University of Rochester psychologist Harry Reis has been awarded the 2015 Career Contribution Award by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP).
The award honors scholars who have made major theoretical, methodological, and/ or empirical contributions to the fields of social and personality psychology over the course of their career.
Reis is a leading researcher in the field of social psychology and in the study of close relationships. His work focuses on the nature and intimacy of social interactions and relationships, and how these relationships affect a person’s overall psychological and health well being.
“Harry Reis is one of those incredibly rare scholars who does it all, and does so at the very highest of levels,” said Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology at the University. “He is a stellar theorist, statistician, editor, teacher, mentor, and colleague. He has been a true pioneer in the field for four decades—I have never known anyone with such a wide range of talents.”
Reis is recognized as a groundbreaking researcher of social interactions in daily experience through the development of the Rochester Interaction Record. The RIR is a technique that allows researchers to study patterns and characteristics of social relations that occur in everyday life.
Reis received his PhD from New York University and joined the University of Rochester in 1974. Over the course of his career, Reis has authored or edited seven books and more than 200 published studies, reviews, and other professional articles.
He has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Career Award from the International Association of Relationship Research, as well as past SPSP awards for important service to the organization and to the field of social and personality psychology in general. Reis was also honored by the University in 2009 as a recipient of the Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Teaching.
SPSP is the world’s largest organization in the field of social and personality psychology. Reis will be receiving his award at the SPSP annual conference in San Diego in January 2016.