In Honor Of… Alice Eagly
Honoring scientists who have made important and lasting contributions to the sciences of mind, brain, and behavior.
Alice Eagly, PhD
Professor of Psychology
Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research
Northwestern University
Alice Eagly is the James Padilla Chair of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Psychology, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. Alice Eagly has made fundamental contributions to the psychology of gender, especially to leadership, prosocial behavior, partner preferences, aggression, and sociopolitical attitudes. She developed the highly influential gender role theory to explain sex differences in these behaviors (Eagly, 1987). She tested this model through numerous meta-analytic investigations and primary empirical studies. Her work has captured the realities of men’s and women’s behaviors as they are embedded in daily life while providing a powerful theoretical model to explain these differences. More recently, she developed the gender role perspective into a broader evolutionary model of gender differences that highlights the flexibility in men’s and women’s behaviors across societies.
Alice Eagly’s landmark contributions to social psychology also include research on attitudes and persuasion, especially attitudinal selectivity in information processing. Her 1993 book with Shelly Chaiken, Psychology of Attitudes, has been the central field guide in this area for the past 3 decades. It is broadly integrative in scope yet detailed in its analysis of the cognitive and affective processes that guide attitudes and attitude change. This thoughtful analysis of the field has had far-reaching in impact, promoting psychology across applied as well as basic disciplines.
Her research has been recognized through numerous awards and prizes. Notable among these is the 2009 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, the 2008 Gold Medal from American Psychological Foundation (of the American Psychological Association) for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology, and the 1999 Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. These recognitions, much like the current one, are for her leadership and vision to make psychology the best that it can be.
Individuals Honoring Alice Eagly:
Dolores Albarracin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Galen V. Bodenhausen, Northwestern University
Linda Carli, Wellesley College
Amanda Diekman-Hugenberg, Miami University
Paul Eastwick, Texas A&M University
* Susan T. Fiske, Princeton University
Steven Karau, Southern Illinois University
Northwestern University Department of Psychology
Jennifer A. Richeson, Northwestern University
Laurie Rudman, Rutgers University
* Wendy Wood, University of Southern California
* The FABBS Foundation would like to thank Dr. Susan T. Fiske and Dr. Wendy Wood for nominating Dr. Eagly for this honor and for leading the effort to spread the word about her nomination.
