Author Archives: gjmcmaster

American cognitive psychologist and polymath Leon Festinger was born on the 8th May, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York to Russian immigrant parents. He became one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century publishing on topics ranging from cognitive dissonance through to psychosocial archaeology (Open Learn, 2019a). In 1939 as WW2 darkened Europe, FestingerContinue reading “Leon Festinger”

Kurt Lewin was born to German Jewish parents in 1890 in what is now Poland. He was educated in Berlin before attending the University of Freiburg as a medical student and moving to Munich to study biology. As a soldier in the German Army he gained his PhD in 1916 under the supervision of empiricistContinue reading “Kurt Lewin”

Born in 1832 near Manheim in Germany to a Lutheran pastor, grandson to a history professor, Wilhelm Wundt is considered to be the progenitor of modern psychology. After studying physiology, he graduated with a medical degree from the university of Heidelberg before achieving a doctorate in medicine and coming under the supervision of eminent physiologistContinue reading “Wilhelm Wundt”