Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.

We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.

To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).

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Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential female people in Psychology,

#551

Terry Jernigan

#92119

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (73 years)

Terry Lynne Jernigan is a neuropsychologist and the director of the Center for Human Development at University of California, San Diego. Education Jernigan graduated from University of California, Irvine with a bachelor's degree before earning a doctorate from University of California, Los Angeles. She interned and completed her postdoctoral research at Stanford University and Palo Alto VA Medical Center.

#552

Jean Addington

#107258

Overall Influence

Jean Addington is a Canadian psychiatrist and professor at the University of Calgary. Her research focus is on psychosis and schizophrenia with the goal of finding predictors and mechanisms for mental illness. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

#553

Bess Marcus

#102650

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (63 years)

Bess H. Marcus is an American clinical health psychologist and scholar of health behavior changes. She is currently Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University, having previously served as dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. Before coming to Brown, Marcus was the founder of the UC San Diego Institute for Public Health and inaugural Senior Associate Dean for Public Health, at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.

#554

Judith Harackiewicz

Judith Harackiewicz

#100125

Overall Influence

Judith Harackiewicz is an American social psychologist, focused on the role of motivation at the intersection of social and educational psychology. Harackiewicz is currently the Paul Pintrich Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, however in addition to this role she has also made numerous contributions to social psychology.

#555

Karen Emmorey

#32065

Overall Influence

Karen Denise Emmorey is a linguist and cognitive neuroscientist known for her research on the neuroscience of sign language and what sign languages reveal about the brain and human languages more generally. Emmorey holds the position of Distinguished Professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University, where she directs the Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience and the Center for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience.

#556

Jean Lipman-Blumen

#48325

Overall Influence

1933 - Present (91 years)

Jean Lipman-Blumen is the Thornton F. Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. She is an expert on leadership, achieving styles, crisis management, "hot groups" organizational behavior, gender roles, and toxic leadership. Lipman-Blumen is director and co-founder, with Prof. Richard Ellsworth, of CGU's Institute for Advanced Studies in Leadership. She is president and co-founder, with Harold J. Leavitt, the Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior, at Stanford Graduate School of Business, of th...

#557

Claire Etaugh

#92942

Overall Influence

Claire Etaugh is an American psychologist. She is the former dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and distinguished professor emerita and Caterpillar Professor of Psychology emerita at Bradley University.

#558

Barbara Shinn-Cunningham

#84198

Overall Influence

1964 - Present (60 years)

Barbara Shinn-Cunningham is an American bioengineer and neuroscientist. She is the founding Director of the Carnegie Mellon University Neuroscience Institute, the George A. and Helen Dunham Cowan Professor of Auditory Neuroscience, and Professor of Psychology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering.

#559

Roxane Cohen Silver

#99998

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Roxane Cohen Silver is a social, health psychologist known for her work on personal, national, and international traumas and how people cope with these traumas. She holds the position of Vice Provost for Academic Planning & Institutional Research and Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science, Public Health, and Medicine at the University of California, Irvine.

#560

Irene Hanson Frieze

#100979

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

Irene Hanson Frieze is a personality psychologist and pioneering figure in the field of women's studies. She is known for her research on intimate partner violence in marriage and dating relationships, and for cross-cultural studies of attitudes about work and gender roles. Frieze is Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women's Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

#561

Wendy Craig

#82960

Overall Influence

Wendy Marion Craig is a Canadian clinical-developmental psychologist known for her research and advocacy in the field of childhood bullying. She is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Queen's University at Kingston in Ontario, Canada.

#562

Sandra Waxman

#102574

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (70 years)

Sandra Robin Waxman is an American cognitive and developmental psychologist. She is a Louis W. Menk Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and director of the university's Infant and Child Development Center . She is known for her work on the development of language and concepts in infants and children.

#563

Harriet Lange Rheingold

#83314

Overall Influence

1908 - 2000 (92 years)

Harriet Lange Rheingold 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 “one of the nation’s most prominent developmental psychologists.”

#564

Joanne Davila

#104497

Overall Influence

Joanne Davila is a clinical psychologist known for her research on the romantic relationships and mental health of adolescents and adults, including the impact of social media use on relationships and well being. She is a Professor and Associate Director of Clinical Training int the Department of Psychology, at Stony Brook University.

#565

Jenae Neiderhiser

#49766

Overall Influence

Jenae M. Neiderhiser is an American behavior geneticist who is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies at Pennsylvania State University, where she is also co-director of the Gene Environment Research Initiative.

#566

Allyssa McCabe

#90411

Overall Influence

Allyssa K. McCabe is a psychological scientist known for her work on narrative development. She is Professor Emerita of Psychology in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and affiliated with the Center for Autism Research & Education .

