Top 10 Leading Modern Psychologists to Follow in 2020

Mar 5, 2020

With phenomenal trends emerging, 2020 is expected to be a promising year in the field of psychology. And to help you keep abreast, here’s a list of 10 leading modern psychologists that you should follow this 2020.

These people continue to do groundbreaking and far-reaching work today.

1. Jordan Peterson – Jordan is a Canadian clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. His main areas of study are in abnormal, social, and personality psychology. Jordan is mostly known for his conservative views on religion, on trans issues, and on feminism.

2. Steven Pinker – Steven is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and popular science author. He is Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, and is known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.

3. Gad Saad – Gad is a Lebanese-Canadian evolutionary behavioural scientist at the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University) who is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour. He critiques political correctness, the ideology of multiculturalism, postmodernism, third-wave feminism, the ideology of Islam, safe spaces and trigger warnings.

4. Dennis Relojo-Howell – Dennis is dubbed as the world’s first blog psychologist. His main area of expertise lies within promotion of resilience through blogs. He is also a popular podcast host, running ‘ The Dennis Relojo-Howell Show’. Dennis is the founder of Psychreg and chief editor of Psychreg Journal of Psychology. Dennis holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Hertfordshire.

5. Andrew Mendonsa – Andrew is a clinical psychologist, who describes himself as ‘concierge psychologist to help you achieve growth and happiness.’ He mostly talks about research and issues in clinical psychology and you can also read some business-related articles written by him.

6. Richard Wiseman – Richard is a psychologist, author and magician. He is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire and he has been described by the Scientific American as ‘the most interesting and innovative experimental psychologist in the world today’.

7. Ciarán O’Keeffe – Ciarán was awarded a doctorate entitled ‘Assessing the content of advice given by practitioners claiming paranormal ability,’ (focusing on psychics and mediums) at the University of Hertfordshire. The PhD was supervised by Professor Richard Wiseman and Professor Julia Buckroyd. Ciarán regularly provides sceptical input on various ‘paranormal’ shows.

8. Jo Hemmings – Jo is a behavioural psychologist, specialising in the media and celebrity analysis as well as a dating and relationship coach, and TV and radio personality. She was voted Dating Expert of the Year at the inaugural UK Dating Awards in 2014. With degrees from the University of Warwick and the University of London, Jo is the UK’s best known and respected celebrity psychologist and was the UK’s first dating coach.

9. Vaughan Bell – Vaughan Bell is a neuroscience and clinical psychologist based in London. Part of his time is spent in the NHS, working in clinical services. The rest of his time is spent in academia where he conducts scientific research and teach. Vaughan completed a PhD at Cardiff University on the cognitive neuropsychiatry of psychosis before completing his clinical training and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, in 2008.

10. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore – Sarah-Jayne is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. She is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, and leader of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Group. Her group runs behavioural studies in schools and in the lab, as well as neuroimaging studies, with adolescents and adults.