4 Psychologists that Changed the World

Psychology’s imprint on popular culture has been great but unrealised by the laymen population. The following psychologists are pioneers of a revolution that began to move away from seeing the mind as being only in the spiritual domain but rather a canvas for scientific exploration.

William James

William James was arguably the first psychologist ever. His book, “Principles of Psychology” put the discipline on the map and would be the textbook of choice for future revolutionaries of the subject, including world-famed Sigmeund Freud and Carl Jung. William James was a professor of both psychology and philosophy at Harvard University where he leaded the movement of pragmatism and founded the movement of functionalism.

Pragmatism is the philosophical theory stating that the value of a belief or idea depends on its usefulness in the real world. For example, if a ritual helps to alleviate symptoms of mental stress then it is valuable to believe in the power of ritual.

Functionalism is a psychological theory positing that humans have emotions and behave in a way that can pragmatically fulfil a function. For example, fear is an adaptive emotion which encourages us to run when we see something which may kill us.

Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers changed not just the discipline of psychology but popular thought generally. He may not have been the impetus for the cultural revolution in the 60s, but he certainly added a lot of fuel to the fire. Did your parents ever advise you to ‘just be yourself’ or ‘you can do anything you put your mind to’? Carl Rogers was where these philosophies trickled down from. From there sprouted the individualism the West is now so famous for.

Rogers also thought that everyone has a tendency in themselves to move towards their potential, or what he termed ‘self-actualisation’. A therapist could help their patient achieve this through the necessary environmental conditions, including empathy, genuineness and acceptance. This person-centred therapy is still the primary approach used across the care sector today.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung is often remembered as the once good friend and lesser of Freud, and later his adversary, and still lesser. He was unfashionable in his day for his unscientific leaning towards mystical and New Age ideas such as the collective unconscious and notions of coincidence. Although his great and influential contribution to psychology stands in the shadow of Freud, it renders that it still cannot be ignored.

His work on personality is used still today in career development whereby a cross-classification of 8 personality types help determine career paths. Jung was also very interested in myth and symbols. From this, he developed a list of archetypes; a collection of ‘characters’ or ‘images’ found universally across cultures in myths, stories and dreams with universal meaning.

In recent decades, his work is admired for its recognition of cross-cultural psychology and the exploration of intuitivism and mysticism. If nothing else, he provided a necessary critique of Freud’s work and a body of ideas that inevitably will be found in all Psychology majors’ syllabus.

Sigmeund Freud

Sigmeund Freud is definitely the most famous name on this list. He was a revolutionary and developed ideas which initially were considered controversial but would come to dictate intuitive assumptions of the mind across Western thought.

Freud is first and foremost the father of psychoanalysis (talking therapy), within which he coined the notion of the unconscious. The unconscious, is a place where thoughts and feelings are repressed. Nowadays, cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging tells us that most of human perception, thought and motivation occur unconsciously. Freud was clearly way ahead of his time.

Freud especially had a huge influence on marketing in the 20th Century. His notion of the Id posits that there are instinctual drives in everyone which are longing to see the light of day. This was used by public relations experts to sell their products and augment a consumerist population. Freud believed that the repression of these essential drives was what led to psychological unrest. It was the therapist’s job to help the patient to bring into awareness repressed thoughts and feelings.