Elizabeth Levy Paluck, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, has been awarded the 2009 Early Career Award of the American Psychological Association, Division 48 for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence.  

The Early Career Award recognizes scholars in peace psychology who have made substantial contributions to the mission of the society, which is “the development of sustainable societies through the prevention of destructive conflict and violence, the amelioration of its consequences, the empowerment of individuals, and the building of cultures of peace and global community.”  

Scholarship (quantity and quality of publications) and activism (breadth and impact of teaching, training, fieldwork, and policy work) are the primary considerations for the award. Members of the Society will recognize Paluck’s work at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, where she will give an address.

The Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division works to promote peace in the world at large and within nations, communities, and families. It encourages psychological and multidisciplinary research, education, and training on issues concerning peace, nonviolent conflict resolution, reconciliation and the causes, consequences and prevention of violence and destructive conflict.

Paluck describes her research as motivated by “Two basic ideas...The first idea is that social psychological theory offers potentially useful tools for changing society in constructive ways. The second idea is that studying attempts to change society is one of the most fruitful ways to develop and assess social psychological theory.” Paluck’s work focuses on prejudice and intergroup conflict reduction, using large-scale field experiments to test theoretically driven interventions in the US and in conflict-affected countries such as Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan.