Throughout history, there have been many women psychologists who have made significant contribution to the field. The list includes many familiar and great female psychologists such as Anna Freud, Lillian Moller Gilbreth, Carol Dweck, Luce Irigaray, Pamela Stephenson.The women psychologists featured in this list are from United States, United Kingdom, Canada & Australia and many more countries.
This ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.
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Birthdate: December 3, 1895
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Died: October 9, 1982
Anna Freud was a British psychoanalyst. The daughter of Sigmund Freud, Anna followed in the footsteps of her father and made important contributions to the field of psychoanalysis. Alongside Melanie Klein and Hermine Hug-Hellmuth, Anna Freud is counted among the founders of psychoanalytic child psychology. Her work and contributions were featured in a documentary titled The Century of the Self.
Birthdate: September 16, 1885
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Blankenese, Hamburg, Germany
Died: December 4, 1952
Remembered for her pioneering work on feminist psychology, Karen Horney studied medicine at a time when women weren’t allowed in universities. Going against Sigmund Freud’s concept of penis envy, she suggested the idea of womb envy. She believed psychological differences weren’t rooted in gender but rather depended on the socio-cultural influences.
Birthdate: December 16, 1955
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States
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Birthdate: July 27, 1946
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, United States
Birthdate: December 1, 1913
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Glendale, Ohio, United States
Died: March 21, 1999
American-Canadian developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth is best remembered for her contributions in developing the attachment theory. She devised the Strange situation procedure during the 1970s to observe early emotional connect and relationship between a caregiver and child. She was ranked as the 97th most cited psychologist of the 20th century in a 2002 survey of Review of General Psychology.
Birthdate: July 31, 1939
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Marseille, France
Birthdate: March 31, 1985
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: San Salvador, El Salvador
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Birthdate: November 28, 1966
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: United States
Palo Alto University professor and Stanford researcher Christine Blasey Ford made headlines when, in 2018, she accused U.S. Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her back in 1982. Apart from teaching psychology, she has also been a biostatistician. She was also named to Time 100 in 2019.
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Pamela Stephenson(Actress best known for her work during the 1980s, particularly in Not the Nine O'Clock News; History of the World, Part I; and Superman III)
Birthdate: December 4, 1949
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Auckland, New Zealand
Pamela Stephenson is a New Zealand-born writer, psychologist, and performer. Stephenson is best known as a comedienne who achieved immense popularity during the 1980s when she appeared in comedy films and shows like History of the World, Part I and Not the Nine O'Clock News. As a writer, Pamela Stephenson has been contributing to publications like Psychologies and The Guardian.
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Carol S. Dweck(Best Known for Her Work on The 'Mindset' of Psychological Traits)
Birthdate: October 17, 1976
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Renowned psychologist Carol S. Dweck has taught at both Columbia and Harvard and is now a professor at Stanford. She is best known for her research on fixed mindset and growth mindset and has also penned popular books such as Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development.
Birthdate: October 16, 1944
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Los Angeles
Birthdate: October 25, 1885
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Rostov-on-Don, Russian Empire
Died: August 11, 1942
Sabina Spielrein was a Russian physician who also worked as a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and teacher during an illustrious professional career that spanned 30 years. A pioneer of psychoanalysis, Spielrein was the first person to bring in and popularize the concept of the death instinct. Sabina Spielrein was also one of the earliest psychoanalysts to study schizophrenia in detail.
Birthdate: March 30, 1882
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Vienna
Died: September 22, 1960
Melanie Klein was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst. A key figure in the development of object relations theory, she is best known for her work in child analysis. She began her studies by observing her own children’s behavior while they were growing up. As a woman in a field dominated by men, she was also a feminist icon.
Birthdate: January 16, 1947
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Birthdate: January 27, 1952
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: San Andreas, California, United States
Birthdate: June 23, 1972
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Robesonia, Pennsylvania, USA
Birthdate: February 20, 1893
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Isle of Man
Died: March 27, 1993
Birthdate: February 12, 1861
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: February 5, 1937
Russian-born German author Lou Andreas-Salomé apparently rejected renowned philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s marriage proposal and then married a professor instead. A skilled psychoanalyst, she was also close to Rainer Maria Rilke and Sigmund Freud. She was one of the first to offer a psychoanalytic perspective to female sexuality.
Birthdate: May 24, 1878
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Oakland, California, United States
Died: January 2, 1972
Birthdate: November 5, 1958
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Kiryat Tiv'on
Sara Netanyahu is an Israeli educational and career psychologist. She is married to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She is the daughter of a Polish-born Israeli Jewish educator. She has worked as a psychotechnical evaluator and an educational psychologist. She has received much negative media attention for the mistreatment of her staff.
