E. Tory Higgins


Edward Tory Higgins is the Stanley Schachter Professor of Psychology, Professor of Business, and Director of the Motivation Science Center at Columbia University. Higgins has a broad set of research interests, including motivation and cognition, judgment and decision-making, and social cognition. His more notable contributions to the field of psychology include work on priming, self-discrepancy theory, and regulatory focus theory. He is also the author of Beyond Pleasure and Pain: How Motivation Works, and Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence.

Career

Higgins received a Joint Honors B.A. degree in Sociology and Anthropology from McGill University in 1967, an M.A. in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1968, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University in 1973. His early work included the study of priming and accessibility, through which social judgment is influenced through the unconscious activation of social categories. In 1981, he was hired by New York University, where he worked with others to re-build the social/personality psychology program. Among the early hires at NYU during this time were John Bargh, Shelly Chaiken, and Yaacov Trope. In 1989, Higgins returned to Columbia and served as the Chair of the psychology department from 1994-2001.
At Columbia University, Higgins has worked on the science of motivation and self-regulation. He expanded his prior research on self-discrepancy theory, which examines the impact of the disparities people experience between their actual selves and their "ideal" or "ought" self-guides. Self-discrepancy theory acted as the foundation upon which Higgins then developed regulatory focus theory, which posits two distinct self-regulatory systems for approaching gains vs. avoiding losses. In 2000, Higgins developed regulatory fit theory, proposing that people experience fit when using means of goal pursuit that align with their regulatory orientation: vigilant means fit with a prevention focus, whereas eager means fit with a promotion focus. Also in 2000, Higgins and Arie Kruglanski developed regulatory mode theory, which describes two complementary self-regulatory functions: assessment concerns with critical evaluation of options in order to make the right choice of goals and means and locomotion concerns with controlling smooth movement from state to state in order to effect change. These theories have also informed the development of Higgins’ model of motivational effectiveness, which posits that motivation comprises distinct drives for value, truth, and control. Higgins has also studied shared reality, the motivation to create shared feelings, beliefs, and concerns with others.

Selected awards

Higgins is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He gave the University Lecture at Columbia University and received Columbia's Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching. He is a member of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Wall of Fame and was recently awarded the Ambady Award for Mentoring Excellence. Selected additional awards include:

Books