Elliot Aronson

Elliot Aronson (born January 9, 1932) is an American psychologist who has carried out experiments on the theory of cognitive dissonance and invented the Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative teaching technique that facilitates learning while reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice. In his 1972 social psychology textbook, The Social Animal, 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.^[3] In 2007, he received the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science, in which he was cited as the scientist who "fundamentally changed the way we look at everyday life".^[4] A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Aronson as the 78th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.^[5] He officially retired in 1994 but continues to teach and write.^[6]

Elliot Aronson
Aronson in 1972
Born	(1932-01-09) January 9, 1932 (age 92) Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S.[1]
Alma mater	Brandeis University Wesleyan University Stanford University[2]
Known for	research on cognitive dissonance, high-impact experimentation, Jigsaw Classroom, gain–loss theory of attraction
Awards	AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research, APS William James Award
Scientific career
Fields	Social psychology, applied social psychology, media psychology[2]
Institutions	Harvard University University of Minnesota University of Texas University of California, Santa Cruz
Doctoral advisor	Leon Festinger
Doctoral students	Merrill Carlsmith, John Darley, Anthony Greenwald, Alexander Gonzalez

Early life and education

Aronson grew up in extreme poverty in Revere, Massachusetts, during the Great Depression. His was the only Jewish family in the neighborhood, and it was not rare for Aronson to be bullied on the way home from Hebrew school by anti-Semitic gangs. He believes that every life's progress is based on a combination of luck, opportunity, talent, and intuition.^[7] Although his high school grades were mediocre, his SAT scores were high enough to earn him a work-study scholarship at Brandeis University.^[1]

Influenced by his father, he began his college career majoring in economics. However, he promptly changed his major to psychology after accidentally wandering into an Introductory Psychology lecture taught by Abraham Maslow.^[8] After attending this lecture, he realized that there was an entire science devoted to exploring the kinds of questions that had intrigued him as a child.^[8] His undergraduate years at Brandeis brought him closer to a number of respected psychologists, but Maslow was his primary mentor and had the biggest impact on his early academic career.^[8]

Aronson earned his bachelor's degree from Brandeis in 1954. He went on to earn a master's degree from Wesleyan University in 1956, where he worked with David McClelland, and a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1959, where his doctoral advisor and mentor was the experimental social psychologist Leon Festinger.^[1][2]

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.^[9] He was included in a list of the 100 most influential psychologists of the 20th century published by the Review of General Psychology.^[10] 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.^[11] His honors include distinguished research awards from 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.^[12] In 1981 he was one of five academics awarded "Professor of the Year" by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.^[13]

Research topics

Cognitive dissonance

Aronson's interests and research have paid particular attention to the theory of cognitive dissonance.^[14] Aronson refined 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. In a classic experiment, Aronson 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 or easy initiation.^[15] In Aronson's Theories of Cognitive Consistency (1973), he states: "Dissonance theory does not rest upon the assumption that man is a rational animal; rather, it suggests that man is a rationalizing animal – that he attempts to appear rational, both to others and to himself."^[16]

Jigsaw Classroom

Aronson in 2001, shortly after he began to lose his eyesight to macular degeneration

Aronson led the development of a classroom technique for defusing inter-group tension and promoting self-esteem. It was discovered that it is rare for classrooms of students to cooperate towards a common goal. In 1971 the newly desegregated schools of Austin, Texas faced a crisis of violence between ethnic groups.^[17] Aronson, then at the University of Texas, was called in as a consultant by a school administrator who was also a former student.^[2][17] Aronson noticed that the schools' highly competitive atmosphere was exacerbating the already tense ethnic rivalry.^[2] Together with his graduate students, he developed a model of teaching practice to encourage a culture of shared goals and mutual support.^[2] In the jigsaw classroom approach, pupils are divided into small groups, mixed by race and by ability, to work co-operatively on a task.^[18] 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.^[18] 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 learned. They are then assessed individually on all sections of the material.^[18][19][20] 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.^[18]

Comparisons with traditional classroom environments showed that the jigsaw classroom has positive effects on academic performance, self-esteem and attitudes towards other ethnic groups.^[21] The technique has since been applied in hundreds of schools across North America.^[2] 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.^[2] 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.^[17]

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.^[22]

Pratfall effect

Aronson published a paper in 1966,^[23] where he described an experiment testing the effects of a simple blunder on perceived attraction. The so-called pratfall effect is the tendency for attractiveness to increase or decrease after an individual makes a mistake, depending on the individual's perceived competence, or ability to perform well in a general sense.

