November 10, 2015
UW psychology professor Anthony Greenwald receives award for social cognition work
University of Washington psychology professor Anthony Greenwald is one of two researchers chosen to receive the most prestigious award of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.
Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji, a social psychologist at Harvard University, recently were named joint recipients of the 2016 Kurt Lewin Award for distinguished research on social issues. The pair is best known for their work on implicit social cognition, the unconscious attitudes and beliefs that humans bring to their social interactions. They helped create the Implicit Association Test, which is widely used in social psychology research, and co-authored the book “Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People.”
Named for the late Kurt Lewin, a founder of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and a pioneer in the science of group dynamics, the award recognizes “outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action,” according to the society. The award selection committee noted the “tremendous impact” that Greenwald and Banaji’s work has had on the field of social psychology and on public discourse about unconscious bias.
Greenwald has received numerous awards, including a Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology in 2006, a Research Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health from 1998 to 2004, and the Donald T. Campbell Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in 1994. In 2007, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
