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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List of the most influential female people in Psychology,

#951

Teena Willoughby

#170227

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Teena Willoughby is a Canadian developmental psychologist. Early life and education Willoughby earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Western Ontario before enrolling at the University of Waterloo for her Master's degree and PhD.

#952

Laura Berman

#80848

Overall Influence

1969 - Present (55 years)

Laura Berman is an American relationship therapist and television host. She is the host of In the Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman on the Oprah Winfrey Network . She is also a regular guest on The Dr. Oz Show, and hosts her own nationally syndicated radio program, Uncovered with Dr. Laura Berman. She previously starred in Showtime's reality television series Sexual Healing.

#953

Amy Orben

#127722

Overall Influence

Amy Orben is a British experimental psychologist who is a group leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. Her research considers how digital technologies impact adolescent mental health. Orben was awarded the British Neuroscience Association Researcher Credibility Prize in 2021 and the inaugural Medical Research Council Impact Prize in 2023.

#954

Christiane Linster

#83656

Overall Influence

1962 - Present (62 years)

Christiane Linster is a Luxembourg-born behavioral neuroscientist and a professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. Her work focuses on neuromodulation along with learning and memory, using the olfactory system of rodents as a model. Her lab integrates behavioral, electrophysiological, and computational work. Linster was the founding President of the Organization for Computational Neurosciences , which was created to coordinate and lead the annual meeting of aspiring and senior computational neuroscientists. Linster served as president of the OCNS from 2003 ...

#955

Paula Caligiuri

#32301

Overall Influence

Paula Caligiuri is an American academic, talent management specialist, psychologist, book author, and entrepreneur. As a Distinguished Professor of international business and strategy, she is on the faculty at D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. Her published contributions in the field of international human resource management have won academic distinctions, and been endorsed in scholarly literature and in wider professional circles. Among her books, Get a Life, Not a Job, Managing the Global Workforce, Cultural Agility: Building a Pipeline of Successful Global Profes...

#956

Claire Haworth

#113726

Overall Influence

Claire Haworth is a reader in behavioural genetics and co-director of the Dynamic Genetics Lab at the University of Bristol. Education Haworth graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in experimental psychology. She completed her MSc and PhD at King's College London.

#957

Sharon Horne

#171226

Overall Influence

Sharon Horne is a scientist known for conducting research on LGBTQ issues, mental health and college student development, and international psychology concerns. Horne is Professor of Counseling Psychology and the Director of Training for the American Psychological Association Accredited Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is a representative to the APA International Psychology Network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Issues , and chaired the policy committee that drafted the IpsyNet Statement and Commitment on LGBTI Concerns.

#958

Carmen Lawrence

#62881

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Carmen Mary Lawrence is an Australian academic and former politician who was the Premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. To date she is the only woman premier of Western Australia. A member of the Labor Party, she later entered federal politics as a member of the House of Representatives from 1994 to 2007, and served as a minister in the Keating government.

#959

Susanne Kappeler

#72083

Overall Influence

1949 - Present (75 years)

Susanne Kappeler was a lecturer in English at the University of East Anglia and an associate professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Al Akhawayn University, and now works as a freelance writer and teacher in England and Germany. Kappeler also taught 'The literary representation of women' in the Faculty of English at Cambridge while a research fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge and was a part-time tutor for the Open University Course, 'The Changing Experience of Women', and is part of a collective setting up the Cambridge Women's Resources Centre.

#960

Laura Schulz

#68321

Overall Influence

Laura E. Schulz is a professor of cognitive science at the brain and cognitive sciences department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the principal investigator of the Early Childhood Cognition Lab at MIT. Schulz is known for her work on the early childhood development of cognition, causal inference, discovery, and learning.

#961

Rochelle Newman

#165698

Overall Influence

Rochelle Newman is an American psychologist. She is chair of the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences , as well as associate director of the Maryland Language Science Center. She previously served as the director of graduate studies for both HESP and the Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science and is also a member of the Center for the Comparative & Evolutionary Biology of Hearing. Newman helped found the University of Maryland Infant & Child Studies Consortium and the University of Maryland Autism Research Consortium.

