John Dovidio, the Carl I. Hovland Professor of Psychology, will receive the 2014 Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) at the society’s convention in February.
The award “recognizes distinguished service specifically to SPSP. Distinguished service may be in terms of a particular, significant activity that benefited the society or cumulative contributions, performed over time, to the society. The society recognizes that service comes in many forms, and this award expresses the society’s appreciation of distinctive contributions.”
Dovidio focuses his research on issues of social power and social relations, both between groups and between individuals. He explores both conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) influences on how people think about, feel about, and behave toward others based on group membership. He also conducts research on aversive racism, a contemporary subtle form of prejudice, and on techniques for reducing conscious and unconscious biases.
With over 5,500 members, the Society of Personality and Social Psychology is the largest organization of social psychologists and personality psychologists. Founded in 1974, the society has three general missions: produce and disseminate knowledge to the profession and the public for the public good through personality and social psychological science; promote the careers of students and professionals in the areas of personality and social psychology; and recognize and promote achievement in personality and social psychology.