On Social Psychology and Human Nature: An Interview with Roy Baumeister

Abstract

Roy F. Baumeister currently holds the Eppes Eminent Professorship in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University. He received his PhD in social psychology from Princeton in 1978 working under Edward E. Jones. After a postdoctoral fellowship in sociology at Berkeley, he spent 23 years on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University, where he held the Elsie Smith Professorship in the Liberal Arts. He also held visiting positions at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich, Germany. He has taught social psychology, personality, sexuality, and interdisciplinary psychology. He has over 300 publications including 18 books. His new textbook, Social Psychology and Human Nature, is soon to be published.

Natalie Kerr Lawrence is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at James Madison University, where she teaches general psychology, statistics, research methods, and social psychology. She is an active member of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology; her research interests focus on the teaching (and learning) of psychology. She is currently studying factors that enhance students' self-efficacy.