Awards and professional recognition

Award	Awarding body	Year	Source
Award for Distinguished Research in Social Psychology	American Association for the Advancement of Science	1970	[2]
Fellowship	Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences	1970–1971, 1977–1978	[2]
National Media Award	American Psychological Association	1973	[2]
Teaching Award	University of Texas	1973	[2]
Teaching Award in Psychology	American Psychological Association	1980	[2]
Donald T. Campbell Award for distinguished contributions in social psychology	American Psychological Association	1980	[24]
Professor of the Year	Council for the Advancement and Support of Education	1981	[13]
Gordon Allport Prize for Inter-Group Relations	Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues	1981	[12]
Guggenheim Fellowship	John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation	1981–1982	[2]
Fellowship	American Academy of Arts and Sciences	1992	[2][25]
Award for Distinguished Research in the Social Sciences	University of California, Santa Cruz	1992	[12]
Distinguished Scientific Career Award	Society of Experimental Social Psychology	1994	[2]
Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award	American Psychological Association	1999	[12]
Master Lecturer	American Psychological Association	2001	[26]
William James Fellow Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Scientific Psychology	Association for Psychological Science	2007	[12]

Personal life

Aronson with his Labrador Retriever guide dog Desi-Lu in 2011

Elliot is married to Vera Aronson, whom he met while they were both undergraduate research assistants under Abraham Maslow.^[3] Together they have had four children: Hal, Neal, Julie and Joshua, who is himself a social psychologist.^[3][27] In 2000, Aronson was diagnosed with macular degeneration and, by 2003, had lost all of his central vision.^[11] To cope with his blindness, Aronson decided to get a guide dog, and applied at Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2010. In January 2011 he began a three-week training session with his new guide dog, Desilu, nicknamed Desi. He graduated from the program on February 12, 2011. He said, "They worked us 14 hours a day, until we were almost as smart as our dogs."^[28]

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., Carlsmith, 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. (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. (2015). Mistakes were made (but not by Me): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts (Rev. ed) New York: Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-54-457478-6
• Aronson, E., & Patnoe, S. (2011). Cooperation in the Classroom: The Jigsaw Method (3rd ed.). New York: Pinter & Martin Ltd. ISBN 1-9051-7722-4
• Aronson, E. (2011). The Social Animal (11th ed.). New York: Worth/Freeman. ISBN 1-4292-3341-9
• Aronson, J., & Aronson, E. (Ed.). (2011). Readings about the social animal (11th ed.). New York: Worth/Freeman. ISBN 1-4292-3342-7
• Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers S. R. (2015). Social psychology (9th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-1339-3654-6

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 978-1-55798-919-2
• Aronson, Elliot (2007), "Elliot Aronson", in Lindzey, Gardner; McKinley Runyan, William (eds.), A History of psychology in autobiography, volume 9, American Psychological Association, pp. 3–42, ISBN 978-1-59147-796-9
• Aronson, E. (2010). Not by chance alone: My life as a social psychologist. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01833-8

Fiction

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

See also

• Insufficient justification § The forbidden toy experiment
• List of social psychologists

