Carroll Ellis Izard (October 8, 1923 – February 5, 2017)[1] was an American research psychologist[2][3][4] known for his contributions to differential emotions theory (DET),[5][6] and the Maximally Discriminative Affect Coding System (MAX) on which he worked with Paul Ekman.
In addition, Izard constructed a multidimensional self-report measure – the Differential Emotions Scale – currently in its 4th edition (DES-IV).
[1] A festschrift was held at the University of Delaware on October 22, 2012, to celebrate Izard's lifelong contributions to the understanding of human emotional development.
In 1971, Izard - along with colleagues - conducted groundbreaking research on this subject, which challenged the then established theory that emotions were undifferentiated and also validated universally recognizable expressions.
Izard proposed that these specific emotions would emerge in a child not because of social learning but as adaptive behavior.