#567

Margaret A. Chesney

#114440

Overall Influence

#568

Michelle Drouin

Michelle Drouin

#55112

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (50 years)

Michelle Drouin is an American researcher who focuses on psychological issues dealing with social media and communications technology. Drouin is associate professor of psychology at Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne.

#569

Suzanne Segerstrom

#77978

Overall Influence

Suzanne C. Segerstrom is a professor of Psychology and biostatistician at the University of Kentucky. She is known for her clinical research on optimism and pessimism in relation to health, stress, and general well-being.

#570

Anne E. Kazak

#98822

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Anne E. Kazak is an American clinical psychologist, educator and editor. She has focused on pediatric psychology. Much of her research involves "interventions to enhance adaptive functioning and reduce child and family distress associated with serious pediatric illnesses."

#571

Abigail Marsh

#86475

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (48 years)

Abigail Marsh is a psychologist and neuroscientist who works as a professor at Georgetown University's Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, where she is the director of the Laboratory on Social and Affective Neuroscience.

#572

Vimla L. Patel

#61853

Overall Influence

Vimla Lodhia Patel is a Fijian-born Canadian cognitive psychologist and biomedical informaticist. Patel has worked in the area of biomedical informatics, in particular studying the mediating roles of technology on performance. Her work includes studies of medical errors and error reduction in emergency care and other critical medical environments, . Her past work in health cognition includes studies of risk-taking behavior and sexual decision making as it pertains to HIV in youth and adolescents. Her current work focuses mostly on identifying underlying cognition in medical error and learning...

#573

Aletha C. Huston

#74635

Overall Influence

Aletha C. Huston is an American developmental psychologist and professor known for her research on the effects of poverty on children, on how child care and income support policies impact children's development, and for ground-breaking research on the impact of television and media usage on child development. Huston is the Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor Emeritus in Child Development at the University of Texas at Austin.

#574

Jana Iverson

#100659

Overall Influence

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 autism spectrum disorder , blind individuals, and preterm infants. She is currently a professor of psychology at Boston University.

#575

Sabine Sonnentag

#115220

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (63 years)

#576

Catherine McBride

#95242

Overall Influence

1967 - Present (57 years)

Catherine Alexandra McBride, , was formerly the Choh-Ming Li Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong specializing in the acquisition of early literacy skills. She is currently the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Health and Human Sciences at Purdue University and also a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, and remains an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at CUHK. She received her BA in psychology from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. She received her MA in 1992 and PhD in 1994 from the University of Southern Cali...

#577

Thema Bryant

#98699

Overall Influence

Thema S. Bryant, also known as Thema Bryant-Davis , is an American psychologist who is a professor of psychology at the Pepperdine University, where she directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory. Her research considers interpersonal trauma and societal trauma of oppression. She was elected as the 2023 President of the American Psychological Association.

#578

Thalia C. Eley

#59542

Overall Influence

Thalia Catherine Eley is a Professor of Developmental Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry's MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King's College London. Her work focuses on the interplay between genetic and environmental factors on the development and treatment of anxiety and depression.

#579

Davida Teller

#89521

Overall Influence

1938 - 2011 (73 years)

Davida Young Teller was a professor in the Departments of Psychology and Physiology/Biophysics at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. She was a leader in the scientific study of infant visual development.

#580

Toni Schmader

#60985

Overall Influence

Toni Schmader is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in social psychology at the University of British Columbia. Education Schmader earned a PhD in social psychology in 1999 from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Previously she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude Washington and Jefferson College.

#581

Marion Underwood

#47436

Overall Influence

Marion K. Underwood is an American psychologist and dean of Purdue University's College of Health and Human Sciences, a position she assumed on August 1, 2018. She is a researcher in social aggression and is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

#582

Colleen Ward

#72600

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

Professor Colleen Ward is an American-New Zealand cross-cultural psychologist. She is a professor of psychology and Founder of the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research at Victoria University of Wellington. She is a native of New Orleans.

#583

Sherry Stewart

#115819

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Sherry Heather Stewart is a Canadian clinical psychologist. She is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Dalhousie University and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Addiction and Mental Health.

#584

Heejung Kim

#30731

Overall Influence

Heejung Kim is a South Korean psychologist and a professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on how culture influences humans' thought process. She is co-editor of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review.

#585

Daphna Oyserman

#86528

Overall Influence

Daphna Oyserman is a Dean's Professor in the Department of Psychology and of Education and Communication at the University of Southern California. She is also a co-director of the USC Dornsife Mind and Society Center. Oyserman received a PhD in psychology and social work from the University of Michigan . She was on the faculty of The Hebrew University, Jerusalem before joining the University of Michigan, where she last held appointments as the Edwin J. Thomas Collegiate Professor of Social Work, Professor of Psychology, and research professor in the Institute for Social Research. She has been ...

