Barbara Tversky ( Gans) is an American psychologist. She is a professor emerita of psychology at Stanford University and a professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Tversky specializes in cognitive psychology.

Education

Tversky received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1963 and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1969.

Academic career

Areas of work

She is an authority in the areas of visual-spatial reasoning and collaborative cognition. Tversky’s research interests include language and communication, comprehension of events and narratives, and the mapping and modeling of cognitive processes. She is the author of Mind in Motion: How Action Shapes Thought. Basic Books, 2019.

Academic roles

She has served on the faculty of Stanford University since 1977 and of Teachers College, Columbia University, since 2005. In addition, Tversky has served on the editorial boards of multiple academic journals, including Psychological Research (1976–1984), the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition (1976–1982), the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (1982–1988), Memory and Cognition (1989–2001), and Cognitive Psychology (1995–2002).

Recognition

Tversky was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013, named a Fellow of the American Psychological Society in 1995, the Cognitive Science Society in 2002, and the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 2004. In 1999, she received the Phi Beta Kappa Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2020 she received the Kampé de Fériet Award.

Personal life

Tversky was married to fellow psychologist Amos Tversky (1937–1996) from 1963 until his death in 1996. They had 3 children together. The Tverskys were close friends of Daniel Kahneman, Amos's longtime collaborator. After Kahneman was widowed, Barbara lived with Kahneman from at least 2020 until his death in 2024. Tversky describes herself as "culturally Jewish", speaks Hebrew, and lived in Jerusalem. She is a fan of opera.