Jeffrey Sherman (born May 8, 1967) is a Social Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. He is known for his research on social cognition, stereotyping, and implicit bias.
Biography
Sherman was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. He earned his BA in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley in 1989 and his PhD in psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1994, where he worked with David Hamilton (primary advisor), Diane Mackie, and Stanley Klein. In 1994, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Northwestern University, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2000. Since 2005, he is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis.
Sherman served as the President of the International Social Cognition Network in 2006 and the President of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology in 2019.
Sherman is Chief Editor of Social Cognition.
Research
Sherman’s research investigates the cognitive processes underlying social judgments and behavior. Much of this work examines the psychology of stereotypes and prejudice. His most influential research addresses these broad topics:
The Mental Representation of Social Knowledge: The extent to which social judgments are based on specific behaviors or individuals versus abstract schemas or stereotypes. Stereotype Efficiency: The ways in which stereotypes influence impression formation processes to maximize efficient social perception. Stereotype Inhibition: The ways in which people are able to effectively inhibit the influence of stereotypes and the conditions under which inhibition is most likely to be effective. Stereotype Formation: How fundamental learning mechanisms, particularly those related to attention, contribute to stereotype formation and the content of stereotypes. Underlying Mechanisms of Implicit Bias: Using formal mathematical modeling techniques to identify the processes that produce or diminish implicit bias.
Honors and awards
2000: Elected Fellow in Recognition of Substantial Contributions to Social Psychology, Society for Experimental Social Psychology 2000: Elected Fellow in Recognition of Significant Contributions to Psychological Science, Psychonomic Society 2005: Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize, Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2007: Elected Fellow in Recognition of Sustained and Outstanding Contributions to Psychological Science, Association for Psychological Science 2009: Best Paper Award, International Social Cognition Network 2010: Elected Fellow in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Personality and Social Psychology, Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2010: Elected Fellow in Recognition of Significant Contributions to the Science of Psychology, Western Psychological Association 2010: UC Davis Social Sciences Dean's Research Innovation Award 2013: Anneliese Maier Research Award , Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, German Federal Ministry of Education
Representative publications
Books
Sherman, J. W., Gawronski, B., & Trope, Y. (Eds.). (2014). Dual process theories of the social mind. New York: Guilford Press.