#586

Susan Y. Bookheimer

#109821

Overall Influence

Susan Y. Bookheimer is a professor of clinical neuroscience at UCLA School of Medicine. She is best known for her work developing brain imaging techniques to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, brain tumors, and epilepsy.

#587

Helen Astin

#62804

Overall Influence

1932 - 2015 (83 years)

Helen "Lena" S. Astin was an American academic who was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and Senior Scholar of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. She is most known for her scholarly activism and research concerning higher education issues of women and minority students, as well as women’s career development. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Research Award of Division J of the American Education Research Association and received the Howard Bowen Distinguished Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

#588

Sandra Trehub

#92919

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (86 years)

Sandra Trehub was a Canadian psychologist recognized for her research in the field of music psychology. She held the position of Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. Biography Trehub completed her PhD in psychology at McGill University, and subsequently joined the faculty at the University of Toronto.

#589

Carolyn Rovee-Collier

#103778

Overall Influence

1942 - 2014 (72 years)

Carolyn Rovee-Collier was a professor of psychology at Rutgers University. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, she was a pioneer and an internationally renowned expert in cognitive development. She was named one of the 10 most influential female graduates of Brown University. The International Society for Developmental Psychobiology awards the Rovee-Collier Mentor Award in her honor.

#590

Amy Wrzesniewski

#69987

Overall Influence

Amy Wrzesniewski is an American organizational psychologist. She attended the University of Pennsylvania before pursuing graduate study in organizational psychology at the University of Michigan, where she earned her master's and doctoral degree. Prior to joining the Yale University faculty in 2006, Wrzesniewski taught at New York University. At Yale, she started as an associate professor of management, and was appointed to a full professorship in 2015. She was named the Michael H. Jordan Professor of Management in 2018.

#591

Jacqueline Andrade

#45665

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Jacqueline Andrade, also known as Jackie Andrade, FAcSS is a British psychologist. She is a professor of psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, located in Plymouth, England.

#592

Alison Bailey

#76343

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (58 years)

Alison L. Bailey is a professor and Division Head of Human Development and Psychology in the Department of Education, School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and a Faculty Partner at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing .

#593

Helen V Worthington

#117938

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

#594

Niki Harré

#88017

Overall Influence

Nicole Harré is a New Zealand academic and as of 2019 is a full professor at the University of Auckland specialising in community psychology and the psychology of sustainability at University of Auckland. Her research addresses issues of sustainability, citizenship, values and political activism. Harré is the author of Psychology for a Better World: Strategies to Inspire Sustainability and The Infinite Game How to Live Well Together.

#595

Helen Landgarten

#60187

Overall Influence

1921 - 2011 (90 years)

Helen Landgarten was an American psychotherapist. Alongside Edith Kramer and Judith A. Rubin, she was one of the leading pioneers of art therapy. Biography Helen Barbara Trapper was born in Detroit, Michigan, March 4, 1921. She earned a Bachelor's degree at University of California, Los Angeles and a Master's degree from Goddard College .

#596

Wendy Kellogg

#69525

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

Wendy A. Kellogg is an American psychologist and computer scientist who specializes in human-computer interaction. She founded the Social Computing Group at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center of IBM Research, and helped found the field of social computing.

#597

Cathy Creswell

#99921

Overall Influence

Catharine Sarah Creswell is a British psychologist and Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford. She specialises in anxiety disorders in children and young people. Education Creswell was educated at University of Oxford, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree. She later qualified as a Clinical Psychologist at University College London followed by a PhD in 2004.

#598

Maureen Black

#117269

Overall Influence

Maureen McEvoy Black is an American pediatric psychologist and expert in early childhood development. She specializes in growth and nutrition. Black was the John A. Scholl MD and Mary Louise Scholl MD Endowed Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine from 2003 to 2021.

#599

Judith Kestenberg

#75681

Overall Influence

1910 - 1999 (89 years)

Judith Ida Kestenberg was a child psychiatrist who worked with Holocaust survivors. She founded the International Study of Organized Persecution of Children an organization that coordinated the psychologically informed interviews of over 1500 child survivors throughout much of the world. She was also the lead creator of the Kestenberg Movement Profile , used to create a psychological profile based exclusively on movement patterns.

#600

Ethel Tobach

#102630

Overall Influence

1921 - 2015 (94 years)

Ethel Tobach was an American psychologist known for her work in comparative and peace psychology. Early life and education Tobach was born on November 7, 1921, in Miaskovka, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Both of Tobach's parents were Jewish, which led to them and their daughter having to flee the country to avoid pogroms soon after Tobach was born. They initially fled to Palestine, but after Tobach's father died when she was nine months old, she and her mother moved to Philadelphia in the United States. Tobach and her mother lived in Philadelphia until they moved to Brooklyn, New York when Tobach was ten years old.

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