Roy Baumeister: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Infobox scientist

|~~name~~birth_name = Roy F.Frederick Baumeister

|image = ~~Roy_Baumeister~~Roy Baumeister.jpg

|image_size =

|caption = Baumeister at the 2011 [[Zurich.minds|ZURICH.MINDS]]

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|5|16}}

|birth_place = [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], U.S.

~~|residence =~~

~~|nationality = [[United States|American]]~~

~~|ethnicity = [[European American]]~~

|field = [[Social psychology]], [[Evolutionary psychology]]

|work_institution = [[University of Queensland]] <br /> [[Florida State University]] <br /> [[Case Western Reserve University]] (~~1979-2003~~1979–2003)

|alma_mater = [[Princeton University]] (AB, PhD) <br /> [[Duke University]] (MA)

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = ''[[Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength]]'', Self studies.

|prizes = ~~1993-94~~1993–94 James McKeen Cattell Fund Sabbatical Fellowship Award, 2003 [[ISI highly cited researcher]], 2004 ~~[http://www.mensafoundation.org/what-we-do/awards-and-recognition/awards-for-excellence-in-research/~~ Mensa Award for Excellence in Research], 2007 ~~[http://www.spsp.org/serviceawards/service-spsp-award~~ SPSP Distinguished Service Award], 2011 ~~[http://www.apa.org/about/awards/div-8-block.aspx~~ Jack Block Award], 2012 Distinguished Lifetime Career Contribution Award, 2013 [[William James Fellow Award]]

}}

'''Roy F.Frederick Baumeister'''<ref>{{cite journal | pmc=10319136 | date=2023 | last1=Russo-Netzer | first1=P. | last2=Hicks | first2=J. | title=Editorial: Meaning in everyday life: Working, playing, consuming, and more | journal=Frontiers in Psychology | volume=14 | doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1221799 | pmid=37408961 | doi-access=free }}</ref> ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|aʊ|m|aɪ|s|t|ər}}; born May 16, 1953) is aan American [[Social psychology|social psychologist]] who is known for his work on the [[self (psychology)|self]], [[social rejection]], [[belongingness]], [[sexuality]] and sex differences, self-control, [[self-esteem]], self-defeating behaviors, [[motivation]], [[aggression]], [[consciousness]], and [[free will]].

== Education and academia ==

Baumeister earned his [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] from [[Princeton University]] and his [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] from [[Duke University]]. He returned to [[Princeton University]] with his mentor [[Edward E. Jones]] and earned his [[Ph.D.]] from the university's [[Princeton University Department of Psychology|Department of Psychology]] in 1978.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeisterr/baumeister.dp.php|publisher=Florida State University|title = People Directory |access-date=20 April 20, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/faculty-profile/roy-f-baumeister-phd|publisher=UPenn|title = Roy F. Baumeister, Ph.D. |access-date=16 June 16, 2018}}</ref>

Baumeister then taught at [[Case Western Reserve University]] from 1979 to 2003, serving as a professor of psychology and later liberal arts.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fsu.edu/cvdb/RBAUMEISTER.rtf|title=Curriculum Vitae Roy F. Baumeister - Florida State University|last=Baumeister|first=Roy|date=February 3, 2017|website=FSU}}</ref> He later worked at [[Florida State University]] as the Francis Eppes Eminent Scholar and head of the social psychology graduate program.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://baumeister.socialpsychology.org/|title=Roy F. Baumeister|website=baumeister.socialpsychology.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cultural-animal|title=Cultural Animal|last=Baumeister|first=Roy|website=Psychology Today}}</ref> At FSU, Baumeister worked in the psychology department, teaching classes and graduate seminars on social and evolutionary psychology.<ref name=":0" /> In 2016 he moved to the School of Psychology at the [[University of Queensland]] in Australia where he istaught ~~currently~~for ~~teaching~~several years.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.habs.uq.edu.au/article/2015/11/man-passion-equation-call-uq-home|title=Man with passion equation to call UQ home - Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - The University of Queensland, Australia|website=www.habs.uq.edu.au|date=November 25, 2015 |language=en|access-date=~~2018-03-~~March 15, 2018}}</ref>

