Susan Tufts Fiske (born August 19, 1952) is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs in the Department of Psychology at Princeton University.
She is a
social psychologist
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 re ...
known for her work on
social cognition
Social cognition is a sub-topic of various branches of psychology that focuses on how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. It focuses on the role that cognitive processes play in social interactio ...
,
stereotypes
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
, and
prejudice
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
.
Fiske leads the Intergroup Relations, Social Cognition, and Social Neuroscience Lab at Princeton University. Her theoretical contributions include the development of the stereotype content model, ambivalent sexism theory, power as control theory, and the continuum model of impression formation.
Early years and personal life
Fiske comes from a family of psychologists and social activists. Her father,
Donald W. Fiske
Donald Winslow Fiske (August 27, 1916 – April 6, 2003) was an American psychologist.
Early life
Donald W. Fiske was born on August 27, 1916 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He grew up in Medford, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University and in ...
, was an influential psychologist who spent most of his career at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
.
Her mother, Barbara Page Fiske (1917–2007), was a civic leader in Chicago.
Her brother,
Alan Page Fiske, is an anthropologist at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. Fiske's grandmother and great grandmother were
suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
s.
In 1973, Susan Fiske enrolled at
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
for her undergraduate degree in social relations at Harvard University where she graduated
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
.
She received her PhD from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1978, for her thesis titled ''Attention and the Weighting of Behavior in Person Perception''. She currently resides in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband
Douglas Massey
Douglas Steven Massey (born October 5, 1952 in Olympia, Washington, United States) is an American sociologist. Massey is currently a professor of Sociology at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and i ...
, a Princeton sociologist.
Career
The last semester of Fiske's senior year, she worked with
Shelley Taylor
Shelley Elizabeth Taylor (born 1946) is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University, and was formerly on the faculty at Harvard University. A prolific author of ...
, an assistant professor at Harvard, studying
social cognition
Social cognition is a sub-topic of various branches of psychology that focuses on how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. It focuses on the role that cognitive processes play in social interactio ...
, particularly the effect
attention
Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
has in
social situation
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
s.
After graduation, Fiske continued in the field of social cognition. There is conflict between the fields 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
cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning.
Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which ...
, and some researchers want to keep these two fields separate. Fiske felt that significant knowledge could be attained by combining the fields. Fiske's experience with this conflict and her interest in the field of social cognition resulted in Fiske's and Taylor's book ''Social Cognition''. This book provides an overview of the developing theories and concepts emerging in the field of social cognition, while explaining the use cognitive processes to understand social situations, ourselves and others.
Fiske and
Steven Neuberg
Steven L. Neuberg is an experimental social psychologist whose research has contributed to topics pertaining to person perception, impression formation, stereotyping, prejudice, self-fulfilling prophecies, stereotype threat, and prosocial behavi ...
went on to develop the first dual process model of social cognition, the "continuum model."
She gave expert testimony in the landmark case, ''
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins'' which was eventually heard by the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, making her the first social psychologist to testify in a gender discrimination case. This testimony led to a continuing interest in the use of psychological science in legal contexts.
Working with Peter Glick, Fiske analyzed the dependence of male-female interactions, leading to the development of
ambivalent sexism
Ambivalent sexism is a theoretical framework which posits that sexism has two sub-components: "hostile sexism" (HS) and "benevolent sexism" (BS). Hostile sexism reflects overtly negative evaluations and stereotypes about a gender (e.g., the ideas ...
theory. She also examined gender differences in social psychologists' publication rates and citations within the influential psychology journal, ''
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
The ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Psychological Association that was established in 1965. It covers the fields of social and personality psychology. The edi ...
.'' The male authors in the sample submitted more articles and had higher acceptance rates (18% vs. 14%). Women's impact was the same as men's as measured through the number of citations in textbooks and handbooks, so women were more cited per article published.
Fiske worked with Peter Glick and
Amy Cuddy
Amy Joy Casselberry Cuddy (born July 23, 1972) is an American social psychologist, author and speaker. She is a proponent of "power posing", a self-improvement technique whose scientific validity has been questioned. She has served as a faculty ...
to develop the Stereotype Content Model.
This model explains that warmth and competence differentiate out group stereotypes.
Fiske has been involved in the field of social cognitive neuroscience.
This field examines how neural systems are involved in social processes, such as person perception. Fiske's own work has examined neural systems involved in stereotyping,
intergroup hostility, and impression formation.
