USC Provost hires two new psychology professors

USC Provost Elizabeth Garrett appointed Norbert Schwarz as Provost Professor of Psychology and Marketing and Daphna Oyserman as Dean’s Professor of Psychology, as well as professor of psychology, education and communication. Both professors are from the University of Michigan.

Oyserman and Schwarz, who are married, will begin their posts in January and will open the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ Mind and Society Center at the Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall, USC’s first interdisciplinary social sciences building, this summer when the Hall is completed.

Currently Oyserman is the Edwin J. Thomas Collegiate Professor of Social Work and Schwarz is the Charles Horton Cooley Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan.

Schwarz has published over 20 books and about 300 journals and chapters, and is one of the most frequently referenced researchers in social psychology and consumer psychology. His focus is on how basic cognitive processes make an impact on public opinion.

Oyserman uses experimental and field-based research to explore how culture shapes individuals. She has published 130 journal articles and chapters and is currently completing a book.

“Professor Oyserman and Professor Schwarz are renowned scholars on the cutting edge of interdisciplinary work in the social sciences, providing approaches to some of society’s most challenging problems,” Garrett told USC News. “Their sophisticated research bears practical applications in a variety of settings, from the role of emotions in decision-making to the effect of identity formation on academic outcomes. Their arrival raises USC’s profile in the quantitative social sciences and will have a far-reaching impact across all disciplines and professions.”

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