Robert Zajonc
Robert B. Zajonc | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 23, 1923 |
| Died | December 3, 2008 (aged 85) Stanford, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan (Ph.D. 1955) University of Paris |
| Known for | Mere-exposure effect |
| Spouses | Donna Benson (divorced) Hazel Rose Markus |
| Children | Krysia，Peter, Michael and Joseph |
| Awards | AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Social psychology |
| Institutions | University of Michigan |
| Thesis | Cognitive Structure and Cognitive Tuning (1954) |
| Doctoral advisor | Dorwin Cartwright |
| Doctoral students | Hazel Rose Markus Eugene Burnstein John Bargh |
Robert Bolesław Zajonc (/ˈzaɪ.ənts/ ZY-ənts; Polish: [ˈzajɔnt͡s]; November 23, 1923 – December 3, 2008) was an American social psychologist who is known for his decades of work on a wide range of social and cognitive processes. One of his most important contributions to social psychology is the mere-exposure effect. Zajonc also conducted research in the areas of social facilitation, and theories of emotion, such as the affective neuroscience hypothesis.
He also made contributions to comparative psychology. He argued that studying the social behavior of humans alongside the behavior of other species, is essential to our understanding of the general laws of social behavior. An example of his viewpoint is his work with cockroaches that demonstrated social facilitation, evidence that this phenomenon is displayed regardless of species. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Zajonc as the 35th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.