Daphna Oyserman

Daphna Oyserman is a Dean's Professor in the Department of Psychology and of Education and Communication at the University of Southern California. She is also a co-director of the USC Dornsife Mind and Society Center. Oyserman received a PhD in psychology and social work from the University of Michigan (1987). She was on the faculty of The Hebrew University, Jerusalem before joining the University of Michigan, where she last held appointments as the Edwin J. Thomas Collegiate Professor of Social Work, Professor of Psychology, and research professor in the Institute for Social Research. She has been recognized by several international organizations for her contributions to psychology—she is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Oyserman is interested in cultural differences in affect, behavior, and cognition – how people feel, act, and think about themselves and the world around them. She also examines racial, ethnic and social class gaps in educational achievement and health (see also work relating to gender and self-concept).

Across these domains of research and in different contexts, Oyserman investigates how changes in mindset can shape the perceived meaning of behaviors and situations and how these shifts can have significant effects on health and academic performance. Throughout her work, she examines how apparently “fixed”differences between groups may in fact mask highly malleable situated processes that can be profoundly influenced through small interventions that shift mindset.

Oyserman's research has direct implications for the classroom and goal attainment in other domains. And her work has received significant media attention for its novel theoretical and applied value.^[1][2][3]