William Swann
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William B. Swann is a professor of social and personality psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is primarily known for his work on identity, self and self-esteem, but has also done research on relationships, social cognition, group processes, accuracy in person perception, interpersonal expectancy effects, blirtatiousness, personality and attitudes. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College.
Swann is best know for developing self-verification theory, which focuses on people’s desire to be known and understood by others. Once people develop firmly held beliefs about themselves, the theory suggests that they will come to prefer that others see them as they see themselves--even if their self-views are negative. For example, married people with negative self-views are more committed to the relationship and less likely to divorce if their spouse views them negatively. Recent research has applied this theory to understanding phenomena ranging from reactions to procedural justice in organizations, the productivity of members of work groups and teams, and extreme group behavior, such as fighting for one's group.
More recently Swann has contributed to identity negotiation theory. Identity negotiation refers to the processes whereby people in relationships reach agreements regarding “who is who.” Once reached, these agreements govern what people expect of one another and the way they relate to one another. As such, identity negotiation processes provide the interpersonal “glue” that holds relationships together. In recent years, one focus has been on how identity negotiation processes unfold in groups, especially diverse groups in organizational and educational settings.
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