Eleanor Rosch

Eleanor Rosch (once known as Eleanor Rosch Heider; born 9 July 1938) is an American psychologist. She is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in cognitive psychology and primarily known for her work on categorization, in particular her prototype theory, which has profoundly influenced the field of cognitive psychology.

Throughout her work Rosch has conducted extensive research focusing on a range of topics, including semantic categorization, mental representation of concepts, and linguistics. Her research interests include cognition, concepts, causality, thinking, memory, and cross-cultural, and Eastern and religious psychology. Her more recent work in the psychology of religion has sought to show the implications of Buddhism and contemplative aspects of Western religions for modern psychology.