He is a fellow of both the [[Society for Personality and Social Psychology]] and the [[Association for Psychological Science]]. Baumeister was named an [[ISI highly cited researcher]] in 2003 and 2014.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rufener|first1=Brenda|title=30 MOST INFLUENTIAL COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGISTS ALIVE TODAY|url=http://www.bestcounselingdegrees.net/30-most-influential-counseling-psychologists-alive-today/|website=Best Counseling Degrees|~~publisher~~date=~~Best~~September ~~Counseling~~25, 2014 ~~Degrees~~|access-date=11 December 11, 2015}}</ref>

==Topics of research==

Baumeister has researched social psychology for over four decades and made a name for himself with his laboratory research. His research focuses on six themes: self control, decision-making, the need to belong and interpersonal rejection, human sexuality, irrational and self-destructive behavior, and free will.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.roybaumeister.com/research/|title=Research|website=Roy F. Baumeister|language=en-US|access-date=~~2018-03-~~March 15, 2018}}</ref>

He is the most cited author of a series of psychology journals focusing on personality such as [[Psychological Bulletin]], [[Journal of Personality]], [[Personality and Social Psychology Review (T&F)]], [[Psychological Science in the Public Interest]]. <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://exaly.com/author/7857447/roy-f-baumeister/rankings |title=Roy F Baumeister citation rankings |website=Exaly | access-date=July 17, 2022}}</ref>

===The self===

Baumeister has conducted research on the [[self (psychology)|self]], focusing on various concepts related to how people perceive, act, and relate to their selves. Baumeister wrote a chapter titled, "The Self" in ''The Handbook of Social Psychology'',<ref>

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| pages = 680–740

| isbn = 9780195213768

| access-date = ~~2017-07-~~July 30, 2017

}}

</ref>

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| pages = 217–218

| isbn = 9781468489569

| access-date = ~~2017-07-~~July 31, 2017

| quote = [...] there may be isolated individuals who combine low self-esteem with irrational, self-destructive, or other pathological signs. Sampling techniques that aggressively seek out extremes of self-regard may indeed find enough pathological individuals to yield unusual results and confirm some of the more unsavory impressions and hypotheses about low self-esteem. For the most part, however, low self-esteem is not marked by those patterns. People with low self-esteem can be well understood as ordinary people who are trying in a fairly sensible, rational fashion to adapt effectively to their circumstances and to make their way through life with a minimum of suffering, distress, and humiliation. In that, of course, they are no different from people with high self-esteem.

}}

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===Irrationality and self-defeating behavior===

In a series of journal articles and books, Baumeister inquired about the reasons for self-defeating behavior. His conclusions: there is no self-defeating urge (as some have thought). Rather, self-defeating behavior is either a result of trade-offs (enjoying drugs now at the expense of the future), backfiring strategies ([[Comfort food|eating a snack]] to reduce stress only to feel more stressed), or a psychological strategy to escape the self – where various self-defeating strategies are rather directed to relieve the burden of selfhood.<ref>Baumeister R. (1991) ''Escaping the Self: Alcoholism, Spirituality, Masochism, and Other Flights from the Burden of Selfhood''. Basic Books.</ref>

===''The Need to Belong''===

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Later, Baumeister published evidence that the way people look for [[belongingness]] differs between men and women. Women prefer a few close and intimate relationships, whereas men prefer many but shallower connections. Men realize more of their need to belong via a group of people, or a cause, rather than in close interpersonal relations.<ref>{{cite journal |title= What do men want? Gender differences and two spheres of belongingness: Comment on Cross and Madson (1997).|url= http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/122/1/38/}}</ref>

