 His work was particularly inspired by eminent research psychologists, Hans Eysenck ("3rd most highly cited psychologist") and Arnold Buss.Zuckerman earned his Ph.D. at New York University in 1954 in clinical psychology.He then took up a position at Norwich State Hospital in Connecticut where subsequently he was hired at the "Institute for Psychiatric Research" undertaking personality assessments and where he constructed the "Multiple Affect Adjective Check List" (a state-trait self-report measure of anxiety, depression, and hostility).