Susan Fiske: biography of this social psychologist.

A summary of the life and professional trajectory of this influential researcher.

Not many women psychologists have received due attention, and it could be said that Susan Fiske is one of the few who has managed to receive the prominence she deserves.

A great scholar of social phenomena from a cognitive psychology perspective, this social psychologist has contributed several theories on social cognition to behavioral science, studying aspects such as the formation of sexism and prejudice. She has written many books and articles, all of which are highly recommended reading.

But despite her work, she remains relatively little known outside this field of science. Let's take a look at her interesting life through this biography of Susan Fiske in abridged format.

Brief biography of Susan Fiske

The following is a brief biography of Susan Fiske, a social psychologist who is still alive today and working for the dissemination of this branch of behavioral science.

Early life

Susan Tufts Fiske was born on August 19, 1952 in the United States. Fiske's family background consisted of both psychologists and human rights advocates, which marked her interest in social psychology from childhood. interest in social psychology..

Her father, Donald W. Fiske, was a highly influential psychologist at the University of Chicago, while her mother, Barbara Page Fiske, was a leading activist. She is the sister of Alan Page Fiske, an anthropologist at UCLA, and her grandmother was a suffragist.

In 1973, at the age of 21, Susan Fiske began her studies at the Radcliffe University began her studies at Radcliffe College to obtain a degree in Social Relations.. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1978 with the thesis Attention and the Weighting of Behavior in Person Perception.

She currently resides in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband, sociologist Douglas Massey.

Professional Career

Susan Fiske had the opportunity to work with Harvard professor Shelley Taylor, which allowed her to study social cognition, focusing particularly on the effect that attention has on social interactions.. After graduating, Fiske continued studying and working in the field of social cognition.

It must be said that, since the beginnings of psychology as a science, the cognitive and social branches have never been in complete agreement, and it could even be said that they are in conflict to this day.

Even so, Fiske managed, through his work, to unite the best of both branches, especially when he tried to delve more deeply into the study of social cognition. As a result, Fiske co-authored with Taylor the book Social Cognition.

One of the great highlights of his professional career is giving a professional opinion in the 1989 Prince Waterhouse v. Hopkins case.

In the case, Fiske testified as the first social psychologist to testify in the case. the first social psychologist to testify in a gender discrimination case.. This event sparked an interest in the application of psychology in legal contexts.

Later, she was able to work with Peter Glick, a time when she set out to study dependency in male-female relationships, which allowed her to develop what would later become the theory of ambivalent sexism.

One of the most interesting investigations Fiske carried out was that of to analyze gender differences in social psychology publications, especially in one of the most important journals in the field.especially in one of the most influential journals in the field, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The conclusion of this research was that male social psychologists had a higher percentage of acceptance of their articles for publication compared to women, although the difference was not much greater (18% vs. 14%). In fact, he was able to see that the impact factor of female authors was the same compared to male authors when looking at the number of citations in textbooks, in addition to being the most cited women per published article.

Susan Fiske has been implicated in the formation and constitution of social cognitive neurosciencewhich investigates the neural bases behind social events.

Her contributions to psychology

Susan Fiske's scientific work is demonstrable on the basis of the many books, articles and conferences she has written throughout her professional career. In all of them he deals with aspects of both the social and cognitive branches of psychology, explaining several theories related, above all, to the study of social cognition. Four are the most relevant theories of all his work.

1. Theory of ambivalent sexism

Working together with Peter Glick, Fiske elaborated the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI), a tool developed to record and evaluate the ambivalent sexism of the participants.a tool developed to record and understand prejudice towards women.

This inventory has two components related to stereotypes towards women: hostile sexism and benevolent sexism.

Hostile sexism is expressed especially towards women who do not meet the characteristics of women.Those who do not meet the characteristics of the more traditional female figure or who fight for their rights.

Benevolent sexism, on the other hand, refers to overprotective and paternalistic behaviors aimed at women. who do conform to the traditional image of what a woman should be like. The theory holds that, in the interaction between men and women, women are forced to move closer to the traditional image of femininity if they want men to pay attention to them or help them advance in the workplace.

Although the privilege-undervalue relationship is usually in the male-female direction, the theory holds that both men and women can carry out both versions of sexism.. However, it is men who tend to be the main perpetrators of hostile sexism.

2. Content model of stereotyping

The stereotype content model is a psychological theory that argues that people tend to perceive social groups on the basis of two fundamental dimensions: warmth and competence..

Warmth refers to how friendly and trusting the group is perceived to be, while competence refers to how competent the group is in achieving its social goals.

This theory has been able to find that people who belong to the same social group, e.g., American middle class, perceive members of the same socioeconomic group as friendlier and more competent compared to those of other groups.

In addition, it allows us to understand how people see other groups that do not have as many privileges or economic resources, such as refugees, people at risk of exclusion... seeing them as neither warm nor competent.

Thus, stereotypes are both negative towards other groups and positive towards people of the same group.exaggerating the threats and benefits of both groups.

3. Theory of power as control

The theory of power as control tries to explain how the classes that hold power over society make people behave by ignoring or ignoring others. people to behave by ignoring or ignoring others, based on how they have set it up.based on how the wealthier elites have established it.

4. Continuous model of impression formation

This model attempts to explain how people form impressions of other people. It is theorized that these first impressions are formed on the basis of two factors, one being the information available and the other the motivations of the person who perceives them.

Based on these two factors, they help to explain the tendency of people to follow criteria more closely related to stereotypes accepted by the majority of the population or individual beliefs.

Acknowledgments

Susan Fiske has been awarded honorary degrees by several universities worldwide, including the University of Basel (2013), the University of Leiden (2009) and the Catholic University of Leuven (1995).including the University of Basel (2013), the University of Leiden (2009) and the Catholic University of Leuven (1995).

In 2010, she was awarded by the APA she was awarded by the APA with the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.. In 2013, Susan Fiske became an elected member of the American National Academy of Sciences.

She has served as president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, APA Division 8, the Federation of Behavioral and Brain Science Associations, the American Psychological Society, and the Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

In 2014, a quantitative analysis was conducted that concluded that Susan Fiske was one of the most eminent researchers in the modern era of psychology.ranked 22nd.

She was also ranked 14th in the same analysis in terms of the most important living researchers and was considered the second most important woman psychologist.