Anthony Greenwald

Professional Life
Anthony Greenwald studied at Yale University and received his Bachelor’s in 1959. He went on to receive his master’s from Harvard and remained there until he earned his Ph.D. in 1963. Greenwald began his teaching career at Ohio State University as an assistant professor. He was also an editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and later became the Associate Editor of Experimental Psychology. Greenwald took a position as Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington more than 25 years ago and still teaches there today.

Greenwald has spent much of his career studying persuasion and has received many awards for his contributions to psychology. Among his many achievements are the Person Memory Interest Group Award, the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Scientist Award, the Donald T. Campbell Award from the Society for Personal and Social Psychology and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology’s prestigious Distinguished Scientist Award. Greenwald has authored and co-authored countless articles and books and has overseen several students throughout the years as they pursued their postdoctoral fellowships.

Contribution to Psychology
The Implicit Association Test, created by Greenwald, Brian Nosek, Mahzarin Banaji and others, was developed in 1995 as a means to test an individual’s ability to compare and contrast separate concepts and identify specific social cognition behavior patterns. The test, which focuses on association techniques, has been extremely effective in discovering implied racism behaviors. The success of the test relies on the fact that it is able to draw conclusions from behaviors that are engaged on an unconscious level. Greenwald continues to refine and hone the test and is actively conducting further research to address issues relating to the Implicit Association Test.

Greenwald has worked with colleagues to continue to pursue the theory of the Central Route to Persuasion as well. He believes that elaboration is a key factor in persuasion and is vital for the recipient of the information to accurately process the details of a conversation or situation. Greenwald also theorizes that an argument is more persuasive if it is based on strong information.