The psychologist Joyce Brothers (born 1927) pioneered the trend to phone-in questions for professional psychological advice. Her rise to prominence in "pop-psych" in electronic media followed her unusual success on a television quiz show in the mid-1950s.

Joyce Brothers, popular psychologist of a radio, television, and reading audience since 1958, was born about 1927, one of two daughters to Morris K. and Estelle (Rapoport) Bauer. Both her lawyer parents taught their children the importance of academic excellence and the work ethic.

As a bright child, Brothers displayed many of the qualities that would help establish her professional career. She was an honors student in high school, received a B.S. degree with honors in psychology from Cornell University (1947), and obtained her M.A. degree from Columbia University in 1949. She then married a medical student, Milton Brothers, and continued her research and teaching. In 1953 she earned her Ph.D. from Columbia...