In 1989 two women scholars co-authored a paper entitled “Social Stigma and Self-Esteem: The Self-Protective Properties of Stigma” in the journal Psychological Review. The paper challenged conventional wisdom that how we feel about ourselves is the result of how we are perceived by others. The authors presented evidence that members of stigmatized groups often have self-esteem as high or even higher than those in advantaged groups.
The paper was authored by Brenda Major, now a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Jennifer Crocker, now the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Social Psychology at Ohio State University.
The two women were recently honored with the Scientific Impact Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. The award honors the authors of research that “has proved highly influential over the past 25 years.” The paper has been cited more than 3,500 times by authors of other published works over the past quarter century.
Professor Crocker joined the faculty at Ohio State University in 2010. Previously, she was the Claude Steele Collegiate Professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. Earlier in her career, she taught at the University of Buffalo of the State University of New York and Northwestern University. Dr. Crocker is a graduate of Michigan State University and earned a Ph.D. in social psychology at Harvard University.
Professor Major joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995. Previously, she was a professor in the psychology department at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Major earned a master’s degree at Miami University in Ohio and a Ph.D. at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.