Richard Julius Herrnstein (May 20, 1930 – September 13, 1994) was an American psychologist at Harvard University. He was an active researcher in animal learning in the Skinnerian tradition. Herrnstein held the prestigious position of the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology and previously chaired the Harvard Department of Psychology for five years.

He is perhaps best known for co-authoring the controversial book The Bell Curve with political scientist Charles Murray in 1994, which discusses human intelligence.

Herrnstein was also one of the founders of the Society for Quantitative Analysis of Behavior.