#962

Ursula Șchiopu

#172305

Overall Influence

1918 - 2015 (97 years)

Ursula Mariana Șchiopu was a Romanian psychologist, academic, and poet. She contributed to the development of the psychology of peace, war, and terrorism. Selected works PsychologicalPsihologia copilului, vol. I și II, Editura Didactică și Pedagogică;Psihologia copilului, E.D.P., 1963;Psihologia copilului, E.D.P., 1976, ediția a II-a;Introducere în psihodiagnostic, T.U.B.;Orientare școlară și profesională, T.U.B., 1971;Psihologia vârstelor, E.D.P., ;Dezvoltarea operativității gândirii, Editura Științifică, 1966, preface by acad. Gh. Mihoc;Criza de originalitate la adolescenți, E.D.P., 1970;Pr...

#963

Margaret Brenman-Gibson

#86102

Overall Influence

1918 - 2004 (86 years)

Margaret Brenman-Gibson was an American psychologist, among the first to use of hypnosis in the treatment of neurosis resulting from war and related areas. She was the first non-physician to receive full clinical and research psychoanalytic training in America. In 1982 she was one of the first women to receive a Harvard professorship as Clinical Professor of Psychology. She earned a Masters in Anthropology from Columbia University and a doctorate in Psychology from the University of Kansas. She was the only female psychotherapist on the staff at the Austen Riggs Center and was recognized as a...

#964

Marita Inglehart

#90401

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (73 years)

Marita Rohr Inglehart is a psychologist, academic, and author. She is a Professor at the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine at the School of Dentistry, an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Psychology at the College of Literature, Arts and Sciences at the University of Michigan. Additionally, she also holds the position of Inaugural University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor at the University of Michigan.

#965

Susan Schenk

#130060

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (70 years)

Susan Schenk, sometimes Lovell-Schenk, is a New Zealand psychology academic. She is currently a full professor at the Victoria University of Wellington. Academic career After a 1982 PhD titled The substrate for prefrontal cortical self-stimulation: a psychophysical investigation at Concordia University, Schenk completed an NSERC funded post/doctoral position with Peter Milner at McGill University. She then moved to Texas A&M University where she moved through the ranks from assistant professor to professor. In 2001 she moved to the Victoria University of Wellington, as a full professor.

#966

Nadine Kaslow

#137264

Overall Influence

Nadine J. Kaslow is an American psychologist, the 2014 president of the American Psychological Association and the editor of the Journal of Family Psychology. Before her current affiliation with Emory University, Kaslow worked at Yale University. She was recipient of the 2004 American Psychological Association award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology.

#967

Shelly Flagel

#115868

Overall Influence

Shelly B. Flagel is an American behavioral neuroscientist whose research focuses on the underlying brain mechanisms of reward and addiction. She is an associate professor of psychiatry in the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute at the University of Michigan.

#968

Carol McDonald Connor

#85171

Overall Influence

Carol McDonald Connor was an educational psychologist known for her research contributions to the field of early literacy development in diverse learners, in particular for work on individualized student instruction interventions and the lattice model of reading development. She held the position of Chancellor's Faculty and Equity Advisor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine.

#969

Kathryn McPherson

#160465

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Kathryn Margaret McPherson is a New Zealand medical researcher and administrator. As of 2018 she is a full professor at the Auckland University of Technology and chief executive of the Health Research Council of New Zealand.

#970

Naomi Meara

#146617

Overall Influence

1937 - 2007 (70 years)

Naomi Meara was an American psychologist, researcher and academic. She is best known for her scholarship in virtue ethics and ethical decision making for psychologists, her work with Harold Pepinsky in describing and analyzing the language of therapy, and her contributions to the advancement of women within the field of psychology. She served as professor and chair in the Psychology Department at Notre Dame University, where she was the first Nancy Reeves Dreux Professor of Psychology. She was a fellow of the American Psychological Association , where she served as president of the Counseling Psychology Division, Division 17 .

#971

Victoria Bellotti

#129237

Overall Influence

Victoria Bellotti is a Senior CI researcher in the Member Experience Team at Netflix. Previously, she was a user experience manager for growth at Lyft and a research fellow at the Palo Alto Research Center. She is known for her work in the area of personal information management and task management, but from 2010 to 2018 she began researching context-aware peer-to-peer transaction partner matching and motivations for using peer-to-peer marketplaces which led to her joining Lyft. Victoria also serves as an adjunct professor in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at University of California Sa...

#972

Carey Ryan

#60278

Overall Influence

Carey S. Ryan is an American psychologist and professor emerita of psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She was also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Issues from 2017 to 2020. Topics that she has researched include differences between Americans and the Japanese with respect to perceptions of autonomy.

