Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, PhD, to Be Keynote Speaker at APA Convention

WHAT:

Nobel Prize winner and distinguished psychologist Daniel Kahneman, PhD, renowned for his work in behavioral economics, will headline the opening session of the American Psychological Association’s 125^th Annual Convention. One of the most influential social scientists of the past century, Kahneman wrote the best-selling book “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” His findings have challenged the assumption of human rationality.

Kahneman will take part in a conversation with his friend and fellow social psychologist Thomas Gilovich, PhD. Gilovich plans to talk with Kahneman about his childhood in Nazi-occupied France, his education and military service in Israel and how those events shaped his efforts to challenge existing psychological theories. The conversation will also focus on how psychology has evolved during Kahneman’s career and how he hopes the field will grow moving forward.

WHEN:

Opening Session, Thursday, Aug. 3, 5 – 6:30 p.m. EDT

WHERE:

Ballroom Level 3, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Pl., N.W., Washington, D.C.

WHO:

Daniel Kahneman, PhD, is the Eugene Higgins professor of psychology emeritus at Princeton University. In addition to the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, Kahneman received the 2007 APA Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology, and in 2013, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Thomas Gilovich, PhD, a professor of psychology and co-director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research at Cornell University, researches how people evaluate information in their everyday and professional lives, and how they use that information to draw conclusions, form beliefs and embark on courses of action. Like Kahneman, he’s particularly interested in why people make inconsistent judgments and decisions that may be counterproductive.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 115,700 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.