Confessions of a Recently Outed Social Psychologist: The 2024 Cooley-Mead Award Address

This address is in the form of five confessions that speak to (1) my relationship with social psychology (“For years, I did not I identify as or feel like a social psychologist), (2) others’ relationship with social psychology (“I am not alone in feeling this way”), (3) social psychology’s relationship with sociology (“I believe that social psychology is undervalued in sociology”), (4) sociology’s relationship with other academic disciplines and the public sphere (“I believe that sociology is undervalued elsewhere”), and (5) strategies from the social psychological toolbox that we can use to reenvision the portrayal of social psychology (“I believe that we can do better”). This address not only speaks to the challenges faced by social psychology but also hints at the promise of social psychology as a vibrant and fundamental area within sociology and as an exemplar for sociology.