Pál Harkai Schiller

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Pál Harkai Schiller (born November 4, 1908, in Budapest; died 1949 in the United States), also known as Paul von Schiller, was a Hungarian philosopher and psychologist. He earned a PhD in philosophy from Budapest University in 1930 and finished a private-tutor qualification there in 1936. In 1936 he organized the Psychological Institute at Budapest University and led its practical psychology department, with the Hungarian Psychological Association supporting it.

Schiller gained research experience at the Ranschburg Pál Budapest Institute and spent time in Berlin studying Gestalt psychology with Wolfgang Köhler. He edited a book series called Psychological Studies published by the Psychological Institute. He, along with colleagues such as Ferenc Mérei, László Tihamér Kiss, and Dezső Várkonyi, helped popularize Jean Piaget’s theories in Hungary during the 1930s.

He also helped establish an Aptitude Institute for Soldiers and contributed to the psychotechnological work of the MÁV railway and other companies. He emigrated to the United States in 1947, where he died in a ski accident two years later. After his death, some studies were published posthumously, including work on drawings from experiments with a chimpanzee, which sparked debates about the biological bases of drawing development.