Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

John A. Bargh

John A. Bargh

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I was born in Champaign, Illinois, and graduated from the home-town University of Illinois in 1977. From there it was on to graduate school in social psychology at the University of Michigan, where my advisor was Robert Zajonc. I received my PhD in 1981 and that fall moved to NYU as an assistant professor. After 22 years at NYU, I moved to Yale in 2003. My dissertation received the Society for Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) Dissertation Award in 1982, and in 1989 I received the American Psychological Association (APA) Early Career Award for contributions to psychology. In 1990 Peter Gollwitzer and I received the Annual Research Prize from the Max Planck Society of Germany. In 2001 I received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and also that year was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences. In 2007 I received the Donald T. Campbell Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for distinguished contributions to social psychology, and later that year received the Scientific Impact Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology.

My lines of research all focus on unconscious mechanisms that underlie social perception, evaluation and preferences, and motivation and goal pursuit in realistic and complex social environments. That each of these basic psychological phenomena occur without the person's intention and awareness, yet have such strong effects on the person's decisions and behavior, has considerable implications for philosophical matters such as free will, and the nature and purpose of consciousness itself.

Primary Interests:

  • Evolution and Genetics
  • Motivation, Goal Setting
  • Self and Identity
  • Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

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Video Gallery

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Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

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  • 53:39

    Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do


  • 21:43

    Unconscious Emotion


  • 68:16

    The Unconscious Mind


  • 76:31

    The Unconscious Reason We Do What We Do


  • 27:21

    Before We Know It


  • 56:01

    The Neuroscience of Conversations


  • 6:27

    Before You Know It: Unlock Your Unconscious Mind


  • 4:35

    On Priming




Books:

Journal Articles:

Other Publications:

Courses Taught:

  • Social Psychology
  • The Modern Unconscious

John A. Bargh
Department of Psychology
Yale University
P.O. Box 208205
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8205
United States of America

  • Phone: (203) 432-4547

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