Notes

1. Aronson, E. (2010). Not by chance alone: My life as a social psychologist. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01833-8
2. Sheehy, Noel; Chapman, Antony J.; Conroy, Wendy A. (1997), "Aronson, Elliot", Biographical dictionary of psychology, Taylor & Francis, pp. 23–24, ISBN 978-0-415-09997-4
3. Gonzales, Marti Hope; Tavris, Carol; Aronson, Joshua (2010), "Editor's Introduction", in Gonzales, Marti Hope; Tavris, Carol; Aronson, Joshua (eds.), The scientist and the humanist: A Festschrift in honor of Elliot Aronson, New York: Psychology Press, pp. 7–8, ISBN 978-1-84872-867-7
4. William James Fellow Award – Elliot Aronson Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine (Association for Psychological Science) Accessed 2009-07-19
5. Haggbloom, Steven J.; Warnick, Renee; Warnick, Jason E.; Jones, Vinessa K.; Yarbrough, Gary L.; Russell, Tenea M.; Borecky, Chris M.; McGahhey, Reagan; et al. (2002). "The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century". Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): 139–152. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.586.1913. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139. S2CID 145668721.
6. Zimbardo, Philip (2010), "Honoring Elliot Aronson", in Gonzales, Marti Hope; Tavris, Carol; Aronson, Joshua (eds.), The scientist and the humanist: A Festschrift in honor of Elliot Aronson, New York: Psychology Press, pp. 15–18, ISBN 978-1-84872-867-7
7. Chibnall, John T., "Elliot Aronson and the life of becoming.", American Psychological Association, date
8. American Psychologist (November 1999), 54 (11), pg. 873-875
9. Aronson, Joshua Michael (15 April 2002), Improving academic achievement: impact of psychological factors on education, Emerald Group Publishing, p. 15, ISBN 978-0-12-064455-1, retrieved 11 July 2010
10. Haggbloom, Steven J.; et al. (2002). "The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century". Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): 139–152. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139. S2CID 145668721.
11. McNulty, Jennifer. "UCSC Professor Emeritus Elliot Aronson receives lifetime achievement award from the Association for Psychological Science". UC Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
12. Gonzales, Marti Hope; Tavris, Carol; Aronson, Joshua (2010), "Elliot Aronson's Awards, Books, and Publications", in Gonzales, Marti Hope; Tavris, Carol; Aronson, Joshua (eds.), The scientist and the humanist: A Festschrift in honor of Elliot Aronson, New York: Psychology Press, pp. 345–346, ISBN 978-1-84872-867-7
13. "KU's Bricker recognised for outstanding teaching". Lawrence Journal-World. 28 May 1981. p. 6. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
14. Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. Aronson advanced Festinger's theory by showing that it is most powerful when the self-concept is involved; see Tavris, C., & Aronson, E. (2007), Mistakes were made (but not by ME): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
15. Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 177–181.
16. "Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Research Examples". 2012-04-22. Retrieved 5 Mar 2014.^{[dead link‍]} The core statement from this quote is often mis-attributed to Leon Festinger. The earliest known expression of this concept appears in Robert A. Heinlein's 1953 book Assignment in Eternity, which collected Heinlein stories from the 1930s and 1940s: "Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal."
17. Gilbert, Susan (March 27, 2001). "No One Left to Hate: Averting Columbines". New York Times. Archived from the original on January 26, 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
18. Levinson, David; Cookson, Peter W.; Sadovnik, Alan R. (2002), Education and sociology: an encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, p. 117, ISBN 978-0-8153-1615-2, retrieved 11 July 2010
19. Brophy, Jere (2004), Motivating Students to Learn, Routledge, pp. 203–204, ISBN 978-1-4106-1021-8, retrieved 11 July 2010
20. "OVERVIEW." The Jigsaw Classroom. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 June 2016.
21. Aronson, Elliot; Bridgeman, Diane (1979), "Jigsaw Groups and the Desegregated Classroom: In Pursuit of Common Goals", Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 5 (4): 438–446, doi:10.1177/014616727900500405, ISSN 0146-1672, S2CID 143393196
22. Reisman, John M. (September 1979). Anatomy of friendship. Ardent Media. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-0-89197-646-2. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
23. Aronson, E., Willerman, B., & Floyd, J. (1966). The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness. Psychonomic Science.
24. "The Donald T. Campbell Award". APA.org. American Psychological Association. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
25. "Book of Members, 1780-2010, chapter A" (PDF). amacad.org. American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
26. "Master Lecturers Program". APA.org. American Psychological Association. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
27. Stambor, Zak (2006), "Lowered expectations", Monitor on Psychology, vol. 30, no. 6, American Psychological Association, retrieved 11 July 2010
28. Lasiner, Guy (March 30, 2011). "Elliot Aronson nominated for book, emeriti awards". news.ucsc.edu. Retrieved January 31, 2022.

Further reading

• Vils, Ursula (August 10, 1978). "'Jigsaw Method' Cuts Desegregation Strife". Los Angeles Times.
• Gilbert, Susan (April 1, 2001). "School violence target of method". San Diego Union - Tribune.
• Carey, Benedict (September 4, 2005). "Storm and Crisis: Coping; Storm Will Have a Long-Term Emotional Effect on Some, Experts Say". New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
• "Page May Have Falsely Confessed, Psychologist Says". San Jose Mercury News. March 31, 1988.
• Vedantam, Shankar (July 9, 2007). "Bush: Naturally, Never Wrong". Washington Post. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
• Foote, Carol (August 21, 1980). "Motivating People To Save Energy". New York Times.
• Gilbert, Susan (March 29, 2001). "Jigsaw Classrooms to Avert Future Columbines". New Straits Times. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
• Aronson, Elliot (2007), "Elliot Aronson", in Lindzey, Gardner; McKinley Runyan, William (eds.), A History of psychology in autobiography, volume 9, American Psychological Association, pp. 3–42, ISBN 978-1-59147-796-9
• Lasnier, Guy (March 30, 2011). "Elliot Aronson nominated for book, emeriti awards". University of California Santa Cruz. Retrieved 30 March 2011.

External links

• Aronson's home page
• 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)