Herbert S. Langfeld

Herbert Sidney Langfeld (1879 to 1958) was an American psychologist who served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1930. Born in Philadelphia, he was first drawn to a diplomatic career and was working at the American Embassy in Berlin when psychology caught his interest. He earned his doctorate at the University of Berlin in 1909, then took a faculty post at Harvard University and finally moved to Princeton University, where he directed the psychological laboratory and later chaired the psychology department. At Princeton he also influenced the ecological psychology approach of J. J. Gibson through his phenomenological ideas. Beyond the American Psychological Association he held leadership positions with the International Congress of Psychology and the Psychology Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He died of heart disease in Princeton, New Jersey.