Fritz Heider

Fritz Heider
Born(1896-02-19)19 February 1896
Died2 January 1988(1988-01-02) (aged 91)
CitizenshipAustrian, American
Occupationprofessor
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Graz
ThesisZur Subjektivität der Sinnesqualitäten (On the subjectivity of sensory qualities) (1920)
Doctoral advisorAlexius Meinong
Academic work
DisciplineSocial Psychology
Sub-disciplineSocial perception
InstitutionsUniversity of Hamburg
Smith College
University of Kansas
Notable worksThe Psychology of Interpersonal Relations
Notable ideasattribution theory

Fritz Heider (19 February 1896 – 2 January 1988) was an American/Austrian social psychologist whose work was related to the Gestalt school. In 1958 he published The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, which expanded upon his creations of balance theory and attribution theory. This book presents a wide-range analysis of the conceptual framework and the psychological processes that influence human social perception (Malle, 2008). It had taken 15 years to complete; before it was completed it had already circulated through a small group of social psychologists.