ABRAHAM TESSER
Research
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
Institute for Behavioral Research Phone:
706-542-1806
Education:
Professional Positions:
2003- Social
science grants facilitator,
2001- Scholar
in Residence, Institute
for Behavioral Research,
1999-
Research Professor, Emeritus,
1967- 1999 Psychology, University of Georgia.
1984 - 1994 Director, Institute for Behavioral Research,
Visiting Positions.
1999-2000.
1992 - 1993. Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral
Sciences
Spring, 1983.
1976 to 1977.
Selected Professional Affiliations:
American Psychological Association (Fellow)
American Psychological Society (Founding Fellow)
Society for Experimental Social Psychology
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Fellow)
Southeastern Society for Social Psychology
Selected Honors:
Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. Society for Experimental
Social Psychology. 2010
Career Award. International Society for Self and Identity.,
2002.
Donald C. Campbell Award. Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Division 8, American Psychological Association). 1999, presented in 2001.
President, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Division 8, American Psychological Association), 2000
Chair, Social, Personality, and Group Processes Review Committee, National Institutes of Mental Health, 1996-1998.
Research Scientist Award. National Institute of Mental Health, 1994-2000.
Editor, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, 1991-1994.
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. 1992-1993.
William A. Owens
Award,
Appointed
Research Professor of Psychology,
National Research Service Award, National Institute for Mental Health,1976-1977.
Best articles in the Journal of Communication, International Communication Association and Prenctice Hall Publishers, 1972.
(A list of grants and invited ad
Major Research Interests
Self Evaluation Dynamics
Research on self-evaluation dynamics has taken several forms. A self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model of social behavior focuses on the consequences of another person’s outstanding performance on one’s own self-evaluation. It sketches out some conditions under which the other’s good performance bolsters self-evaluation, i.e., "basking in reflected glory", and conditions under which it threatens self-evaluation through a comparison process. Recently, this work is proving useful in understanding certain dynamics in intimate relationships such as marriage.
Other work focuses on the interrelationships among different self-evaluation maintenance mechanisms. The opportunity to express important social values, unflattering social comparisons, and inconsistent behavior appear to affect self-esteem. Although these mechanisms seem to be qualitatively different from one another, under certain conditions they may be interchangeable in maintaining self-esteem. Research with a "confluence model" seeks to understand this interchangeability.
Most recent work seeks to understand self-organization and change. In the “Society of Self” approach, exposing a simulated, disorganized self to random "environmental events" often results in a highly organized self. The work on self-niches suggests that there are simultaneous parallel constraints determining choices of environments and elements of self-expression, self-inhibition and self-change.
Representative references
Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance
model of social behavior. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 21), 181-227.
Tesser, A. (2000). On the confluence of self-esteem maintenance mechanisms. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 290-299.
Nowak, A., Vallacher, R. R., Tesser, A. & Borkowski, W. (2000). Society of self: The emergence of collective properties of self-Structure. Psychological Review, 107, 39-61.
Tesser, A., (2002.) Constructing a niche for the self: A bio-social, PDP approach to understanding lives. Self and Identity, 1, 185-191
Attitudes, Thoughts and Feelings.
What are the effects of "mere thought" on attitudes? Early work demonstrated that simply thinking about some attitude issue tends to polarize feelings. It also suggested that attitudes are often constructed from salient thoughts or feelings. This work has gone in two directions. Work on "rumination" tries to understand the conditions under which "mere thought" will or will not occur. The "mis-match" model is concerned with the relationship between attitudes and behavior. Attitudes may be based primarily on thoughts or feelings; behavior may be determined primarily by thoughts or feelings. Attitudes will best predict behavior when there is a match in the extent to which each is determined by thoughts or by feelings.
The work on attitude heritability recognizes that some attitudes have a more or less genetic basis. Attitudes that are more heritable seem to be more difficult to modify, play a greater role in interpersonal attraction and are more accessible than less heritable attitudes.
Representative references.
Tesser, A., Martin, L. & Mendolia,
M. (1995). The impact of thought on attitude extremity
and attitude-behavior consistency. In R. E. Petty & J. A. Krosnick
(Eds.) Attitude Strength: Antecedents and Consequences.
Martin, L. & Tesser, A. (1996). Some ruminative thoughts. In R. S. Wyer
(Eds.), Advances in Social Cognition. (Vol. 9.)
Tesser, A. (1993) On the importance of heritability
in psychological research: The case of attitudes. Psychological Review, 100,
129-142.
Non-linear Dynamics in Psychology.
Mathematical models attempting to understand complexity, unpredictability, non-linear relationships, and self-similarity at various levels of measurement have become important in science. One line of work uses one of these models, catastrophe theory, to understanding the outcome of conflicts between individual dispositions, i.e., attitudes, and normative pressures. It suggests that the greater the social pressure the greater the non-linearity in the system. In other work, we are using nonlinear evaluative change rules to help us understand self-organization. Finally, we are exploring non-linear effects in intimate relationships.
Representative references.