===Self -regulation===

Baumeister also researched self-regulation. He coined the term "[[ego depletion]]" to describe the evidence that humans' ability to self-regulate is limited, and after using it there is less ability (or energy) to self-regulate.<ref>Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252-1265.</ref> Ego depletion has a general effect, such that exerting self-control in one area will use up energy for further regulation in other areas of life.<ref>Vohs, K., Baumeister, R., Schmeichel, B., Twenge, J., Nelson, N., & Tice, D. (2008). Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: A limited-resource account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(5), 883-898</ref> Further research by Baumeister and colleagues has led to the development of the Strength Model of self-control, which likens this ego depletion to the tiredness that comes from physically exerting a muscle. A corollary to this analogy, supported by his research, is that self-control can be strengthened over time, much like a muscle.<ref>Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Tice, D. M. (2007). The strength model of self-control. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 16(6), 351-355</ref> The energy used up is more than metaphorical, however; his research has found a strong link between ego depletion and depletion of blood-glucose levels.<ref>Gailliot, M., Baumeister, R., DeWall, C., Maner, J., Plant, E., Tice, D., & Schmeichel, B. (2007). Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(2), 325-336.</ref> Baumeister also edited two academic books on self-regulation, ''Losing Control'' and ''Handbook of Self-Regulation'', and has devoted numerous experiments and journal papers to the topic. He also describes this research in a book, ''Willpower'', authored with former New York Times journalist John Tierney.

In 2016 a large study carried out at two-dozen labs in countries across the world that sought to reproduce the effects described in these studies was unsuccessful.<ref>{{Cite news|url= http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2016/03/ego_depletion_an_influential_theory_in_psychology_may_have_just_been_debunked.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top|title= Everything Is Crumbling|last= Engber|first= Daniel|date= March 6, 2016~~-03-06~~|newspaper= Slate|language= en-US|issn= 1091-2339|access-date= March 7, 2016~~-03-07~~}}</ref> Baumeister, however, disputed the protocol used in this replication. Baumeister also plans to run his own pre-registered replication using a protocol that is more in line with most ego-depletion experiments.<ref>{{Cite journal|url= http://www.psychologicalscience.org/redesign/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/RRR-comment-BaumeisterVohs-revised-March17-002.pdf|title= Misguided Effort with Elusive Implications - Association for Psychological Science|website= www.psychologicalscience.org|access-date= ~~2016-04-~~April 20, 2016}}</ref>

===Culture and human sexuality===

A series of studies of human sexuality has addressed questions such as how nature and culture influence people's sex drive, rape and sexual coercion, the cultural suppression of [[~~Human_female_sexuality~~Human female sexuality|female sexuality]], and how couples negotiate their sexual patterns.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeister.dp.html|title=Roy Baumeister's page, Florida State University|publisher=www.psy.fsu.edu}}</ref> In his research, Baumeister reached four major conclusions:<ref name=":2" />

# The relative influence of culture and nature on sexuality varies by gender. Female sexuality is more cultural/nurture, and male sexuality is more in-born/nature (see [[erotic plasticity]]).

