Bouchard Receives Dunnette Prize for Study of Individual Difference

APS Fellow Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr., professor emeritus of psychology and Director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research at the University of Minnesota, has been awarded the Dunnette Prize for the Study of Individual Differences for his 20-year study establishing the role of genetic influence on a wide range of traits including intellectual ability, personality, vocational interests, religiosity, and political views. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) awards the prize to researchers whose work has “significantly expanded knowledge of the causal significance of individual differences through advanced research, development, and/or application.” It includes a $50,000 cash award.

From 1979 to 2000, Bouchard oversaw the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA). This involved the medical and psychological assessment of identical and fraternal twins separated early in life and reared apart, as well as evaluation of their spouses when available. Bouchard has published more than 200 papers on psychological science since 1968, and continues to analyze data from the MISTRA project to this day.

Bouchard will give an invited address about his work, “Finding Out How Things Work,” at SIOP’s 33rd Annual Conference for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology on April 19, 2018, at the Sheraton Grand in Chicago, Illinois.