Elliot Aronson

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Elliot Aronson bigraphy, stories - Psychologists

Elliot Aronson : biography

09 January 1932 –

Elliot Aronson (born January 9, 1932) is an American psychologist. He is listed among the 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th Century, best known for the invention of the Jigsaw Classroom as a method of reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice; cognitive dissonance research, and influential social psychology textbooks. In his (1972) text, The Social Animal, (now in its 11th edition), he stated Aronson’s First Law: "People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy" thus asserting the importance of situational factors in bizarre behavior. He is the only person in the 120-year history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its major awards: for writing, for teaching, and for research. In 2007 he received the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science. (Association for Psychological Science) Accessed 2009-07-19 He officially retired in 1994, but has continued to teach and write.

Early life and Education

Aronson grew up in extreme poverty in Revere, Massachusetts, during the Great Depression. His was the only Jewish family in the neighbourhood, and it was not rare for Aronson to be bullied on the way home from Hebrew school by anti-Semitic gangs.http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/tmp/6760359125482435581.pdf He belief that every life progress is based on actions of luck, opportunity, talent, and intuition together.Chibnall, John T., , American Psychological Association, date Although his high school grades were mediocre, his SAT scores were high enough to earn him a work/study scholarship at Brandeis University. He began his college career majoring in economics, under the influence of his father, but promptly changed his major to psychology after accidentally wandering into an Introductory Psychology lecture which was being taught by none other than famous psychologist Abraham Maslow.American Psychologist (November 1999), 54 (11), pg. 873-875 After attending this lecture, he realized that there was an entire science devoted to exploring the kinds of questions that intrigued his mind as a child.American Psychologist (November 1999), 54 (11), pg. 873-875 His undergraduate years at Brandeis brought him closer to a number of respected psychologists but it was Abraham Maslow who was his primary mentor and had the biggest impact on his early academic career.American Psychologist (November 1999), 54 (11), pg. 873-875 He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis in 1954 (where he was a protégé of the humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow). He went on to earn a Master’s degree from Wesleyan University in 1956 (where he worked with David McClelland), and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1959 (where his doctoral advisor and mentor was the experimental social psychologist Leon Festinger).Aronson, E. (2010). Not by chance alone: My life as a social psychologist. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01833-8

Awards and professional recognition

Award Awarding body Year Source
Award for Distinguished Research in Social Psychology American Association for the Advancement of Science 1970
Fellowship Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences 1970–1, 1977–8
National Media Award American Psychological Association 1973
Teaching Award University of Texas 1973
Teaching Award in Psychology American Psychological Association 1980
Donald T. Campbell Award for distinguished contributions in social psychology American Psychological Association 1980 title=The Donald T. Campbell Award|url=http://www.apa.org/about/awards/div-8-campbell.aspx|work=APA.org|publisher=American Psychological Association|accessdate=11 July 2010}}
Professor of the Year Council for the Advancement and Support of Education 1981
Gordon Allport Prize for Inter-Group Relations Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues 1981
Guggenheim Fellowship John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 1981–2
Fellowship American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1992 title=Book of Members, 1780-2010, chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|work=amacad.org|publisher=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|accessdate=12 February 2011}}
Award for Distinguished Research in the Social Sciences University of California, Santa Cruz 1992
Distinguished Scientific Career Award Society of Experimental Social Psychology 1994
Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award American Psychological Association 1999
Master Lecturer American Psychological Association 2001 title=Master Lecturers Program|url=http://www.apa.org/about/awards/bsa-masters.aspx|work=APA.org|publisher=American Psychological Association|accessdate=11 July 2010}}
William James Fellow Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Scientific Psychology Association for Psychological Science 2007 last1=Gonzales |first1= Marti Hope |last2= Tavris |first2= Carol |last3= Aronson|first3=Joshua|editor1-last=Gonzales |editor1-first= Marti Hope |editor2-last= Tavris |editor2-first= Carol |editor3-last= Aronson |editor3-first=Joshua | year=2010|chapter=Elliot Aronson’s Awards, Books, and Publications| title=The scientist and the humanist: A Festschrift in honor of Elliot Aronson |location= New York |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn= 978-1-84872-867-7|pages=345–346}}