Leopold Jahoda, a lawyer, was his father and Olga (nee Barany) his mother.
In 1952 he took up a post at the University College of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in the Department of Sociology, where he carried out pioneering research into cross-cultural psychology.
[7] In 1963, Gustav Jahoda was invited to set up a new psychology department in the University of Strathclyde.
Despite his administrative responsibilities he continued to make field trips to West Africa.
[8][9] He published works on cross-cultural psychology, socio-cognitive development and history of the social sciences.