Tesser, A. & Achee, J.
(1994). Aggression, love, conformity and other social
psychological catastrophes. In R. Vallacher
& A. Nowak (Eds.) Dynamical Systems in Social Psychology.
Nowak, A., Vallacher, R. R., Tesser, A. & Borkowski, W. (2000). Society of self: The emergence of collective properties of self-Structure. Psychological Review, 107, 39-61.
Tesser, A. & Beach, S. R. H. (1998). Life
events, relationship quality, and depression: An investigation of judgement discontinuity in vivo. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 74, 36-52.
Original Publications
A complete list of 150+ publications is available on request.
Books:
Tesser, A. Wood, J., & Stapel,
D. W. (in press). On Building, Defending
and Regulating the Self: A Psychological
Perspective.
Tesser, A., Stapel, D. A., &
Wood, J. W. (Eds.) (2002). Self
and Motivation: Emerging Psychological Perspectives.
Tesser, A. & Schwarz, N. (Eds.) (2001). Blackwell
International Handbook of Social Psychology: Intraindividual
Processes. (Vol. 1)
Tesser, A., Felson, R. & Suls,
J. (2000). Psychological Perspectives on Self and
Identity.
Martin, L. & Tesser, A. (Eds.) (1996). Striving
and feeling: Interactions between goals and affect.
Martin, L. & Tesser, A. (1996). Some ruminative thoughts. In R. S. Wyer
(Eds.), Advances in Social Cognition. (Vol. 9.)
Tesser, A. (Ed.) (1995). Advanced Social Psychology.
Martin, L. & Tesser, A. (Eds.) (1992). The Construction of Social Judgement.
Videos:
Tesser, A. (Producer) (1995). Advanced Social Psychology: Video
Lectures. Set of 4 video tapes. Each of eleven researchers provides a 30-35
minute lecture in her/his field of expertise.
Tesser, A. (Producer) (1994). On becoming a social
psychologist. Video distributed by Society for Social and
Personality Psychology. 48 Minutes.
Selected Recent Articles & Chapters
Tesser,
A. & Martin, L.L. (in press). Self-esteem Processes are Central to
Psychological Functioning and Well-being.
In M. Kernis (Ed.) Self-esteem:
Issues and Answers.
Tesser, A.
& Martin, L. L. (in press).
Reviewing Empirical Submissions to Journals. In R, Sternberg (Ed.).
The Refereeing Process in Psychology.
Tesser, A., (2002.) Constructing a niche for the self: A bio-social, PDP approach to understanding lives. Self and Identity, 1, 185-191.
Tesser, A. & Bau, J. J. (2002). Social psychology: Who we
are and what we do. Personality and
Social Psychology Review,
6, 72-85.
Stapel, A. & Tesser, A. (2001). Self-activation increases social comparison. Journal
of Personality & Social Psychology, 81(4), 742-750.
Tesser, A.,
(2001) On the plasticity of self defense. Current
Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 66-69.
Nowak, A., Vallacher, R. R., Tesser, A.
& Borkowski, W. (2000). Society of self: The emergence of collective properties of
self-Structure. Psychological Review, 107, 39-61.
Tesser, A. (2000). On the confluence of
self-esteem maintenance mechanisms. Personality and Social Psychology
Review, 4, 290-299.
Tesser, A., Crepaz, N., Collins, J. C., Cornell, D. & Beach,
S.R.H.
(2000).
Confluence of self defense mechanisms: On integrating the self
zoo. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1476-1489.
Tesser, A.
(2000). Theories and
hypotheses. In
R. Sternberg (ed.) Guide to Publishing in Psychology Journals.
Reprinted Publications
Tesser, A. (2001). Self -Esteem. In A. Tesser &
Reprinted
in:
M. B. Brewer & M. Hewstone
(Eds.) (2004). Emotion and Mortivation.
Tesser, A.,
(2001) On the plasticity of self defense. Current
Directions in Psychological Science , 10, 66-69.
Reprinted in:
Ruscher, J. B. & Hammer, E. Y. (Eds.) (2004). Current Directions in Social Psychology: A
Reader.
Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance
model of social behavior. In L.
Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 21),
181-227.
Reprinted in:
Baumeister, R. (Ed.)
(1999). The Self in Social Psychology.
Pettijohn, T. F. (Ed.) (1998). Sources:
Notable Selections in Social Psychology.
Tesser, A., Millar, M., & Moore, J. (1988). Some affective consequences of social comparison and reflection
processes: The pain and pleasure of
being close. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 54, 49-61.
Reprinted
in:
Thompson,
L. L. (2002) The Social Psychology of
Organizational Behavior.
Higgins, E. T. & Kruglanski, A.
(2000).
Motivational science: Social and personality perspectives.
.
Millar, M., & Tesser, A. (1986) Thought-induced attitude change: The effects of schema structure and
commitment. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 51, 259-269.
Reprinted
in
E. Aronson
& A. R. Pratkanis (Eds.), 1993, Social
Psychology, Edward Elgar Pub.,