2020 - Phoebe Ellsworth
Phoebe C. Ellsworth is the Frank Murphy Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Law (Emerita) at the University of Michigan. She received her B. A. from Radcliffe and her PhD from Stanford, and taught at Yale and Stanford before joining the faculty at Michigan.
Professor Ellsworth is known for her research on two different topics. First, she studies the relation between cognition and emotion, and is an originator of the appraisal theory of emotions. According to appraisal theory, emotions correspond to combinations of the organism’s appraisals of its environment along dimensions significant for its well-being: novelty, valence, certainty, goal conduciveness, agency, and controllability. Second, she has been an important contributor to the field of psychology and law, and has studied jury decision making, changing attitudes towards the death penalty, and the use of social science research in legal decision making.
She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received awards both for her contributions as a scientist (SPSP Career Contribution Award, APS James McKeen Cattell Award, SESP Distinguished Scientist Award, Cornell University Lifetime Achievement Award in Law, Psychology, and Human Development) and for her contributions as a graduate student mentor (APA Fowler Award, SPSP Nalini Ambady Award, APS Mentor Award).
2017 - Phillip Shaver
Phillip R. Shaver, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of California, Davis. He obtained his BA degree in psychology from Wesleyan University and his PhD in psychology from the University of Michigan. He joined the faculty of UC Davis in 1992 after serving on the faculties of Columbia University, New York University, University of Denver, and SUNY at Buffalo.
He has received research grants from NSF, NIMH, and numerous foundations and has published over 300 scholarly articles and book chapters. His research deals with attachment theory, close relationships, human emotions, and personality development. He has served on numerous grant review panels and editorial boards and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.
He has served as executive officer of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) and president of the International Association for Relationship Research, from which he received a Distinguished Career Award and an International Mentoring Award. He received a Scientific Influence Award and a Distinguished Career Award from SESP, a Distinguished Career Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Stockholm in Sweden.
2018 - Alice Eagly
At Northwestern University, Alice Eagly is Professor of Psychology, James Padilla Chair of Arts and Sciences, Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Policy Research, and Professor of Management and Organizations. She has also held faculty positions at Michigan State University, University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and Purdue University.
Eagly received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard/Radcliffe and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She is a social psychologist with research interests in many topics, including gender, feminism, attitudes, prejudice, stereotyping, and leadership. Her work encompasses many meta-analyses as well as primary research. She is the author of over 200 articles and chapters in edited books. Among her several books are The Psychology of Attitudes, written with Shelley Chaiken and Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders, written with Linda Carli.
Alice Eagly has received numerous awards for her contributions, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation, and the Eminent Leadership Scholar Award from the Network of Leadership Scholars of the Academy of Management. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
2017 - Ravenna M. Helson
The Society for Personality and Social Psychology is pleased to announce Ravenna M. Helson as the 2017 Annual Convention Legacy honoree.
Ravenna M. Helson received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She was at Smith College before moving back to Berkeley where she led the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research's project on creativity in women. In 1980, Ravenna was awarded an NIMH grant to study adult development in the women of Mills College that she had initially studied in 1958/1960. The Mills Project is a premier longitudinal study with assessments of the women in their 20s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. The 100+ publications from the Mills Project examine how personality changes (or not) in relation to social roles, socio-historical context, and critical life events. For example, one seminal contribution is the concept of the social clock project, which Ravenna used to show how personality patterns relate to the timing of work and family role commitments. More generally, two enduring themes that emerge from Ravenna’s work are (1) personality is more than “just traits” and must include a conceptualization of the whole person, and (2) personality does change and in different ways for different people depending on their life experiences. Ravenna received the 2003 Block Award.
2016 - Walter Mischel
The Society of Personality and Social Psychology is pleased to announce Walter Mischel as the 2016 SPSP Convention Legacy honoree. Mischel is the recipient of the first Legacy recognition, which is designed to honor luminary figures in social and personality psychology.
Mischel has been a leading voice in psychological science since the beginning of his long career. His work on personality and situations as causes of human behavior has been sometimes controversial, and always innovative. His sustained scholarship in this area has led to new ways to understand the person and the situation, and new ways to think about stability and change.
Equally transformative has been Mischel’s work on the psychology of self-control. This work helped put the mysterious notion of “willpower” on firm empirical ground. It has inspired generations of researchers who are daily breaking new ground in understanding self-control and the delay of gratification. Mischel’s legacy continues to shape the way we talk about fundamental human concerns, from crime and punishment, to drug addiction, to career success and educational achievement.
