Bühler, Charlotte

Bühler, Charlotte (Bertha) (b. Malachowski) (1893–1974) psychologist; born in Berlin, Germany. She studied at Munich under Karl Bühler, whom she married in 1916. In 1922 they established the Vienna Institute of Psychology, a child study center; her research there resulted in the innovative World Test and major books including From Birth to Maturity (1935) and From Childhood to Old Age (1938). The Bühlers emigrated to the United States in 1940 because of the Nazi threat, and she worked in the Midwest before settling in Los Angeles in 1945. During the 1960s, her positive view of the course of human development was embodied in humanistic psychology, which emphasized self-determination over biological or environmental determinism.