#973

Heather Ashton

#21349

Overall Influence

1929 - 2019 (90 years)

Heather Ashton was a British psychopharmacologist and physician. She is best known for her clinical and research work on benzodiazepine dependence. Biography Chrystal Heather Champion was born in Dehradun, northern India, to Harry Champion, a British silviculturist, and Chrystal Champion, a secretary. From the age of six, she attended a boarding school in Swanage, Dorset, England. When WWII began, she was evacuated to West Chester, Pennsylvania; during the crossing, her ship was attacked by a U-boat.

#974

Rachel Keen

#163371

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (87 years)

Rachel Keen is a developmental psychologist known for her research on infant cognitive development, auditory development, and motor control. She is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Virginia.

#975

Roni Reiter-Palmon

#172662

Overall Influence

1964 - Present (60 years)

Roni Reiter-Palmon is an Israeli-American psychologist. She is a Professor and Director of the Industrial/Organizational Graduate Program at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Early life and education Reiter-Palmo was born in 1964. She was born in Austin, Texas to psychologist parents but grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel. Reiter-Palmo completed her Bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology at Tel Aviv University before returning to the United States for her Master's degree and Ph.D. at George Mason University.

#976

Ellen Covey

#148949

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (77 years)

Ellen Covey is an American neurobiologist, researcher, perfumer and professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. Member Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Society for Neurosci., European Neurosci. Association, Sigma Xi.

#977

Wiebke Bleidorn

#173129

Overall Influence

Wiebke Bleidorn is a personality psychologist. She is a professor at the University of Zurich. in the department of psychology. She is president of Association for Research in Personality until 2023. She received the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology in 2019.

#978

Jill James

#121898

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

Sandra Jill James is an American biochemist and autism researcher who studies metabolic autism biomarkers. She works at Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, where she is the director of the Metabolic Genomics Laboratory, as well as the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences's department of pediatrics, where she has worked since 2002. She is also a member of the Autism Speaks Treatment Advisory Board, and is also a scientific advisor to the autism foundation N of One. Her current research focuses on the role of epigenetics in causing autism, as well as the effectiveness of supp...

#979

Heather Whalley

#161562

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

Heather Clare Whalley is a Scottish scientist. She is a senior research fellow in Neuroimaging at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh., and is an affiliate member of the Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Her main focus of research is on the mechanisms underlying the development of major psychiatric disorders using the latest genomic and neuroimaging approaches .

#980

Elizabeth R. Douvan

#131678

Overall Influence

1926 - 2002 (76 years)

Elizabeth R. Douvan was an American psychologist, being the Catherine Neaffie Kellogg Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at University of Michigan. Education PhD, University of Michigan, BA, Vassar College,

#981

Cynthia Gómez

#116977

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

Cynthia Ann Gómez is an American psychologist who works in public health. She is known for her work in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention, health care access and health equity for minority individuals and committees. Likewise, one of her most major accomplishments was being the founding director of the Health Equity Institute at San Francisco State University. She has been a teacher and researcher, as well as a leader in both teaching and governmental positions.

#982

Becky Wai-Ling Packard

#87221

Overall Influence

1973 - Present (51 years)

Becky Wai-Ling Packard is Professor of Psychology and Education, and former Director of the Weissman Center for Leadership, Associate Dean of Faculty, and Founding Director of Teaching and Learning at Mount Holyoke College.

#983

Miriam David

#72248

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (79 years)

Miriam E. David FRSA FAcSS is a British educator. She is Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London and Associate Director of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme.

#984

June Reinisch

#147701

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

June Machover Reinisch is an American psychologist who has helped advance the public's general knowledge of human sexual activity. From 1982 to 1993, she was director of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Her research at the Institute focused on sexual and psychosexual development. She has published more than 100 scientific papers in such journals as Science, Nature, JAMA, American Psychologist, Hormones and Behavior, MMWR, JPSP, Archives of Internal Medicine, and the British and American Journals or Psychiatry.

#985

Beverly Whipple

#68201

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (90 years)

Beverly Whipple is Professor Emerita at Rutgers University and a professional author and sexologist. She is a co-author of the publication The G Spot and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality.

#986

Joan Frances Gormley

#55504

Overall Influence

1937 - 2007 (70 years)

Joan Frances Gormley , a consecrated virgin in the Catholic Church, was an American scholar in the fields of classical literature and of biblical studies. She was a professor in the Department of Sacred Scripture at Mount St. Mary's Seminary. She translated and produced a number of works by leading Catholic mystics, such as Edith Stein and John of Avila.

