Daniel Wegner | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 28, 1948 |
| Died | July 5, 2013(2013-07-05) (aged 65) |
| Alma mater | Michigan State University |
| Known for | Ironic process theory,transactive memory, experimental study offree will |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Social Psychology |
| Institutions | Harvard University,Trinity University,University of Virginia |
Daniel Merton Wegner (June 28, 1948 – July 5, 2013) was an Americansocial psychologist. He was a professor ofpsychology atHarvard University,Trinity University, and a fellow of both theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was known for applyingexperimental psychology to the topics of mental control (for exampleironic process theory) and conscious will,[1][2] and for originating the study oftransactive memory and action identification. InThe Illusion of Conscious Will and other works, he argued that the human sense offree will is an illusion.
Wegner was born inCalgary,Alberta,Canada.[1]
When Wegner was 11 years old he developed an understanding of two types of scientists: "bumblers, who plod along, only once in a while accomplishing something but enjoying the process even if they often end up being wrong, and the pointers, who do only one thing: point out that the bumblers are bumbling."[3]
He enrolled in a physics degree atMichigan State University but changed to psychology, going on to anM.A. and then aPhD.
After gaining his doctorate in 1974, he spent sixteen years teaching atTrinity University, becoming a full Professor in 1985. From 1990 to 2000, he researched and taught at theUniversity of Virginia, after which he joined the faculty at Harvard University.[4]
In 2011, Wegner was awarded the William James Fellow Award by theAssociation for Psychological Science, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by theAmerican Psychological Association, and the Distinguished Scientist Award by theSociety of Experimental Social Psychology. In 2012, he was awarded the Donald T. Campbell Award by theSociety for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). Furthermore, shortly after Wegner's death in 2013, SPSP announced that its annually awarded Theoretical Innovation Prize would henceforth be known as the Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize to honor Wegner's memory and his innovative work.
Wegner and colleagues performed a series of experiments in which people tried tosuppress thoughts, for example by attempting not to think of a white bear. That work revealed that attempting not to think of a topic often backfires, resulting in high rates ofintrusive thoughts about the topic. Wegner coined the term "ironic mental processes" for this effect, which is also known more commonly as the "white bear phenomenon".[5] The effect contributes to various psychological challenges and disorders. Smokers who try not to think about cigarettes find it harder to give up. People who suppress thoughts that may cause an anxiety reaction often make those thoughts more intrusive.[6][7] Wegner found that the ironic effect is stronger when people arestressed ordepressed.[8]
Wegner conducted a series of experiments in which people experience anillusion of control, feeling that their will shapes events which are actually determined by someone else.[1] He argued controversially that the ease with which this illusion can be created shows that the everyday feeling of conscious will is an illusion or a "construction"[9] and that this illusion of mental causation is "the mind's best trick".[10] Wegner defined conscious will as a function of priority (the thought must come before the action), consistency (the thought must be consistent with the action), and exclusivity (the thought cannot be accompanied with other causes).[11] He argued that, although people may feel that conscious intentions drive much of their behavior, in reality both behavior and intentions are the product of other, unconscious mental processes.[12] Wegner concluded that his own findings were "compatible with the idea that brain events cause intention and action, whereas conscious intention itself may not cause action".[11]
Wegner argued that the feeling of intention is something attributed "after the fact" according to three principles: consistency, exclusivity, and priority.[13] The principle of consistency states that if the content of one's thoughts is relevant to one's action, then a feeling of control will occur. The exclusivity principle holds that one must not believe there to be an outside influence or cause to feel as though an action was intended. Finally, the priority principle requires the thought to occur right before the action to produce the illusion of free will.
He did not claim that conscious thought cannot, in principle, cause action, merely that any connection between conscious thought and action should be determined by scientific enquiry, and not by unreliable introspection and feelings.[10]
In 1985, Wegner proposed the concept oftransactive memory. A transactive memory system is a system through which groups collectively encode, store, and retrieve knowledge.[14] Transactive memory suggests an analysis not only of howcouples andfamilies in close relationships coordinate memory and tasks at home, but howteams, larger groups andorganizations come to develop a "group mind",[14] a memory system that is more complex and potentially more effective than that of any of the individuals that comprise it.
According to Wegner, a transactive memory system consists of the knowledge stored in each individual's memory combined withmetamemory containinginformation regarding the different teammate's domains of expertise.[15] Just as the individual's metamemory allows him to be aware of what information is available forretrieval, so does the transactive memory system provide teammates with information regarding theknowledge they have access to within the team.[16] Group members learn who knowledge experts are and how to access expertise through communicative processes. In this way, a transactive memory system can provide the group members with more and better knowledge than any individual could access on his or her own.
Trinity University announced Wegner's death on Friday, July 5, 2013, at his home in Massachusetts, ofamyotrophic lateral sclerosis.[17] He was survived by his wife and two daughters.[18]
Author
Editor
Dr. Wegner ... died last Friday in his Winchester home of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 65.
