20 Facts About Fritz Heider

Fritz Heider was an Austrian psychologist whose work was related to the Gestalt school.

In 1930, Fritz Heider was offered an opportunity to conduct research at the Clarke School for the Deaf Northampton, Massachusetts, which was associated with Smith College, in Northampton.

Grace was one of the first people Fritz Heider met in the United States.

In 1948, Fritz Heider was recruited to the University of Kansas, by social psychologist Roger Barker.

Fritz Heider remained in Kansas for the remainder of his life.

In 1983, Fritz Heider documented his personal, career developments and achievements in his autobiography The Life of a Psychologist: An Autobiography.

Fritz Heider died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, on 2 January 1988 at the age of 91.

Fritz Heider published two important articles in 1944 that pioneered the concepts of social perception and causal attribution: Social perception and phenomenal causality, and, with co-author Marianne Simmel, An experimental study of apparent behavior.

Fritz Heider would publish little else for the next 14 years.

In 1958, at the University of Kansas, Fritz Heider published his most famous work, which remains his most significant contribution to the field of social psychology.

Fritz Heider introduced two theories that correspond to his two articles from 1944: attribution theory and cognitive balance.

Fritz Heider argued that perceptual organization follows the rule of psychological balance.

Fritz Heider offered many definitions of emotional states and key properties that characterized these states.

The emotions which Fritz Heider had a particular interest in are those which are considered interpersonal such as: anger and vengeance, sorrow and pity, gratitude, love, envy and jealousy.

Fritz Heider primarily argued that in cases where one's fundamental logic appears to be contradicted by something else, a much fuller analysis of the particular situation must take place.

In relation to anger, Fritz Heider's notes consider cases in which a violated "ought" was to be a critical component in the arousal of anger and then follow an observation of the emotional reaction produced once that component is met.

Fritz Heider considers this a paradox because within his general theory of balance, two forces acting in agreement should form a balanced structure and balanced structures should in turn produce positive rather than negative effects.

Fritz Heider noted that the feeling of violation, particular to that of a violated "ought", was a cognitive antecedent that characterized angered states.

Fritz Heider argued that this skewed pervading cognitive schemas lead to a simplification of life experiences.

Fritz Heider received many honors, including the American Psychological Association Distinguished Contribution Award, the Gold Medal for Scholarly Accomplishment in Psychological Science presented by the American Psychological Foundation, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.