With the rise of fascism in the 1930s, the family fled to South Africa where he obtained his first degree in philosophy and psychology.
He then moved to England where he obtained a PhD from the Birkbeck, University of London in 1953 for a thesis entitled Studies in operant chaining.
[1] He was a lecturer at Birkbeck College for twelve years (1953-1965) where he established an operant psychology laboratory.
He invited many behaviourist psychologists, including B.F. Skinner, to the laboratory and it became a centre for discussion on behaviourism.
[2] Peter Harzem was influenced by these discussions and conducted some early research in this laboratory before going on to further develop these ideas.