Paul Fraisse

Paul Fraisse
Born	(1911-03-20)20 March 1911 Saint-Étienne
Died	October 12, 1996(1996-10-12) (aged 85) Paris
Alma mater	PhD (psychology, 1992), Grenoble II PhD (philosophy, 2007), Université Paris VIII
Scientific career
Fields	Psychology
Institutions	University of Paris
Academic advisors	Albert Michotte

Paul Fraisse (20 March 1911–12 October 1996) was a French psychologist known his work in the field of perception of time.

Biography

Fraisse trained in theology as part of a Jesuit Novitiate to become a Jesuit priest. These plans were abandoned owing to poor health. Later, he turned to philosophy and scholastic philosophy at the Catholic University of Lyon, still hoping to prepare for the priesthood. After his degree, a faculty member suggested that he go to the Catholic University of Louvain where experimental psychology had an important place in the Institute of Philosophy. There he spent 1935–1937 as laboratory assistant to Albert Michotte, doing experiments on visual perception 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, where Henri Piéron, 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 College de France, and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. He created new diplomas there for abnormal psychology, educational psychology, industrial psychology, and experimental psychology.

In 1966, he established the International Journal of Psychology.

Personal life

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