Bill Swann
UT Department of Psychology
1 University Station, A8000
108 Dean Keaton
Austin, Texas 78712
U.S.A.
Home Page
Phone: (512) 471-3859
Fax: (512) 471-6175
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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. Group identity verification 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. We are also interested in 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.
I am also intrigued with the role of identity in relationships at the workplace. Daniel Schroeder recently discovered that people with low self-esteem were more apt to remain in jobs in which they received pay decreases and leave jobs in which they received pay increases. Batia Weisenfeld, Joel Brockner, Caroline Bartel and I have been exploring the implications of such evidence of self-verification for people�s reactions to procedural justice in the workplace. We are finding that people with low self-esteem might be more tolerant of unfairness in the workplace than people with high self-esteem. We are now exploring the psychological mechanisms that underlie such reactions. Taken together, these findings suggest that people with low self-esteem may be vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace and elsewhere.
All of these studies are specific illustrations of the importance of the processes through which people negotiate their identities in social settings. With Jennifer Bosson, I am currently preparing a couple of theoretical articles, one on identity negotiation in general and a second on identity negotiation in the workplace (Russell Johnson is also collaborating on the latter article).
I have been interested in is why people enter into and maintain close relationships in which they are mistreated. Christine Chang-Schneider and I are casting a wide net in an effort to develop a process model of how people wind up in such relationships. At the moment, we are testing several hypotheses regarding why women get into such relationships (e.g., Do men seek them out? If so, who are these men, and what are they looking for in a partner?) and why do women remain in such relationships (e.g., Do women with negative self-views run an elevated risk for winding up in such relationships? If so, how does a diminished sense of self-worth place such women at risk for entering into and maintaining such relationship?). We are also examining the tendency for people to communicate their identities to others, even when these identities are negative (e.g., low self-esteem.
Note: All of my recent and many of my not-so-recent publications can be found on my website: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/swann/research.htm
 Journal Articles:
- Gill, M. J., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2004). On what it means to know someone: A matter of pragmatics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 405-418.
 Sellers, J. G., Woolsey, M. D., & Swann, W. B. Jr., (2007). Is silence more golden for women than men? Observers derogate effusive women and their quiet partners. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 57, 477-482.
- Swann, W. B., Jr., Chang-Schneider, C., & McClarty, K. (2007). Do people's self-views matter? Self-concept and self-esteem in everyday life. American Psychologist, 62, 84-94.
- Swann, W. B., Jr., Guinn, J. S., & Larsen, K. M. (2006). Tempting today, troubling tomorrow: The roots of the precarious couple effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 93-103.
- Swann, W. B., Jr., Polzer, J. T., Seyle, C., & Ko, S. (2004). Finding value in diversity: Verification of personal and social self-views in diverse groups. Academy of Management Review, 29, 9-27.
- Wiesenfeld, B. M., Swann, W. B., Jr., Brockner, J., & Bartel, C. (2007). Is more fairness always preferred? Self-esteem moderates reactions to procedural justice. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 1235-1253.
Other Publications:
- Swann, W. B., Jr. Chang-Schneider, C., & Angulo, S. (2007). Self-verification in relationships as an adaptive process. J. Wood, A. Tesser & J. Holmes (Eds.) Self and Relationships, Psychology Press: New York.
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