BIOGRAPHY SERIES - FALL 2005

JOHN DEWEY (1859-1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose thought has been greatly influential in the United States and around the world. He is recognized as one of the founders of the philosophical school of Pragmatism (along with Charles Sanders Peirce and William James), a pioneer in functional psychology, and a leading representative of the progressive movement in U.S. education during the first half of the 20th century.

Presented by Joanna Christodoulou
Wednesday, October 5, 11AM, Longfellow 319

JEAN PIAGET (1896 – 1980) He loved logic, feared psychic and emotional instability, felt religion and science could be united through a belief in an Immanent (and logical) moral force. He considered the specifics of his stage theory less central and certain than other aspects of his theoretical frame and he invented a method with which Western developmental psychology has never entirely come to terms…

Presented by Susan Mayer
Friday, October 21, 2PM, Larsen G06

LEV SEMYONOVICH VYGOTSKY (1896 -1934) was a Russian developmental psychologist, discovered by the Western world in the 1960s. Vygotsky pioneered the notion that the intellectual development of children is a function of human communities, rather than of individuals. Within the fields of developmental psychology, education, and child development, his contributions are widely considered to be both paramount and well ahead of his time.

Presented by Elena Zinchenko
Thursday, October 27, 5:30PM, Gutman 303

ANNA FREUD (1895 - 1982), the daughter of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and his wife Martha Bernays (1861-1951), was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst, and pioneer of child psychoanalysis. Her clinical work and research projects eventually spawned an entire new area of study called "developmental pathology" and informed the emergence of "attachment theory" as a major construct in child development research.

Presented by Gabbie Rappolt Schlictmann
Thursday, November 3, 5:30PM, Gutman 303

JOHN BOWLBY (1907-1990) was a British developmental psychologist of the psychoanalytic tradition. He was responsible for much of the early research conducted on attachment in humans. At an early age, in accordance with upper-middle-class British tradition, he was sent to a boarding school. The experience of which propelled him to study mother-child attachment relations.

Presented by Dan Berry
Friday, November 18, 3:00PM, Larsen G06

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG (1927 - 1987) was born in Bronxville, New York. He served as a professor at the University of Chicago as well as Harvard University. He is famous for his work in moral education, reasoning, development. Being a close follower of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Kohlberg's work reflects and perhaps even extends his predecessor's work. This work is further extended and modified by such scholars like Carol Gilligan.

Presented by Suzanne Duke
Thursday, December 1, 5:30PM, Gutman 303

BURRHUS FREDERIC SKINNER (1904 – 1990) was an American psychologist and author. He conducted pioneering work on experimental psychology and advocated behaviorism, which seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcement. He also wrote a number of controversial works in which he proposed the widespread use of psychological behavior modification techniques (primarily operant conditioning) in order to improve society and increase human happiness.

AND

AVRAM NOAM CHOMSKY (BORN 1928) is the controversial Institute Professor Emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is credited with the creation of the theory of generative grammar, often considered the most significant contribution to the field of theoretical linguistics of the 20th century. He also helped spark the cognitive revolution in psychology through his review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior, which challenged the behaviorist approach to the study of mind and language dominant in the 1950s.

Presented by Kathleen Corriveau
Thursday, December 8, 5:30PM, Gutman 303

WILLIAM JAMES (1842 -1910) Variously described as the grandfather of psychology, the father of pragmatism, the first scientist of religion, and all around great guy, William James remains heavily cited right up to the present day. What is it about this great thinker that inspires psychologists interested in topics as diverse as self and identity, consciousness, religion, and attention?

Presented by Yarrow Dunham
Wednesday, December 14 at 5:30PM, Larsen G01

*Definitions courtesy of presenters and www.wikipedia.org

**Audience appreciation program: Students who attend four biographies will be eligible for a treat from Burdick’s Chocolate Shop.

Sponsored by Human Development and Psychology and Mind, Brain and Education, please contact mary_kiesling@harvard.edu for more info.