Description
The Grawemeyer Award in Psychology is given for original and creative ideas: ideas that possess clarity, power and that substantially impact the field of psychology. These ideas help us understand one another and the world around us, and provide insights into the human mind.
The purpose of this annual award is to acknowledge and disseminate outstanding ideas in all areas of psychological science. The award is designed to recognize a specific idea, rather than a lifetime of accomplishment.
The Prize
The Grawemeyer Award in Psychology is accompanied by a prize of no less than $100,000, which is presented in full during the awards ceremony.
Eligibility
Ideas eligible for nomination may have an individual author or authors. The award is designed to recognize a specific idea, rather than a lifetime of achievement.Ā The competition does not limit the format in which the idea appears. Consistent with the intent of Charles Grawemeyer, the award is not given posthumously.
History
The Grawemeyer Fund, housed at the University of Louisville, added psychology in 2001 to its distinguished list of awards categories. The University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology is given annually and is accompanied by a prize of not less than $100,000.
The Grawemeyer award recognizes outstanding ideas in all areas of the discipline of Psychology. Nominations are judged on the basis of originality, creativity, scientific merit, and breadth of impact on the field of Psychology.
Charles Grawemeyer, an industrialist, engineer and entrepreneur from Louisville, Ky., had a life-long passion for music, education and religious studies. Consequently, he chose to honor ideas in the arts, humanities and sciences. Rather than rewarding recent or lifetime personal achievements, Grawemeyer wanted to recognize single powerful ideas or creative works.
The Nomination Process
The University invites nominations from throughout the world by individuals, professional associations, university presidents and administrators, and publishers or editors of journals and books in psychology. If the nominator is a book publisher, the nomination letter should not simply repeat the material from the jacket of the book.Ā In such cases, a detailed supplementary nomination letter is suggested that describes the specific idea being nominated and its impact on the field of psychology.
Self-nominations are not accepted. Current University of Louisville faculty, staff and students are not eligible. Graduates from the University of Louisville must wait at least five (5) years before they can be nominated.
To make a nomination, the nominator must submit the following:
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- A one or two page letter in English identifying the specific idea being nominated, the author(s) of the idea, and why the idea merits the award.
- A current mailing address, telephone number, fax number and email address for the nominee(s).
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Deadline for Nominations
To be considered for the 2026 award, the nomination letter must be received by February 28, 2025.
Send nominations by regular mail or email to:
Dr. Brendan Depue, Faculty Director
Grawemeyer Award in Psychology
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
317 Life Sciences Building
University of Louisville
Louisville KY 40292
USA
(502) 852-6482
Email: brendan.depue@louisville.edu
Supporting Materials for Review
Further supporting materials will be requested directly from the nominee(s). Ā Nominees will be sent a nominee agreement explaining the award conditions.
Criteria for judging Nominations
Nominations will be judged on the basis of originality, creativity, scientific merit and breadth of impact on the discipline of Psychology.
The Review Process
The Grawemeyer Award Committee of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences will review the submissions and select 8 to 12 ideas for further consideration. These submissions will be forwarded to an External Review PanelĀ with broad expertise in the field of psychology, who will select three submissions to be recommended to the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award Committee. This latter committee will recommend the award winner to the President of the University, who will forward the recommendation to the Board of Trustees of the University. Ā The Board of Trustees will grant the award.
Awardee Requirements
The winner of the 2026 award will be announced publicly in December 2025. In addition to requirements specified on the nominee agreement, acceptance of the award requires personal delivery of a public address at the University of Louisville that conveys the importance of the winning idea. Winners must also participate for two to four days in community and campus events associated with the award ceremonies in March or April of the Award year.
For More Information Contact:
Dr. Brendan Depue, Faculty Director
(502) 852-6482
Email: brendan.depue@louisville.edu
Previous Winners
2024 – Ann Masten
A child psychologist who discovered that resilience in human development depends on āordinary magicā has won the 2024 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Psychology.
2023 – David Dunning and Justin Kruger
Are you as good at doing things as you think you are?
Maybe not, according to David Dunning and Justin Kruger, two social psychologists who today were named cowinners of the 2023 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Psychology for identifying a cognitive bias that causes people to overrate their own competence.
2022 – Terri Moffitt
Psychologist Terrie Moffitt has won the 2022 Grawemeyer Award in Psychology for shedding new light on the nature of juvenile crime.
Moffitt, a Duke University psychologist and Kingās College, London, social development professor, discovered two types of antisocial behavior in juveniles. One persists from early childhood to adulthood, is relatively rare and seen mostly in males, while the other occurs only in adolescence and is seen in both males and females.
2021 – Robert Plomin
A behavioral geneticist who found that DNA is the primary force shaping our personalities has won the 2021 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
Robert Plomin, research professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at Kingās College London, developed his prize-winning idea based on 45 years of psychological studies in the United States and United Kingdom. His findings have significantly changed how scientists view the factors that define us as individuals.
2020 – No Award Given
2019 – Kent Berridge and Terry Robinson
University of Michigan researchers Kent Berridge and Terry Robinson have won the 2019 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology for explaining how our brains process ālikingā versus āwantingā and how neural sensitization of the āwantingā system plays a key role in drug addiction.
āLikingā and āwantingā may sound like similar processes, but Berridge and Robinson found they are produced by different brain systems. āWantingā is driven by large pathways in the brain that use the neurotransmitter dopamine, while ālikingā is controlled in smaller, pleasure-generating hotspots that do not use dopamine.
