Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

WATCH: Princeton Psychologist Betsy Levy Paluck Wins MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant

A Princeton University psychologist who studies how to reduce social tensions — from high school bullying to ethnic tension in Rwanda — was selected for a 2017 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Betsy Levy Paluck is one of 24 fellows announced Wednesday.

Paluck has dedicated her career in research psychology to determining how psychological insights can be applied to reducing prejudice and conflict in real-world situations.

Her most famous study to date has been tracking the effects of a radio soap opera in post-genocide Rwanda. The soap followed characters from different ethnic backgrounds that were able to reconcile their differences. Paluck found that even while Rwandan’s tended to maintain their ethnic prejudices, their behavior towards people of different ethnicities became more peaceable and friendly.

“I’ve been really interested in this idea: That how we behave is actually much more influenced by what other people think than by our own personal ideas,” Paluck told NPR. “I think everybody’s had the experience of doing something because they thought it was expected of them.”

Paluck plans to use part of her “Genius” grant — $625,000 over five years — to help connect social science scholars with activists and NGOs to help solve real-world problems.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.