Elliot Aronson

Who is Elliot Aronson?

Elliot Aronson is an American psychologist. He is listed among the 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th Century and is best known for the invention of the Jigsaw Classroom as a method of reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice. He is also known for his research on cognitive dissonance and his influential social psychology textbooks. In his text, The Social Animal, he stated Aronson's First Law: "People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy," thus asserting the importance of situational factors in bizarre behavior. He is the only person in the 120-year history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its major awards: for writing, for teaching, and for research. In 2007 he received the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science, In which he was cited as the scientist who "fundamentally changed the way we look at everyday life.” He officially retired in 1994 but continues to teach and write.