The researchers proposed in their āIncentive-Sensitization Theory of Addictionā that the dopamine system in addictsā brains becomes hypersensitive to drugs and drug cues, which can produce excessive āwantingā for drugs. This sensitization effect can last for years, making it harder for addicts to resist drugs even when they want to avoid them and get little pleasure from taking them.
Learning how to safely reverse that process could lead to a more effective way to treat addiction, they concluded.
2018 – Robert Sternberg
Sternberg, a professor of human development, was selected for the prize for his view that intelligence encompasses several components that help people succeed in different ways in their own environments. Those components include analytical-reasoning skills, creative-thinking skills, common-sense practical skills and wisdom-based and ethical skills. A command of all those skills helps people adapt to a fast-changing world, capitalize on their strengths and compensate for or correct their weaknesses.
2017 – Marsha Linehan
Linehan developed a therapy to treat chronically suicidal patients and extended its power to help people with borderline personality and other disorders.
A scientist who discovered a brain mechanism that not only produces resilience to trauma but also aids in coping with future adversity has won the 2016 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
A brain scientist who helped explain how our emotions affect what we learn and remember has won the 2015 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
A California scholar who proposed that emotions play an integral role in human reasoning and decision-making has won the 2014 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology. Antonio Damasio, a psychology, neuroscience and neurology professor at the University of Southern California, received the prize for his somatic marker hypothesis, a proposal that emotions influence the way people make decisions.
A mental health pioneer who explored the basis of schizophrenia and the way mental disorders are classified has won the 2013 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
2012 – Leslie Ungerleider and Mortimer Mishkin
Leslie Ungerleider and Mortimer Mishkin, two National Institute of Mental Health researchers, have won the 2012 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology for their āwhat and whereā idea of how the brain works.
Good things come to those who wait. A scientist who showed that willpower can be learnedāand that it carries lifelong benefitsāhas won the 2011 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
A scientist who broadened the understanding of how we experience pain ā and ways we can control and relieve it ā has won the 2010 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
A scientist who helped explain how our brains build meaningful images from the bits of information we see won the 2009 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Psychology.
People who believe in themselves can raise their aspirations, motivation and accomplishments and are more apt to try new things by watching others do them. So says Albert Bandura, a Stanford University professor of social science in psychology who won the 2008 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
2007 – Giacomo Rizzolatti, Vittorio Gallese and Leonardo Fogassi
The old saying “monkey see, monkey do” also applies to human behavior, say a trio of Italian scientists who earned the 2007 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
2006 – John OāKeefe and Lynn Nadel
How do people know where they are and how they got there? Two scientists who have helped identify the brainās mapping system earned the 2006 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
A psychologist noted for her study of human memory and how it can be altered has won the 2005 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
A psychiatrist considered to be the founder of cognitive therapy — and credited with its approach of helping people learn techniques to help themselves — has won the 2004 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
2003 – Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky
Working as a team for nearly three decades, the psychologists revolutionized the scientific approach to decision making, ultimately affecting all social sciences and many related disciplines.
2002 – James McClelland and David Rumelhart
Two pioneers in the field of cognitive neuroscience have won the 2002 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
2001 – Michael Posner, Marcus Raichle and Steven Petersen
Three pioneers in the field of cognitive neuroscience won the 2001 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
2025 Recipient
James Gross
Stanford professor cited for research demonstrating the benefits of managing feelings early
By: Grawemeyer Awards, University of Louisville
For noticing and explicating the different ways people manage their feelings, and for creating and developing the field of emotion regulation, Stanford Psychology Professor James Gross, the Ernest R. Hilgard Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences will receive the 2025 Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
Gross theorized that managing oneās feelings before they are fully formed (antecedent-focused emotion regulation) offers a healthier approach than trying to manage them after theyāre in full swing (response-focused emotion regulation). In testing these predictions, he examined prototypical examples of each type of emotion regulation: cognitive reappraisal, which involves interpreting a potentially emotional situation in a way that alters its impact, and expressive suppression, which involves inhibiting the behaviors that are associated with oneās feelings.
āBringing simplicity to an age-old debate, James Gross has demonstrated that the manner in which people regulate their emotions deeply affects their lives and the lives of others,ā said Director of Grawemeyer Awards in Psychology Brendan E. Depue, Ph.D. āMoreover, he and his research team have shown that reappraisal interventions ā teaching people how to regulate their feelings before the feelings have ātaken overā ā can dramatically improve the way people interpret and handle stress. Emotion regulation exemplifies the kind of powerful idea Charles Grawemeyer had in mind when he established the Psychology Award.ā
Notable previous winners whose work relates to Grossās include Aaron Beck, the father of cognitive therapy, who won the 2004 Grawemeyer; Antonio Damasio, who demonstrated the integral role emotions play in human reasoning and decision-making (2014); and James McGaugh, a neuroscientist who helped explain the way our emotions affect what we learn and remember (2015).
Video Interviews with Past Recipients
The components of intellect that contribute to success in life
2018 Psychology Recipient Robert Sternberg
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
2017 Psychology Recipient Marsha Linehan
Strength through Adversity: Connecting Resilience, Control
2016 Psychology Recipient Steven Maier
The Link Between Emotion and Memory
2015 Psychology Recipient James McGaugh
The Role of Emotions in Decision-Making
2014 Psychology Recipient Antonio Damasio
The Basis of Schizophrenia and How to Classify Mental Disorders
2013 Psychology Recipient Irving Gottesman
The āWhat and Whereā of How the Brain Works
2012 Psychology Recipients Leslie Ungerleider and Mortimer Mishkin
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
2011 Psychology Recipient Walter Mischel
Gate Control Theory of Pain
2010 Psychology Recipient Ronald Melzack
Interview With Anne Treisman
2009 Psychology Recipient Anne Treisman