Heinz Ansbacher

Heinz Ludwig Ansbacher (October 21, 1904 – June 22, 2006) was a German-American psychologist specializing in the theories of Alfred Adler.

Ansbacher was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. After completing high school he worked in a brokerage firm. He immigrated to the U.S. via steamer, working as a dishwasher. Upon arrival in New York City he resumed his career in the financial business and attended evening lectures by Alfred Adler. At one point he went to see Adler for a personal consultation concerning his unhappiness over his work and over the termination of a recent relationship. Adler encouraged him to enroll in graduate school.

He attended seminars in Adler’s home, sparking his interest in psychology. Through Adler, he met Rowena Ripin, who had her doctoral degree from the University of Vienna. They were married a year later. Although he had no bachelor's degree, Ansbacher was admitted to the doctoral program at Columbia University. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the perception of number as affected by the monetary value of objects, under R.S. Woodward, graduating in 1937. This work concerning the importance of context was cited in the 1939 American Psychological Association Presidential Address.

Ansbacher served on the faculty of Brown University from 1940 through 1943, and worked for Walter S. Hunter as an editor for Psychological Abstracts. Following this, he worked for the Office of War Information writing air-drop leaflets to convince German soldiers to give up the war effort. In addition, he wrote some papers on German military psychology. He came to the University of Vermont at Burlington (UVM) in 1947.

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