Norman Charles Meier was born February 22, 1893 in Carrollton, Missouri. He graduated from Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1914. Meier worked as an apprentice draftsman in Pittsburgh in 1906, advanced to draftsman by 1914, and worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in that capacity in 1917. He served during World War I at American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) headquarters in Chaumont, France. He returned from service to work as a draftsman for a Chicago company, while also attending classes until 1921.

Meier earned his Ph.B. and M.A. at the University of Chicago in 1921 and 1922. He took his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa in 1926. Dr. Meier joined the University of Iowa Department of Psychology in 1922 as an assistant. He was promoted to instructor, then associate, became assistant professor in 1927, then associate professor, and was made full professor in 1954. He retired in 1964.

Meier is well known for the tests he designed for assessing artistic aptitude. These were devised, in part, through his study of 100 artists from eight countries. His areas of research were psychology of art, and social and political behavior. Meier's research in the latter field resulted in methods of measuring audience response to theatre and broadcast programs. He also studied mob behavior and crowd control. Courses he taught included Social Psychology, Psychology of International Relations, Psychology of Social Control, Public Opinion and Propaganda, and Psychology of Propaganda. George Gallup was a student of Dr. Meier, who later developed a successful public polling organization. During the 1950s, Meier lectured in Canada, England, France, and Belgium, as well as many U.S. cities. Under a Fulbright grant, Meier was a consultant at the University of Paris from 1956 to 1957, during the establishment of the Laboratory of Esthetics at the Sorbonne. His work was widely published.

Meier married Clea Mae Grimes, and they had two sons, Mark F. in 1925, and George Edwin in 1930. Norman C. Meier died November 2, 1967.