CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Ed Diener, the Joseph R. Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois, is a 2012 recipient of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. The award "recognizes distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to basic research in psychology." The award is typically given to three scientists each year.
"APA reserves this award for only the most distinguished scientists," said Steven Breckler, the APA executive director for science. "Ed Diener is widely known for his contributions to social psychology and personality theory. As a psychologist, a scientist and a teacher, nobody is more deserving of this recognition than Ed Diener."
Now an emeritus professor of psychology at Illinois and a senior scientist with the Gallup organization, Diener joined the Illinois faculty in 1974. Much of his career has been devoted to measuring well-being and understanding the cultural, personality and economic factors that influence it.
Diener was the first to analyze data on happiness and income from the Gallup World Poll, the first worldwide survey of more than 136,000 people in 132 nations. He has written, edited and co-edited several books on subjective well-being and methods to study it. He is a co-author, with his son Robert Biswas-Diener, of "Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth," which won the 2008 Professional and Scholarly Publishing Prose Award for Excellence in Psychology.
Diener was the editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology from 1998 to 2003 and is an editor of the Journal of Happiness Studies. He also is the founding editor of Perspectives on Psychological Science.
Diener is a past president of the International Positive Psychology Association, the International Society of Quality of Life Studies, and of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association, the International Society of Quality of Life Studies, the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Society of Experimental Psychology.
Diener earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from California State University at Fresno and his doctorate in personality psychology from the University of Washington. He received the 2000 Distinguished Researcher Award from the International Society of Quality of Life Studies along with several teaching awards.
"Ed Diener is a major influence in psychology, with his groundbreaking work widely known and held in high regard," said psychology professor Brian Ross, the head of the department of psychology at Illinois. "He took the ideas of well-being and happiness, helped put them on a scientific foundation and related them to a host of important real-world issues. He also is a wonderful, award-winning teacher and mentor, and he has provided great service to the discipline as an editor and a leader of scientific societies."