Paul Fraisse (20 March 1911–12 October 1996) was a French

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

known his work in the field of perception of time.

Biography

Fraisse trained in

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

as part of a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

to become a Jesuit priest. These plans were abandoned owing to poor health. Later, he turned to

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and scholastic philosophy at the

Catholic University of Lyon The Catholic University of Lyon (UCLy), also known as the Lyon Catholic Institute ( French: ''Institut Catholique de Lyon''), is a French private university based in Lyon and Annecy, Southeastern France. History The Lyon Catholic University has ...

, still hoping to prepare for the priesthood. After his degree, a faculty member suggested that he go to the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

where

experimental psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

had an important place in the Institute of Philosophy. There he spent 1935–1937 as laboratory assistant to

Albert Michotte Albert Edouard, Baron Michotte van den Berck (13 October 1881, in Brussels, Belgium – 2 June 1965) was a Belgian experimental psychologist. Life Family Michotte was born to a distinguished, well-to-do, noble Catholic family. He was second and ...

, doing experiments on

visual perception Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

and preparing for examinations in philosophy. In 1937 Fraisse began to give courses in psychology at the Catholic University of Lyon but would live in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where

Henri Piéron Louis Charles Henri Piéron (; 18 July 1881 – 6 November 1964) was a French psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavio ...

, on the recommendation of Michotte, took Fraisse into his laboratory. In 1952, Fraisse took over from Henri Piéron as director of the Laboratoire de Psychologie Experimentale. In 1965, Fraisse became the director of the Institute of Psychology of the University of Paris, which grouped together psychologists from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, the

College de France A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

, and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. He created new diplomas there for

abnormal psychology Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which could possibly be understood as a mental disorder. Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of ps ...

educational psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive psychology, cognitive and behavioral psychology, behavioral perspectives, allows researc ...

industrial psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology) "focuses the lens of psychological science on a key aspect of human life, namely, their work lives. In general, the goals of I-O psychology are to better understand and optimize the effec ...

, and

. In 1966, he established the ''

International Journal of Psychology The ''International Journal of Psychology'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of psychology. It was established in 1966 by Paul Fraisse, and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International Union of ...

''.

Personal life

Fraisse was married to Simone Fraisse (1913–2004), and the father of feminist philosopher

Geneviève Fraisse Geneviève Fraisse (born October 7, 1948, Paris) is a French people, French feminist philosopher. Early life She was born within ''Murs blancs'' ("White walls"), a community founded by Emmanuel Mounier at Châtenay-Malabry. Her parents, Paul Fra ...

and three other children.

Bibliography

*''Manuel pratique de psychologie expérimentale''. Paris, 1956. *''Les Structures rythmiques: Etude psychologique''. Louvain, 1956. *''Psychologie du temps''. Paris, 1957. *''Traité de psychologie expérimentale'', Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1963, 1re éd., 9 vol. (Paul Fraisse and

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, ; ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called genetic epistemology. ...

)

References

1911 births 1996 deaths Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences 20th-century French psychologists {{France-med-bio-stub