizard Barbara Patricia Tizard, (née Parker; 16 April 1926 – 4 January 2015) was a British psychologist and academic, specialising in developmental psychology. She was Director of the Thomas Coram Research Unit at the Institute of Education, Univer ...

Deborah Tolman Deborah L. Tolman is a developmental psychologist and the co-founder of SPARK: Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge. She is the author of ''Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk about Sexuality'', which was awarded the 2003 Disti ...

* Michael Tomasello *

Edward Tronick Edward Tronick is an American developmental psychologist best known for his studies of infants,

* Elliot Tucker-Drob * Gerald Turkewitz

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* Jaan Valsiner * Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934)

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Theodore Wachs Theodore D. Wachs (born February 6, 1941) is an American psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. He has studied the effects of environmental factors, such as noise Noise is unwanted sound co ...

* John B. Watson (1878–1958) * Sandra Waxman * Richard A. Weinberg * Janet F. Werker Developmental psychologists Developmental psychologists Cognitive science lists