Biographical
Sketch
Wegner studies the role of thought in self-control and in social
life. He
has investigated thought suppression, finding that
people become preoccupied with a white bear when they are
asked not to think about it, and has researched mental
control of
other kinds as well. He has studied transactive memory--how people in groups and relationships remember things cooperatively--and
action identification--what people think they're doing. He has also explored the experience
conscious will, and is currently focusing on mind perception--how people perceive human and nonhuman minds. His
research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and
by the National Institute of Mental Health. A 1996-1997 Fellow of
the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, he is
a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, recipient of the William James Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, and the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.
He also occasionally writes about himself in the third person.
Education
B.S. (1970), M.A.
(1972), Ph.D (1974) Michigan State University
Positions
Held
- Assistant Professor
(1974-1979) to Associate Professor (1979-1985) to Professor (1985-1990), Trinity University, San Antonio
- Visiting Scholar, University of Texas at Austin,
1980
- Chair, Department
of Psychology, Trinity University, 1988-1989
- Fellow, Center
for Advanced Study, University
of Virginia 1990-1991
- Professor and
Director of Graduate Program in Social Psychology, University of
Virginia, 1990-1996, 1997- 2000
- Fellow, Center
for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, 1996-1997
- William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia, 1999-2000
- Professor, Harvard
University, 2000-
- John Lindsley Professor of Psychology in Memory of William James, Harvard University, 2011-
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