Betsy Levy Paluck, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs and deputy director of the Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy, has been named one of eight fellows honored this year by the American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPS). 

Paluck was honored for her work on prejudice and conflict reduction and the development of social norms in a variety of environments including regions emerging from conflict and high schools. She will be the academy’s 2024 David Riesman Fellow.

“It is a privilege to welcome another highly accomplished cohort of social scientists as fellows of the AAPSS,” said Marta Tienda, the academy’s president and Princeton’s Maurice P. During Professor in Demographic Studies, Emeritus and a professor of sociology and public affairs, emeritus. “At this pivotal moment in our nation’s democracy,” she continued, “we must look to social science thought leaders to help us reimagine American world leadership and secure economic opportunity for future generations.”

Paluck, who joined the Princeton faculty in 2009, focuses her research on the ways that social psychological theory offers potentially useful tools for changing society in constructive ways and how studying attempts to change society can help develop and assess social psychological theory. Her work find support for a behavioral change model based on social norms and group influence.

A 2017 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, Paluck has numerous other honors—among them are two Robert B. Cialdini Awards for field research, one each in 2020 and 2010; an Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence; an honorary degree from Claremont Graduate University; and at Princeton a graduate mentoring award from the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning.