Ulric Neisser
German-born American cognitive psychologist
German-born American psychologist whose 1967 book Cognitive Psychology helped launch the cognitive revolution. He later criticised laboratory-bound cognitive research and studied how memory reconstructs events, including memories of the Challenger explosion.
Why this person matters
Neisser's 1967 book gave the new cognitive approach a name and an agenda. His later turn to everyday memory and ecological validity shaped how psychologists test memory outside the laboratory, and he drew on the work of J. J. and Eleanor Gibson.
Main contributions
Cognitive Psychology (1967)
The book, which Cornell's obituary says helped launch the cognitive revolution, presented the new approach to the study of memory, perception and thinking.
Cognition and Reality (1976)
Neisser criticised cognitive psychology for relying too heavily on laboratory tasks rather than real-life situations. He called the problem a lack of ecological validity and respected the Gibsons' theory of direct perception.
Challenger memory study
After the January 1986 Challenger explosion he asked college freshmen where they were when they heard the news, then resurveyed them three years later. Many accounts contained notable errors despite high confidence.
Context and limits
Neisser's own later work questioned the laboratory tradition he helped create. His research on memory as reconstruction became part of the public debate over recovered memories: Cornell reports that his work in the 1980s questioned child abuse cases built on vividly remembered incidents, and that he served on the board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
In your introductory course
Thinking, language and intelligence.Appears in the history of cognitive psychology, in memory chapters (flashbulb memories, reconstruction) and in discussions of the Flynn effect.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.2. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1967
Published Cognitive Psychology.
- 1976
Published Cognition and Reality and began teaching at Cornell.
- 1983
Moved to Emory University and founded the Emory Cognition Project.
- 1995
Chaired an American Psychological Association task force that reviewed The Bell Curve.
- 1998
Published The Rising Curve on long-term IQ gains.
Sources
- Cornell Chronicle, Ulric Neisser, a founder of cognitive psychology, dies at 83University. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Ulric NeisserReference work. Reference article inspected.