Birthdate: March 30, 1863
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Hartford
Died: February 26, 1930
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Carol Gilligan(Psychologist, Philosopher, Non-fiction writer, Sociologist, Feminist)
Birthdate: November 28, 1936
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York City
Carol Gilligan is an American psychologist, ethicist, and feminist. She is renowned for her work on ethical relationships and ethical community. She also serves as a professor of Applied Psychology and Humanities at New York University. Considered the chief architect of the ethics of care, Gilligan was named in the 25 most influential people list by Time magazine in 1996.
Birthdate: March 30, 1882
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Died: November 27, 1955
Better known as Carl Jung’s wife, Emma Jung was the daughter of one of the most affluent businessmen in Switzerland. Though she initially wished to study natural sciences, being a woman in her time, she couldn’t. Later a co-owner of a luxury watch company, she helped her husband financially in his career.
Birthdate: May 17, 1953
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthdate: October 18, 1956
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Republic of Ireland Ireland
Birthdate: November 1, 1978
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Hamm, Germany
Birthdate: September 18, 1888
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Zürich
Died: March 21, 1953
Denied formal education for being a woman, Toni Wolff later became one of psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s closest collaborators. She entered Jung’s life as a patient of depression after her father’s death. She later headed the Psychologischer Club Zürich as its president and is often described as an intellectual rival of Jung’s wife.
Birthdate: May 5, 1943
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Tulsa
Birthdate: January 12, 1923
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland
Died: April 14, 2010
Apart from being a renowned psychologist, Alice Miller became an international sensation with her debut book, The Drama of the Gifted Child, a bestseller. A Holocaust survivor, who had lost her father in a Jewish ghetto, she analyzed child abuse, including education, violence, and parental abuse.
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Nadia Chaudhri(She was a professor of psychology at Concordia University where she researched drug and alcohol abuse)
Birthdate: January 25, 1978
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Karachi, Pakistan
Died: October 5, 2021
Birthdate: June 24, 1974
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Singapore
Birthdate: August 23, 1909
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Dresden, Germany
Died: September 11, 1966
Birthdate: March 4, 1951
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: United States
Birthdate: August 24, 1915
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, U.S
Died: May 19, 1987
Birthdate: February 27, 1935
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Wakefield
Birthdate: June 16, 1955
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Philadelphia
Birthdate: January 4, 1963
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Fosnavåg, Norway
May-Britt Moser is a Norwegian neuroscientist and psychologist. She also serves as a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She is best known for winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2014 for her work pertaining to the grid cells in the brain's entorhinal cortex. She shared the award with her then-husband, Edvard Moser.
Birthdate: January 20, 1987
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Cologne, Germany
Birthdate: January 4, 1915
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Munich, Germany
Died: February 17, 1998
Jungian psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz met Carl Jung when she was 18 and was at once engaged in intellectual exchange. She later penned books such as Number and Time, which analyze Jung’s research on the unus mundus and archetypes, which he, in his later years, had handed over to von Franz.
Birthdate: July 15, 1918
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Manchester
Considered a pioneer in her field, centenarian neuropsychologist Brenda Milner is known for her immense contribution to clinical neuropsychology. Especially known for her work on memory and cognition, she has contributed immensely to the study of temporal lobe. Her papers on the frontal lobes in problem-solving and the lateralization of hemispheric function in language are also highly regarded by scholars.
Birthdate: July 25, 1871
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: New York City
Died: October 29, 1939
Birthdate: September 16, 1935
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born to German-Jewish immigrants in Argentina, Esther Vilar studied medicine before she moved to Germany to study psychology and sociology. After taking up scores of odd jobs, she soared to international fame with her bestselling book The Manipulated Man, which argues that women aren’t oppressed but control men in relationships.
Birthdate: July 26, 1926
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died: July 18, 2016
A Holocaust survivor, Bloeme Evers-Emden was deported to Auschwitz on the same train as Anne Frank’s family. She grew up to be a prominent child psychologist and lecturer and devoted herself to the research related to the “hidden children" of World War II. Her books include Borrowed Children.
Birthdate: May 25, 1941
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Rockenhausen, Germany
Birthdate: September 1, 1896
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Johnstown
Died: July 22, 1987
Birthdate: November 9, 1901
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Prienai, Lithuania
Died: February 24, 1988
Born to a Jewish family in southern Lithuania that was well-respected among the community, Bluma Zeigarnik grew up to be a renowned psychologist. She is best remembered for discovering what is known as the Zeigarnik effect, or the phenomenon of remembering incomplete tasks better than complete ones.
Birthdate: January 20, 1944
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: New York City
Birthdate: June 22, 1944
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Pittsburgh
Died: May 20, 2014
Birthdate: January 18, 1920
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Visalia, California, United States
Died: December 16, 1988
Birthdate: March 25, 1947
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: The Bronx