The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 157,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It has 54 divisions, which function as interest groups for different subspecialties of psychology or topical areas. The APA has an annual budget of around $125 million.
Robert Perloff was an American psychology and business administration professor emeritus, who taught at Purdue University and the University of Pittsburgh. He was a president of the Association for Consumer Research and the American Psychological Association.
Lisa Feldman Barrett is a Canadian-American psychologist. She is a University Distinguished Professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where she focuses on affective science and co-directs the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory. She has received both of the highest scientific honors in the field of psychology, the William James Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science for 2025, and the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the American Psychological Association for 2021. Along with James Russell, she is the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Emotion Review. Along with James Gross, she founded the Society for Affective Science.
Neal Elgar Miller was an American experimental psychologist. Described as an energetic man with a variety of interests, including physics, biology and writing, Miller entered the field of psychology to pursue these. With a background training in the sciences, he was inspired by professors and leading psychologists at the time to work on various areas in behavioral psychology and physiological psychology, specifically, relating visceral responses to behavior.
Gregory M. Herek is a researcher, author, and professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis (UCD). He has conducted extensive research on prejudice against sexual minorities, and coined the term sexual prejudice as a replacement for homophobia to describe this phenomenon. Herek argued that using the term homophobia incorrectly assumes that negative responses to lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are founded in pathological, irrational fear, whereas psychological research indicates they are more accurately regarded as a form of prejudice. Herek is an openly and prominent gay psychologist. Herek is considered one of the most influential scholars of sexual minorities.
Nicholas Andrew Cummings was an American psychologist and author.
Gerald Paul Koocher is an American psychologist and past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). His interests include ethics, clinical child psychology and the study of scientific misconduct. He is Dean Emeritus Simmons University and also holds an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School. Koocher has over 350 publications including 18 books and has edited three scholarly journals including Ethics & Behavior which he founded. The APA's Hoffman Report implicated Koocher for his role in creating memos to justify sexual, physical and emotional abuse of prisoners.
Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. is an American psychologist and historian of psychology. He retired from Texas A&M University in 2012. He is a charter member of the Association for Psychological Science and a former director of the Office of Educational Affairs at the American Psychological Association (APA). He was president of two APA divisions, wrote more than 20 books and authored more than 150 journal articles and book chapters.
Patrick Henry (Pat) DeLeon is an American psychologist, former chief of staff for United States Senator Daniel Inouye and past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). He became an aide for Senator Inouye in 1973, when Inouye served on a committee investigating the Watergate scandal, and remained on the senator's staff for 38 years. After DeLeon's daughter survived meningitis in 1984, he was involved in the establishment of the Emergency Medical Services for Children program. DeLeon helped to create the nursing and pharmacy schools at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.
Logan Wright Jr. was an American pediatric psychologist and was the first Native American president of the American Psychological Association (APA). His Native American heritage originated from the Osage Nation. He coined the term pediatric psychology, co-founded the Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP) and made numerous advances within the field. He was involved in the founding of the American Psychological Society (APS) in the mid-1980s when many psychological scientists split off from the APA.
Giuseppe (Joseph) Dominic Matarazzo is an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). He chaired the first medical psychology department in the United States and has been credited with much of the early work in health psychology.
Robert J. Resnick is an American psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was a faculty member at Randolph-Macon College and established one of the first clinics dedicated to the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. While practicing in Virginia, he was the plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court case that established the autonomy of clinical psychologists.
Ronald E. Fox is a psychologist and a former president of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Stanley R. Graham was an American psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association.
Florence Harriet Levin Denmark is an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA) (1980-1981). She is a pioneering female psychologist who has influenced the psychological sciences through her scholarly and academic accomplishments in both psychology and feminist movements. She has contributed to psychology in several ways, specifically in the field of psychology of women and human rights, both nationally and internationally.
Norine G. Johnson was an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Johnson was the founding director of psychology for Kennedy Memorial Hospital, ran a private practice and was on the faculty of Boston University School of Medicine.
Jack Gillmore Wiggins Jr. is an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA).
The concept of toxic masculinity is used in academic and media discussions to refer to those aspects of hegemonic masculinity that are socially destructive, such as misogyny, homophobia, and violent domination. These traits are considered "toxic" due in part to their promotion of violence, including sexual assault and domestic violence. Socialization of boys sometimes also normalizes violence, such as in the saying "boys will be boys" about bullying and aggression.
David H. Barlow is an American psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Psychiatry at Boston University. He is board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Barlow is known for his research and publications on the etiology, nature, and treatment of anxiety disorders. The models and treatment methods that he developed for anxiety and related disorders are widely used in clinical training and practice. Barlow is one of the most frequently cited psychologists in the world.
Silvia Sara Canetto is a psychologist known for her research in diversity issues related to suicidal behaviors, aging, and end of life. She is a professor of applied social health psychology, and counseling psychology at Colorado State University (CSU).