She has authored over 300 publications and has written several books, including her 2010 work ''Social Beings: A Core Motives Approach to Social Psychology'' and ''Social Cognition,'' a graduate level text that defined the now-popular subfield of social cognition. She has edited the ''
Annual Review of Psychology
The ''Annual Review of Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles about psychology. First published in 1950, its longest-serving editors have been Mark Rosenzweig (1969–1994) and Susan Fiske (2000– ...
'' (with
Daniel Schacter
Daniel Lawrence Schacter (born June 17, 1952) is an American psychologist. He is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. His research has focused on psychological and biological aspects of human memory and amnesia, with a particular empha ...
and
Shelley Taylor
Shelley Elizabeth Taylor (born 1946) is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University, and was formerly on the faculty at Harvard University. A prolific author of ...
) and the ''Handbook of Social Psychology'' (with
Daniel Gilbert and the late
Gardner Lindzey
Gardner Edmund Lindzey (November 27, 1920 – February 4, 2008) was an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). After completing a doctorate at Harvard University, Lindzey served as a professor or ...
). Other books include ''Envy Up, Scorn Down: How Status Divides Us'', which describes how people constantly
compare
Comparison or comparing is the act of evaluating two or more things by determining the relevant, comparable characteristics of each thing, and then determining which characteristics of each are similar to the other, which are different, and t ...
themselves to others, with toxic effects on their relationships at home, at work, in school, and in the world, and ''The Human Brand: How We Relate to People, Products, and Companies''.
Research
Her four most well-known contributions to the field of psychology are the
stereotype content model In social psychology, the stereotype content model (SCM) is a model, first proposed in 2002, postulating that all group stereotypes and interpersonal impressions form along two dimensions: (1) warmth and (2) competence.
The model is based on the ...
,
ambivalent sexism theory,
the
continuum model of impression formation In social psychology, the continuum model of impression formation was created by Susan Fiske, Fiske and Steven Neuberg, Neuberg.
According to this model of impression formation, impressions are formed when individuals automatically categorize oth ...
, and the power-as-control theory. She is also known for the term
cognitive miser
In psychology, the human mind is considered to be a cognitive miser due to the tendency of humans to think and solve problems in simpler and less effortful ways rather than in more sophisticated and effortful ways, regardless of intelligence. See ...
, coined with her graduate adviser
Shelley E. Taylor
Shelley Elizabeth Taylor (born 1946) is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University, and was formerly on the faculty at Harvard University. A prolific author of ...
, referring to individuals' tendencies to use cognitive shortcuts and
heuristics
A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, ...
.
Stereotype content model
The
stereotype content model In social psychology, the stereotype content model (SCM) is a model, first proposed in 2002, postulating that all group stereotypes and interpersonal impressions form along two dimensions: (1) warmth and (2) competence.
The model is based on the ...
(SCM) is a
psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...
theory arguing that people tend to perceive social groups along two fundamental dimensions: warmth and competence.
Warmth describes the group's perceived intent (friendly and trustworthy or not); competence describes their perceived ability to act on their intent.
The SCM was originally developed to understand the social classification of groups within the population of the U.S. However, the SCM has since been applied to analyzing social classes and structures across countries
and history.
Most samples view their own middle class as both warm and competent, but they view refugees, homeless people, and undocumented immigrants as neither warm nor competent. The SCM's innovation is identifying mixed stereotypes—high on competence but low on warmth (e.g., rich people) or high on warmth but low on competence (e.g., elderly people). Nations with higher income inequality tend to use these mixed stereotypes more frequently.
Groups’ perceived cooperativeness predicts their perceived warmth, and this dimension reflects the importance of intent.
Warmth predicts active helping and harming.
A group's perceived status predicts its stereotypic competence, so this reflects a belief in meritocracy, that people get what they deserve.
Competence predicts passive helping and harming.
Ambivalent sexism theory
Fiske and Peter Glick developed the
ambivalent sexism
Ambivalent sexism is a theoretical framework which posits that sexism has two sub-components: "hostile sexism" (HS) and "benevolent sexism" (BS). Hostile sexism reflects overtly negative evaluations and stereotypes about a gender (e.g., the ideas ...
inventory (ASI) as a way of understanding prejudice against women.
The ASI posits two sub-components of gender stereotyping: hostile sexism (hostility towards nontraditional women), and benevolent sexism (idealizing and protecting traditional women). The theory posits that men and women's intimate interdependence, coupled with men's average status advantage, requires incentives for women who cooperate (benevolent sexism) and punishment for women who resist (hostile sexism). Both men and women can endorse hostile sexism and benevolent sexism, though men on average score higher than women, especially on hostile sexism. The ASI appears useful across nations. The authors have also developed a parallel scale of ambivalence toward men.