#987

Cynthia D. Belar

#104843

Overall Influence

Cynthia D. Belar is a scientist known for her contributions to clinical psychology with specific focus on health psychology, clinical service, and education. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of Florida Health Science Center.

#988

Carla Rice

#107261

Overall Influence

Carla Rice is a Canadian educator, project director, consultant, speaker and author on women's body image issues. She is a Tier II Canadian Research Chair in care, gender and relationships in the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. This role includes the challenging of stereotypes through the investigation of ways that perceptions of women's bodies can be changed through images and stories.

#989

Sarah Sharples

#159865

Overall Influence

1972 - Present (52 years)

Sarah Catherine Sharples is a British academic specialising in human factors and ergonomics. She has been Professor of Human Factors at the University of Nottingham since 2012 and chief scientific adviser for the Department for Transport since 2021. She has spent all her academic career at the University of Nottingham, and was also its pro-vice-chancellor for equality, diversity and inclusion from 2018 to 2021.

#990

Sandra Witelson

#155679

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Sandra Freedman Witelson is a Canadian neuroscientist best known for her analysis of specimens from Albert Einstein's brain, as well as exploring anatomic and functional differences regarding male and female brains, handedness, and sexual orientation. She and her colleagues maintain the world's largest collection of "cognitively normal" brains at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

#991

Annesa Flentje

#146312

Overall Influence

Annesa M. Flentje is an American clinical psychologist specializing in reducing health disparities in LGBT community. She is an assistant professor at the UCSF School of Nursing. Education Flentje completed a B.A. at University of Montana in 2000. She earned a M.S. at Capella University in 2003.

#992

Nichola Raihani

#103682

Overall Influence

1980 - Present (44 years)

Nichola Jayne Raihani is a British psychologist who is a Professor of Evolution and Behaviour at University College London. Her research considers the evolution of cooperation in nature. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2019. Her first book, The Social Instinct, was released in 2021.

#993

Lisa Spanierman

#57545

Overall Influence

Lisa Beth Spanierman is an American psychologist who is professor of Counseling and Counseling Psychology in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on racial attitudes, microaggressions, and related topics. A fellow of the American Psychological Association, she received the Fritz and Lynn Kuder Early Career Award from the Association's Society of Counseling Psychology in 2012. She is the co-author of the book Microaggressions in Everyday Life.

#994

Janet Carter

#115012

Overall Influence

Janet Deborah Carter is a New Zealand clinical psychology academic who became a full professor and dean of science at the University of Canterbury in 2016. She was appointed acting Pro Vice Chancellor of Science for 2019–2020, and acting Executive Dean of Science from mid 2021.

#995

Nicole Anderson

#87096

Overall Influence

Nicole Dianne Anderson is a Canadian psychologist who is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She is known for her works on ageing, memory and neuropsychology. Anderson is an associate editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and a fellow of the American Psychological Association.

#996

Hermine Maes

#127210

Overall Influence

Hermine H. M. Maes is a Belgian behavioral geneticist and Associate Professor in both the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics. She received her Ph.D. from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1992. Maes' research focuses on the methodology of genetic epidemiology and the relationships between physical and mental health. Her husband and sometime research partner is Michael Neale.

#997

Galit Atlas

#120063

Overall Influence

1971 - Present (53 years)

Galit Atlas is an Israeli-American psychoanalyst best known for her rethinking of the place of sexuality and desire in contemporary theory and practice. Her new and innovative work on emotional inheritance explores the ways our ancestors' experiences shape our lives.

#998

Laura Padilla-Walker

#161252

Overall Influence

Laura M Padilla-Walker is an American developmental psychologist and academic administrator. She is a professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. She was an associate dean for the BYU College of Family, Home and Social Sciences from 2017-2021 until she became the dean in July 2021.

#999

Ilina Singh

#119019

Overall Influence

Ilina Singh is a Professor of Neuroscience & Society at the University of Oxford, England, United Kingdom. She is also a co-director at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Ethics and the Humanities, and a research fellow at the National Institute for Health Research Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.

#1000

Vicki Anderson

#141965

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (66 years)

Vicki Anderson is an Australian clinical neuropsychologist and researcher. Since 2002 she has been the Theme Director of the Critical Care and Neurosciences group at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and she established the Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychological Studies at the Royal Children's Hospital.

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