Rate My Professor Hazel Markus

Hazel Rose Markus is the Davis-Brack Professor in the Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, where she has served on the faculty since 1994. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan and her B.A. from California State University at San Diego. Prior to Stanford, she held faculty and research scientist positions at the University of Michigan from 1975 to 1994. Markus is a social and cultural psychologist whose research focuses on the role of the self in regulating behavior, motivation, cognition, and emotion, and on how the social world, including cultures of nation or region of origin, gender, social class, race, ethnicity, religion, and occupation, shapes thought, feeling, and action. She co-directs Stanford SPARQ (Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions), which partners with organizations to address challenges in education, health, criminal justice, and economic development. Previously, she directed Stanford’s Research Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and served as president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology from 2003 to 2004. She is a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation and advisor to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s Boundaries, Membership, and Belonging Program.

Markus has pioneered theory and research on self, identity, and agency, demonstrating how cultural and psychological processes mutually constitute each other, extending understanding beyond Western contexts. Her work applies to real-world issues such as improving educational access for working-class and first-generation students, reducing bias in policing, framing aid to minimize stigma, and addressing cultural differences in health and COVID-19 responses. She has authored or coauthored over 250 peer-reviewed articles, cited more than 150,000 times, and key books including Social Stigma (1984), Social Psychology (1989, 12th edition 2024), Emotion and Culture (1994), Clash! How to Thrive in a Multicultural World (2014), Engaging Cultural Differences (2002, edited), and Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century (2022, edited). Her honors include the 2026 Sage-CASBS Award, three Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellowships (1980-81, 1995-96, 2008-09), membership in the National Academy of Sciences (2017), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1994), American Philosophical Society (2025), and British Academy (2019), APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (2008), APS William James Award (2017), SPSP Donald T. Campbell Award (2003), and Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize (2021).