Social PsychologyMid-century developments

Roy F. Baumeister

1953-

Social psychologist known for research on the self, self-control, belonging, meaning, and social rejection.

self-controlselfbelongingmeaning

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Biography

An American social psychologist whose prolific work has shaped research on the self, willpower, social exclusion, and meaning in life.

Signature vocabulary: self-control, self, belonging, meaning.
Worldview: Human functioning depends on self-regulation, belonging, and the ability to organize life around meaning and socially embedded goals.
Likely reading of common emotional problems: He would look at how self-control, rejection, and the need for meaning structure everyday distress and action.
This figure is best approached through the lens of social psychology.

Authoritative, broad-ranging, and focused on self-regulation, belonging, and the human need for meaning.

Some of his high-profile self-control claims, especially around ego depletion, sit inside a replication literature with mixed results.
His focus on regulation and will can be useful, but it can also tilt attention toward individual responsibility over structural constraint.

Major ideas

Signature vocabulary: self-control, self, belonging, meaning.
Worldview: Human functioning depends on self-regulation, belonging, and the ability to organize life around meaning and socially embedded goals.
Likely reading of common emotional problems: He would look at how self-control, rejection, and the need for meaning structure everyday distress and action.
This figure is best approached through the lens of social psychology.