# There is a gender difference with sex drive. Men, on average, want more sex than women.

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===Free will===

Baumeister approaches the topic of [[free will]] from the view-point of [[evolutionary psychology]]. He has listed the major aspects that make up free will as self-control, rational, intelligent choice, planful behavior, and autonomous initiative.<ref>Stillman, T. F., Baumeister, R. F., & Mele, A. R. (2011). Free will in everyday life: Autobiographical accounts of free and unfree actions. Philosophical Psychology, 24(3), 381-394</ref> Baumeister proposes that "the defining thrust of human psychological evolution was selection in favor of cultural capability" <ref>Baumeister, R. (2008). Free will in scientific psychology. Perspectives On Psychological Science, 3(1), 14-19.</ref> and that these four psychological capabilities evolved to help humans function in the context of culture. In his view, free will is an advanced form of action control that allows humans to act in pro-social ways towards their [[enlightened self-interest]] when acting in these ways would otherwise be in conflict with the fulfillment of evolutionarily older drives or instincts.<ref>Baumeister, R. F., Crescioni, A., & Alquist, J. L. (2011). Free will as advanced action control for human social life and culture. Neuroethics, 4(1), 1-11</ref> However, free will is contradictory to the idea of self-interest. Research by Baumeister and colleagues (principally [[Kathleen Vohs]]) has shown that disbelief in free will can lead people to act in ways that are harmful to themselves and society, such as cheating on a test, increased aggression, decreased helpfulness, lower achievement levels in the workplace, and possible barriers to beating addiction.<ref>Vohs, K. D., & Schooler, J. W. (2008). The value of believing in free will: Encouraging a belief in determinism increases cheating. Psychological Science, 19(1), 49-54.</ref><ref>Baumeister, R. F., Masicampo, E. J., & DeWall, C. (2009). Prosocial benefits of feeling free: Disbelief in free will increases aggression and reduces helpfulness. Personality And Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(2), 260-268.</ref><ref>Stillman, T. F., Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., Lambert, N. M., Fincham, F. D., & Brewer, L. E. (2010). Personal philosophy and personnel achievement: Belief in free will predicts better job performance. Social Psychological And Personality Science, 1(1), 43-50.</ref><ref>Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2009). Addiction and free will. Addiction Research & Theory, 17(3), 231-235.</ref> However, although initial studies suggested that believing in free will is associated with more morally praiseworthy behavior, some recent studies have reported contradictory findings.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Monroe|first1=Andrew E.|last2=Brady|first2=Garrett L.|last3=Malle|first3=Bertram F.|title=This Isn't the Free Will Worth Looking For|journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science|date=21 September 2016|volume=8|issue=2|pages=191–199|doi=10.1177/1948550616667616|s2cid=152011660}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crone|first1=Damien L.|last2=Levy|first2=Neil L.|title=Are Free Will Believers Nicer People? (Four Studies Suggest Not)|journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science|volume=10|issue=5|date=28 June 2018|pages=612–619|doi=10.1177/1948550618780732|pmid=31249653|pmc=6542011|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Caspar|first1=Emilie A.|last2=Vuillaume|first2=Laurène|last3=Magalhães De Saldanha da Gama|first3=Pedro A.|last4=Cleeremans|first4=Axel|title=The Influence of (Dis)belief in Free Will on Immoral Behavior|journal=Frontiers in Psychology|date=17 January 2017|volume=8|pages=20|doi=10.3389/FPSYG.2017.00020|pmid=28144228|pmc=5239816|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Erotic plasticity===

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* ''[[Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength]]'' (2011).

* ''Homo Prospectus'' (2016).

* ''The Power of Bad'', co-written with [[~~John_Tierney_~~John Tierney (journalist)|John Tierney]], (2019).

*: [[Martin Seligman]] called it "The most important book at the borderland of psychology and politics that I have ever read."

* ''The Self Explained. Why and How We Become Who We Are'', (2021)

=== Books edited ===

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== Personal ==

Baumeister is married to [[Dianne Tice]], a social psychologist with whom he has collaborated.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Tice| first1 = D | last2 = Baumeister | first2 = R | year = 1997| title = Longitudinal Study of Procrastination, Performance, Stress, and Health: The Costs and Benefits of Dawdling | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 8 | issue = 6| pages = 454–458 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00460.x| s2cid = 15851848 }}</ref>

==See also==

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==~~Notes~~References==

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[[Category:~~20th~~21st-century American psychologists]]

[[Category:~~21st~~20th-century American psychologists]]

[[Category:American social psychologists]]

[[Category:Duke University alumni]]

[[Category:Florida State University faculty]]

[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]

~~[[Category:Social psychologists]]~~

[[Category:Living people]]

[[Category:1953 births]]