Author: Eleanor Rosch
Eleanor Rosch (once known as Eleanor Rosch Heider) is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in cognitive psychology and primarily known for her work on categorization, in particular her prototype theory, which has profoundly influenced the field of cognitive psychology. Throughout her work Rosch has conducted extensive research focusing on topics including semantic categorization, mental representation of concepts and linguistics. Her research interests include cognition, concepts, causality, thinking, memory, and cross-cultural, Eastern, and religious psychology. She completed an undergraduate philosophy thesis at Reed College on Wittgenstein and a ground-breaking doctoral thesis at Harvard about category formation. Her more recent work in the psychology of religion has sought to show the implications of Buddhism and contemplative aspects of Western religions for modern psychology.