Power-as-control theory
Power-as-control theory aims to explain how social power motivates people to heed or ignore others. In this framework, power is defined as control over valued resources and over others' outcomes. Low-power individuals attend to those who control resources, while powerful people need not attend to low-power individuals (since high-power individuals can, by definition, get what they want).
Continuum model of impression formation
This model describes the process by which we form impressions of others. Impression formation is framed as depending on two factors: The available information and the perceiver's motivations. According to the model, these two factors help to explain people's tendency to apply stereotyping processes vs. individuating processes when forming social impressions.
Response to 'replication crisis'
With the
replication crisis of psychology earning attention, Fiske drew controversy for calling out critics of psychology.
In a letter intended for publication in ''APS Observer,'' she referred to these unnamed "adversaries" as "methodological terrorist" and "self-appointed data police", and said that criticism of psychology should only be expressed in private or through contacting the journals.
Columbia University statistician and political scientist
Andrew Gelman
Andrew Eric Gelman (born February 11, 1965) is an American statistician and professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University.
Gelman received bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and in physics from MIT, where he was a ...
, "well-respected among the researchers driving the replication debate", responded to Fiske, saying that she had found herself willing to tolerate the "dead paradigm" of faulty statistics and had refused to retract publications even when errors were pointed out.
He added that during her tenure as editor a number of papers edited by her were found to be based on extremely weak statistics; one of Fiske's own published papers had a major statistical error and "impossible" conclusions.
After the leak of her letter, she tempered the language in the published ''APS Observer'' column, removing the term "methodological terrorists". In the column, she expressed concern that although peer critiques are valuable, peer critique through social media outlets "can encourage a certain amount of uncurated, unfiltered denigration." She elaborated: "In a few rare but chilling cases, self-appointed data police are volunteering critiques" that "attack the person, not just the work; they attack publicly, without quality controls; they have reportedly sent their unsolicited, unvetted attacks to tenure-review committees and public-speaking sponsors; they have implicated targets' family members and advisors."
Since writing the column, Fiske has published peer-reviewed advice about publishing rigorous research in the 21st century and about adversarial collaboration as a remedy to public incivility among disagreeing perspectives.
Awards and achievements
Fiske became an elected member of 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 ...
in 2013. In 2011, Fiske was elected into the Fellowship of the British Academy.
In 2010, she was awarded the
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 ...
Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.
She received numerous awards in 2009, including a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
, the Association for Psychological Science William James Fellow Award, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Donald Campbell
Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...
Award.
In 2008, Fiske received the Staats Award for Unifying Psychology, from the American Psychological Association. In 2003, she was awarded the Thomas Ostrom Award from the International Social Cognition Network and for 2019 the
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards () are an international award programme recognizing significant contributions in the areas of scientific research and cultural creation. The categories that make up the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards ...
in Social Sciences.
Fiske was awarded honorary degrees from the University of Basel in 2013, the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
in 2009 and the
Université catholique de Louvain
The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...
in 1995.
She served as past president of 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 ...
, Division 8 of the American Psychological Association, the
Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, the Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and the
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 ...
(now the
Association for Psychological Science
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 ...
). She is also a fellow of the
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 ...
and the
American Academy of Political and Social Science
The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. Sparked by Professor Edmund J. James and drawing from members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmo ...
. She was elected to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 2014.
A quantitative analysis published in 2014 identified Fiske as the 22nd most eminent researcher in the modern era of psychology (12th among living researchers, 2nd among women).
Books
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* Editor of the 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 editions of ''
Annual Review of Psychology
The ''Annual Review of Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles about psychology. First published in 1950, its longest-serving editors have been Mark Rosenzweig (1969–1994) and Susan Fiske (2000– ...
''
* Editor of the 2010 edition of Handbook of Social Psychology
* Editor of the 2012 edition of the Sage Handbook of Social Cognition
* Editor of Sage Major Works in Social Cognition (2013)
Selected journal articles
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References
External links
Fiske's Page at PrincetonSocial Psychology Network Professional Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiske, Susan
20th-century American psychologists
21st-century American psychologists
American women psychologists
American social psychologists
American women neuroscientists
American neuroscientists
Princeton University faculty
Living people
1952 births
Radcliffe College alumni
Fellows of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
21st-century American women scientists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
20th-century American women scientists
American women academics
Annual Reviews (publisher) editors
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy