Alice Eagly

Alice Eagly is a social psychologist who has published widely on the psychology of attitudes, especially attitude change and attitude structure. She is equally devoted to the study of gender and social behavior. In both of these areas, she has carried out primary research and meta-analyses of research literature. She is the author of Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Social Role Interpretation, The Psychology of Attitudes with co-author Shelly Chaiken, and Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders with co-author Linda L. Carli. Eagly also is the author of numerous journal articles and chapters in her research specialties.

Previously, she taught at Michigan State University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Purdue University. She has served as president of the Midwestern Psychological Association, president of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, chair of the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association, and chair of the Executive Committee of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.

She has received several awards, including the Gold Medal from American Psychological Foundation Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology, Interamerican Psychologist Award for contributions to psychology as a science and profession in the Americas; the Carolyn Wood Sherif Award for contributions to the psychology of women as scholar, mentor, teacher, and leader; the Donald Campbell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Social Psychology; the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology; and a citation as Distinguished Leader for Women in Psychology.

Education

Doctoris Philosophiae Honoris Causa, 2012, Erasmus University

Doctoris Philosophiae Honoris Causa, 2011, University of Bern

Ph. D., 1965, Social Psychology, Michigan phd

M.A., 1963, Psychology, University of Michigan

A.B., 1960, Social Relations, Radcliffe College (Harvard University), Summa Cum Laude

Academic Positions

Professor of Psychology, Northwestern University, 1995-present

Fellow, American Academy in Berlin, 2011-2011

Distinguished Visiting Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California, 2009-2010

Visiting Researcher, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 2005-2006

Visiting Scholar, Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 1998-1995

Visiting Professor of Psychology, University of Tuebingen, 1991-1992

Professor of Psychology, Purdue University, 1980-1995

Visiting Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Harvard University, 1974-1975

Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois, 1970-1971

Assistant to Associate to Full Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, 1967-1980

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University, 1965-1967

Research Interests

The psychology of gender, especially sex differences in similarities in leadership, prosocial behavior, aggression, partner preferences, and sociopolitical attitudes. The content of stereotypes. Social role theory as a theory of sex differences and simlarities and of the origins of sex differences in social behavior. Attitude theory and research, especially attitudinal selectivity in information processing

Selected Publications

Books

Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. (see jacket image above)

Eagly, A. H., & Sczesny, S. (Eds.). (2019). Gender roles in the future? Theoretical foundations and future research directions. Research topic in Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01965

Articles

Bosak, J., Eagly, A. H., Diekman, A. M., & Sczesny, S. (2018). Women and men of the past, present, and future: Evidence of dynamic gender stereotypes in Ghana. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49, 115-129.

Eagly, A. H. (2018). Some leaders come from nowhere: Their success is uneven. Journal of Social Issues, 74, 184-196.

Miller, D. I., Nolla, K. M., Eagly, A. H., & Uttal, D. H. (2018). The development of children's gender‐science stereotypes: A meta‐analysis of 5 decades of us draw‐a‐scientist studies. Child Development, 89, 1943-1955.

Stockdale, M. X., & Eagly, A. H. (2018). Beyond representation of women in I-O to producing gender-inclusive knowledge. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2018.97

Eagly, A. H. (2018). The shaping of science by ideology: How feminism inspired, led, and constrained scientific understanding of sex and gender. Journal of Social Issues, 74, 1-18.

Koenig, A. M., & Eagly, A. H. (2019). Typical roles and intergroup relations shape stereotypes: How understanding social structure clarifies the origins of stereotype content. Social Psychology Quarterly, 82, 205–230.

Eagly, A. H., Nater, C., Miller, D. I., Kaufmann, M., & Sczesny, S. (2020). Gender stereotypes have changed: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of US public opinion polls from 1946 to 2018. American Psychologist, 75, 301-315.

Gustafsson Sendén, M., Eagly, A. H., & Sczesny, S. (2020). Of caring nurses and assertive police officers: Social role information overrides gender stereotypes in linguistic behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(6), 743-751.