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Richard Eugene Nisbett (born June 1, 1941) is an American social psychologist and writer. He is the Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished Professor of
social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...
and co-director of the Culture and Cognition program at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
at
Ann Arbor
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
. Nisbett's research interests are in social cognition, culture, social class, and aging. He received his Ph.D. from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where his advisor was
Stanley Schachter
Stanley Schachter (April 15, 1922 – June 7, 1997) was an American social psychologist, who is perhaps best known for his development of the two factor theory of emotion in 1962 along with Jerome E. Singer. In his theory he states that emotions ...
, whose other students at that time included
Lee Ross
Lee David Ross (August 25, 1942 – May 14, 2021) was a Canadian-American professor. He held the title of the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University and was an influential social psychologist wh ...
and
Judith Rodin
Judith Rodin (born Judith Seitz, September 9, 1944) is a philanthropist with a long history in U.S. higher education. She was the president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 2005 until 2017. From 1994 to 2004, Rodin served as the 7th permanent p ...
.
Perhaps his most influential publication is "Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes" (with
T. D. Wilson, 1977, ''Psychological Review'', 84, 231–259), one of the most often cited psychology articles published, with over 13,000 citations. This article was the first comprehensive, empirically based argument that a variety of mental processes responsible for preferences, choices, and emotions are inaccessible to conscious awareness. Nisbett and Wilson contended that introspective reports can provide only an account of "what people think about how they think," but not "how they really think." Some cognitive psychologists disputed this claim, with
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
and
Simon
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
(1980) offering an alternative perspective.
Nisbett's book ''
The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently... And Why'' (Free Press; 2003) contends that "human cognition is not everywhere the same," that Asians and Westerners "have maintained very different systems of thought for thousands of years," and that these differences are scientifically measurable.
Nisbett's book ''
Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count'' (2009) argues that environmental factors dominate genetic factors in determining intelligence. The book received extensive favorable attention in the press and from some fellow academics; for example, University of Pennsylvania psychologist
Daniel Osherson wrote that the book was a "hugely important analysis of the determinants of IQ". On the other hand, more critical reviewers argued that the book failed to grapple with the strongest evidence for genetic factors in individual and group intelligence differences.
With
Edward E. Jones
:For the Louisiana civil rights pioneer, see ''E. Edward Jones''.
Edward Ellsworth "Ned" Jones (August 11, 1926 – July 30, 1993) was an influential American social psychology, social psychologist, he is known as father of Ingratiation due to ...
, he named the
actor–observer bias, the phenomenon where people acting and people observing use different explanations for why a behavior occurs. This is an important concept in
attribution theory
Attribution is a term used in psychology which deals with how individuals perceive the causes of everyday experience, as being either external or internal. Models to explain this process are called attribution theory. Psychological research into a ...
, and refers to the tendency to attribute one's own behaviour to situational factors, other people's behaviour to their disposition. Jones and Nisbett's own explanation for this was that our attention is focused on the situation when we are actors, but on the person when we are observers, although other explanations have been advanced for the actor-observer bias.
In popular culture
In an interview with ''The New York Times'',
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little T ...
said, "The most influential thinker, in my life, has been the psychologist Richard Nisbett. He basically gave me my view of the world."
Books and significant papers
* Nisbett, R. and T. Wilson (1977). "Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes." Psychological Review 84(3): 231–259.
* Ross, L and Nisbett, R.E. ''The Person and the Situation''. McGraw Hill, 1991. Reissued with new foreword by Malcolm Gladwell and afterword by the authors, 2011.
* ''Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South'' (Westview Press, 1996)
* ''
The Geography of Thought
''The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why'' is a book by social psychologist Richard Nisbett that was published by Free Press in 2003. By analyzing the differences between Asia and the West, it argues that ...
'' (Free Press, 2003)
* ''
Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count'' (Norton, 2009)
* ''Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking'' (FSG, 2015)
Awards
* Donald T. Campbell Award for Distinguished Research in Social Psychology, awarded by the
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) is an academic society for personality and social psychologists focused on promoting scientific research that explores how people think, behave and interact. It is the largest organization o ...
, 1982.
*
Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology,
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
, 1991.
* Fellow,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
, 1992.
* Distinguished Senior Scientist Award,
Society for Experimental Social Psychology The Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) is a scientific organization of social scientists founded in 1965 with the goal of advancing and communicating theories in social psychology. Its first chairperson was Edwin P. Hollander.Hollande ...
, 1995
* Wei Lun Visiting Professor of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995.
* William James Fellow Award for Distinguished Scientific Achievements,
American Psychological Society
The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
, 1996.
* Elected to the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, 2002
* Oswald-Külpe-Award of the
University of Würzburg
The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...
, Germany, 2007
Brief Biography for Richard E. Nisbett
University of Michigan faculty page
Notes
External links
Nisbett's Home Page
Nisbett's Faculty Profile
*
Biography
in Contemporary Authors
''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work which has been published by Gale since 1962. It provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers. ''Contemporary Authors'' does not have selective inclusion cr ...
(2009)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nisbett, Richard E.
1941 births
20th-century American psychologists
American psychology writers
21st-century American psychologists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Living people
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
People from Littlefield, Texas
Race and intelligence controversy
Social psychologists
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
University of Michigan faculty
Writers from Texas