Abraham Tesser

Abraham Tesser
Name	Abraham Tesser
Birth date	1943
Nationality	American
Fields	Social psychology
Institutions	University of Georgia
Alma mater	City College of New York; University of Michigan
Doctoral advisor	Not specified
Known for	Self-evaluation maintenance model; attitude-behavior relations; social influence; interpersonal processes

Abraham Tesser is an American social psychologist known for theoretical and empirical work on interpersonal processes, attitudes, and self-related cognition. His career spans faculty positions, editorial roles, and influential theories that have shaped research in social psychology, personality psychology, attitude change, and interpersonal relationships. Tesser's work integrates experimental methods from social cognition with concerns about group processes studied in contexts like organizational behavior and clinical psychology.

Early life and education

Tesser was born in 1943 and completed his undergraduate studies at City College of New York before earning a doctorate at the University of Michigan. During his formative years he trained amid influential figures and institutions tied to postwar developments in social psychology, interacting with scholars associated with Leon Festinger, Elliot Aronson, Stanley Schachter, and research traditions prominent at Columbia University and Harvard University. His education occurred alongside methodological shifts that involved experimental labs at Yale University and measurement innovations linked to researchers at Ohio State University.

Academic career

Tesser joined the faculty at the University of Georgia, where he served in the Department of Psychology and contributed to graduate training in social psychology and personality psychology. He held editorial responsibilities and participated in governance of professional societies such as the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. His collaborations and visiting appointments connected him to scholars at Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, and international centers like University College London. Tesser also influenced interdisciplinary programs tied to communication studies, behavioral economics, and applied research in health psychology.

Research contributions and theories

Tesser introduced and developed the Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model, a formal account of how individuals respond to others’ performances in domains relevant to self-definition; the SEM model interacts with work on self-concept, social comparison theory, and mechanisms described by Leon Festinger. He generated empirical and theoretical analyses of attitude-behavior consistency that intersect with classic findings by Icek Ajzen, Martin Fishbein, and debates concerning the LaPiere study. Tesser’s research on social influence and interpersonal processes addresses how proximity, similarity, and reciprocity operate in contexts studied by Robert Cialdini, Eliot Aronson, and John Darley. His work on mood and cognition intersects with studies by Shelley Taylor, Susan Fiske, and Daniel Kahneman. Tesser’s contributions to understanding the cognitive architecture of attitudes and self-regulation draw on constructs elaborated by Walter Mischel, Carol Dweck, and Albert Bandura.

Major publications

Tesser authored and coauthored numerous articles in leading journals such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Notable empirical and theoretical pieces situate his SEM model alongside foundational papers by Leon Festinger and critiques from scholars like E. Tory Higgins and Norbert Schwarz. He contributed chapters to edited volumes produced by Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press and participated in handbooks overseen by editors including Daniel Gilbert and Susan Fiske. Tesser’s publications influenced lines of inquiry pursued by researchers at Columbia University, New York University, University of Michigan, Indiana University, and University of California, Los Angeles.

Honors and awards

Tesser received recognition from professional organizations in psychology for his theoretical impact and mentoring. His distinctions include fellowships and honors associated with the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and regional awards connected to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He has been invited to deliver named lectures at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, and University of Chicago, and served on award committees alongside colleagues from Princeton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Personal life and legacy

Tesser’s mentoring produced generations of scholars who continued work on self-processes, social comparison, and attitude dynamics at universities including Duke University, Ohio State University, and University of Texas at Austin. His theoretical legacy—especially the SEM model—remains central to contemporary inquiries in social cognition, interpersonal relationships, and applied studies in organizational behavior. Ongoing citations and extensions of his work appear across literatures in consumer behavior, health psychology, and cross-cultural research involving teams at University of Tokyo and University of Melbourne.

Category:American psychologists Category:Social psychologists Category:University of Georgia faculty