Kurt Lewin
June 12, 2009
Like Koffka, Kurt Lewin studied with Stumpf. Although part of the general Gestalt movement, Lewin is best known for his field theory. Using geometry’s terms and Gestalt ideas, he held that people live in a psychological life space. [Read more]
Jean-Paul Sartre
June 12, 2009
Born in Paris, Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy is an unsystematic collection of plays and novels. Focusing attention of the meaning of existence, he concludes that there is no reason people should exist. But since they do exist, they should freely make their own decisions. Although Sartre stressed that decisions should be personal, unaided by religion, morality or society, he was active in the French Resistance during WWII. He believed that people should rebel against authority, and yet in his later years, Sartre moved from existentialism to social communism.
Clark Hull
June 11, 2009
Clark Leonard Hull had a tough childhood. In his late teens, an outbreak of typhoid fever took the lives of several of his classmates. Then, at the age of 24, Hull contracted polio, which precipitated his change from mining engineer to psychologist. [Read more]
Ewald Hering
June 8, 2009
Edwin R. Guthrie
June 7, 2009
For almost 45 years, Edwin R. Guthrie was a major force in learning theory. Like Watson, Guthrie focused on observable behavior. Unlike Watson, Guthrie held that learning was a one-shot process of association. [Read more]
