2013 Kurt Lewin Award Winner

Brenda Major is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include social stigma, resilience, the psychological justification of inequality,and the antecedents and consequences of perceived discrimination and unfair treatment.  Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Philosophical Foundation, among others. Major is Past President of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. She has twice been the recipient of the Gordon Allport Prize from SPSSI and is the author of more than 150 articles and book chapters. Her current research projects examine the impact of organizational diversity initiatives on minorities’ and majorities’ perceptions of fairness and belonging, and the impact of perceived ethnic, gender, and weight-based discrimination on physiological stress responses, health behaviors, and interpersonal relationships.