Bill Swann

Institution University of Texas at Austin Current Position Professor Highest Degree Ph.D. in Social Psychology from University of Minnesota, 1978 Research Interests Close Relationships Gender Group Processes Intergroup Relations Interpersonal Processes Organizational Behavior Prejudice/Stereotyping Self/Identity Social Cognition Sociology Laboratory Home Page Swann Laboratory Group Courses Taught Group Processes and the Self Identity and the self Social Psychology The self and close relationships   Bill Swann Department of Psychology 1 University Station, A8000 University of Texas, 108 Dean Keaton Austin, Texas 78712 U.S.A. Home Page Phone: (512) 471-3859 Fax: (512) 471-6175 I am a Professor of Social and Personality Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Although my primary appointment is in the Social-Personality area of the Psychology Department, I also have appointments in Clinical Psychology and in the School of Business. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College. My research examines the relation between social-cognitive processes and relationships both dyadic relationships and groups). One prominent theme in my recent work is the interplay between the personal and social self. Conor Seyle, Angel Gomez, Francico Morales, Carmen Huici and I have become interested in two related sets of processes. One line of work explores the consequences if identity fusion, which occurs when group members view the group as an externalization of the personal self. Our findings suggest that when people’s personal and social selves become fused in this way, people express willingness to engage in extraordinary behaviors in the service of their group membership, such as fighting or dying for the group Another theme is group identity verificatio, which occurs when people strive to attain support for their group identities, even if those identities happen to be negative. I am planning to explore ways in which these processes can be counter-productive for marginalized groups. I am also intrigued with the nature and antecedents of the desire for self-enhancment. Tracy Kwang and I are currently working on meta-analysis and theoretical article on this topic. With Michael Buhrmester, I have conducted a series of studies that are designed to identity the mechaisms underlying the endowment effect.Michael, Hart Blanton and I have also been working on a paper that explores the measurement of implicit self-esteem. And Matt Brooks, Jamie Pennebaker and I have been working to understand the role of identity in the maintenance and cessation of smoking behavior. All of these studies are specific illustrations of the importance of the processes through which people negotiate their identities in social settings. I recently prepared a a couple of theoretical articles, one on identity negotiation in general (with Jennifer Bosson) and a second on identity negotiation in the workplace (with Jennifer Bosson & Russell Johnson). Finally, at several points in my carreer I have developed a scale to answer a specific question I had involving the self or relationships or the interplay between the two. These scales can be found on the "Questionaires" page of my website. The primary scales include a measure of self-concepts (the "SAQ") published in 1989 with Brett Pelham, and measure of self-esteem (the "SLCS") published in 2001 with Romin Tafarodi, a brief measure of the Big 5 personality traits (the "TIPI"), and a measure of verbal inhibition or Blirtatiousness (the BLIRT") published in 2001 with Jason Rentfrow. If you are interested in learning your score on the Blirt, click here. NOTE TO POTENTIAL APPLICANTS TO GRADUATE STUDY: I regret that I will not be accepting new students for the Fall, 2010 semester. Note: All of my recent and many of my not-so-recent publications can be found on my web site: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/swann/research.htm Journal Articles: Gómez, A., Seyle, C., Huici, C. & Swann, W.B., Jr., (in press). Can self-verification strivings fully transcend the self-other barrier? Seeking verification of ingroup identities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. North, R.J. & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2008). Self-Verification 360º: Illuminating the light and dark sides. In V. Kwan & L. Gaertner (Eds.) Special issue for Self and Identity, 8, 131–146. Sasaki, T., Hazen, N. L., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (in press). The supermom trap: Do involved dads erode moms' self-competence? Personal Relationships. Swann, W.B., Jr., Gómez, A., Seyle, C., Morales, F. & Huici, C (2009). Identity fusion: The interplay of personal and social identities in extreme group behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 995–1011. Other Publications: English, T., Chen, S., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2008). A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Self-Verification Motives. In R. Sorrentino & S. Yamaguchi, (Eds.) Handbook of Motivation and Cognition Across Cultures (pp. 119-142), Elsevier: San Diego, CA. North, R.J. & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2009). What’s positive about self-verification? S. Lopez (Ed.) Handbook of Positive Psychology, 2nd Edition. (pp. 465-474). New York: Oxford University Press. Swann, W. B., Jr. (in press). Self-verification theory. In P. Van Lang, A. Kruglanski, & E.T. Higgins (Eds.) Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology, Sage: London. Swann, W.B., Jr. & Bosson, J. (in press). Self and Identity. Chapter prepared for S.T. Fiske, D.T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (5th ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. Swann, W.B., Jr. & Bosson, J. (2008). Identity negotiation: A Theory of Self and Social Interaction. In O. John, R. Robins, & L. Pervin (Eds.) Handbook of Personality Psychology: Theory and Research I (pp. 448-471). New York: Guilford.

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