Julian Hochberg

Julian Hochberg (born July 10, 1923)[1] is an American psychology researcher and the Centennial Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Columbia University. Much of Hochberg's research has involved visual perception. Before coming to Columbia, Hochberg taught at Cornell University and New York University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Biography

A native of New York City, Hochberg attended City College of New York and graduated in 1945 with an undergraduate degree in physics. At City College, Hochberg was influenced by studying perception with psychologist Gardner Murphy. He received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he was taught by influential figures like Edward Tolman, Egon Brunswik, and Gordon Lynn Walls.[1]

After graduate school, Hochberg became an instructor at Cornell University and was promoted to full professor by 1960. He was a professor at New York University between 1965 and 1969 before moving to Columbia University, where he finished his teaching career.[2]

Research

In the 1950s, Hochberg led a study that examined how college students judged qualities like cuteness and intelligence based on physical features.[3] The study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, found that college students studied in the same year showed consistency in judging facial expressions, but students from a given year tended not to agree with students studied in other years. This suggested that over time there are trends in judging people. Hochberg found that there was an exception to the discrepancies seen in students from different years: judgments of the cuteness of babies tended to remain stable over time.[4]

Honors and awards

Hochberg received the APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology from the American Psychological Association.[5] He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1980.[6] In 2000, he received the Howard Crosby Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists.[7]

References

1. "Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards for 1978". American Psychologist. 34 (1): 35–47. 1979.
2. "Julian Hochberg, PhD – FABBS". Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
3. Klein, Gloria (March 31, 1959). "When is a baby really cute? Parents read this!". Clinton Daily Journal.
4. "Baby's face under study at Cornell". The Ithaca Journal. November 11, 1958.
5. "APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions". American Psychological Association. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
6. "Julian Hochberg". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
7. "Howard Crosby Warren Medal". Society of Experimental Psychologists. Retrieved December 2, 2019.

Further reading

• In the Mind's Eye: Julian Hochberg on the Perception of Pictures, Films, and the World. Oxford University Press, 2007.