Elliot Aronson - Biography

Elliot Aronson (born January 9, 1932) is an American psychologist. He is listed among the 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th Century, best known for the invention of the Jigsaw Classroom as a method of reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice; cognitive dissonance research, and influential social psychology textbooks.In his classic (1972) text, The Social Animal, (now in its 11th edition), he stated Aronson's First Law: People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy--thus, asserting the importance of situational factors in bizarre behavior. He is the only person in the 120-year history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its major awards: for writing, for teaching, and for research. In 2007 he received the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science. He officially retired in 1994, but has continued to teach and write.

Early life and education

Aronson grew up in extreme poverty in Revere, Massachusetts, during the Great Depression. Although his high school grades were mediocre, his SAT scores were high enough to earn him a work/study scholarship at Brandeis University. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Brandeis in 1954 (where he was a protege of the humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow). He went on to earn a Master's degree from Wesleyan University in 1956 (where he worked with David McClelland), and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1959 (where his doctoral advisor and mentor was the experimental social psychologist Leon Festinger).

Professional history

Aronson has taught at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. He also served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Stanford University. He was included in a list of the 100 most influential psychologists of the 20th century published by the Review of General Psychology. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and won the William James Award from the Association for Psychological Science for his lifetime achievements. His many honors include distinguished research awards from a variety of professional organizations, including the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. He also won the Gordon Allport Prize for his work on reducing prejudice. In 1981 he was one of five academics awarded "Professor of the Year" by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

Research topics

Cognitive dissonance

One of Aronson's key areas of interest and research has been the theory of cognitive dissonance. Aronson is credited with refining the theory, which posits that when attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent (dissonant), psychological discomfort results. This discomfort motivates the person experiencing it to either change the behavior or the attitude so that consonance is restored. Among his classic experiments, he demonstrated that people who undergo an embarrassing initiation to gain admission to a group develop more favorable evaluations of the group than people who are admitted after a mild initiation.

The Jigsaw Classroom

Aronson led the development of a classroom technique for defusing inter-group tension and promoting self-esteem. In 1971 the newly desegregated schools of Austin, Texas faced a crisis of violence between ethnic groups. Aronson, then at the University of Texas, was called in as a consultant by a school superintendent who was also a former student. Aronson noticed that the schools' highly competitive atmosphere was exacerbating the already tense ethnic rivalry. Together with his graduate students, he developed a model of teaching practice to encourage a culture of shared goals and mutual support. In the jigsaw classroom approach, pupils are divided into small groups, mixed by race and by ability, to work co-operatively on a task. The classroom material—for example a biography of a historical figure—is broken into sections, and one member of each group is responsible for reading each section. Members with the same role from each group gather in "expert groups" to discuss their sections. They then return to their own groups and take turns to present what they have learnt. They are then assessed individually on all sections of the material. This division of responsibilities means that students are motivated to listen to each other and each of them experiences a role in which they are valuable to others.

Comparisons with traditional classroom environments showed that the jigsaw classroom has positive effects on academic performance, self-esteem and attitudes towards other ethnic groups. The technique has since been applied in hundreds of schools across North America. From its initial application at third- to fifth-grade school level, it has been expanded to other educational levels. This success encouraged Aronson to apply his research to other policy issues including energy conservation and the treatment of the elderly. In the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, Aronson advocated for jigsaw classrooms as part of an approach to defusing the social divisions underlying school violence.

Gain-loss theory of attraction

In 1965, Aronson proposed that interpersonal attraction and liking could be understood in terms of the balance of reward and cost. This implied that contrast—a gain or loss of positive feedback from the other person—has more effect on liking than the absolute level of feedback. An example is how compliments are more meaningful when they come from someone who is usually critical, rather than from a reliable supporter. Another example is that a couple may feel more dedicated to their relationship if they initially disliked each other.

Awards and professional recognition

Personal life

Elliot is married to Vera Aronson, whom he met while they were both undergraduate research assistants under Abraham Maslow. Together they have had four children; Hal, Neal, Julie and Joshua, who is himself a social psychologist. In 2000, Aronson was diagnosed with macular degeneration and, by 2003, had lost all of his central vision. To cope with his blindness, Aronson decided to work with a guide dog, and applied at Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2010. Later, beginning in January and extending through February 2011, he was trained at Guide Dogs for the Blind in a three week training session, and received a guide dog, Desilu, nicknamed "Desi." He graduated from the program on February 12, 2011. He said jokingly "They worked us 14 hours a day, until we were almost as smart as our dogs."

Bibliography

Aronson has written more than twenty books, including textbooks, popularizations and one book of children's fiction with his granddaughter Ruth Aronson. In 2010, Psychology Press published a book of essays and scholarly articles by his friends, colleagues, and former students celebrating his influence on their work: The Scientist and the Humanist: A Festschrift in Honor of Elliot Aronson.

Academic books

• Lindzey, G., & Aronson, E. (1968 & 1985). The handbook of social psychology (2nd & 3rd eds.). New York: Random House.
• Stern, P. C., & Aronson, E. (1984). Energy use: The human dimension. New York: W. H. Freeman.
• Pines, A. & Aronson, E. (1988). Career burnout. New York: Free Press.
• Aronson, E., Ellsworth, P., Carslmith, J. M., & Gonzales, M. (1990). Methods of research in social psychology (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Aronson, E., & Pratkanis, A. R. (1993). Social psychology: The most outstanding research (Vol. 1, 2, & 3). London: Elgar Ltd.
• Aronson, E., & Patnoe, S. (1997). The jigsaw classroom: Building cooperation in the classroom (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.
• Aronson, E. (2000). Nobody left to hate: Teaching compassion after Columbine. New York: Henry Holt.
• Pratkanis, A. R., & Aronson, E. (2001). Age of propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion. New York: Henry Holt.
• Tavris, C., & Aronson, E. (2007). Mistakes were made (but not by Me): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts New York: Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-15-101098-1
• Aronson, E. (2008). The Social Animal (10th ed.). New York: Worth/Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-5715-X
• Aronson, J., & Aronson, E. (Ed.). (2008). Readings about the social animal (10th ed.). New York: Worth/Freeman.
• Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M. (2010). Social psychology (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Autobiography

• Aronson, E. (2002). "Drifting my own way: Following my nose and my heart." In R. Sternberg (Ed.) (2003) Psychologists defying the crowd: Stories of those who battled the establishment and won. Washington, DC: APA Books. ISBN 9781557989192
• Aronson, E. (2010). Not by chance alone: My life as a social psychologist. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-46501-833-8

Fiction

• Aronson, E., & Aronson, R. (2005). The Adventures of Ruthie and a Little Boy Named Grandpa (a children's book). iUniverse.

See also

• List of social psychologists

Notes

Further reading

External links

• Aronson's home page
• top psychology award
• Profile of Aronson on Social Psychology Network
• The Jigsaw Classroom: site created by Elliot Aronson and hosted by the Social Psychology Network
• Aronson interviewed by CNN's Newsroom about the Jigsaw Classroom, August 14, 2001 (transcript)
• Why It's Hard to Admit to Being Wrong: Interview with Aronson on National Public Radio, 20 July 2007 (audio and transcript)
• The Scientist and The Humanist: Elliot Aronson in conversation with Carol Tavris and Joshua Aronson, 2008 (video)