Ramadhar Singh, a professor at the Amrut Mody School of Management – Ahmedabad University, has been recognised on the ‘Heritage Wall of Fame’ of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) in the United States for his extraordinary contributions to social psychology and management. Professor Singh is the only social psychologist from India to receive this honour.
This honour comes on the heels of Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences bestowing upon him the Distinguished Alumni Award in Psychological Sciences (March 25, 2022). Professor Singh joined the society in 1990 and later became a fellow (1992).
Nine social psychologists backed the nomination
Duane T Wegener, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, who nominated Ramadhar Singh for the ‘Heritage Wall of Fame,’ also wrote his biography for the site. Nine social psychologists from China, India, Japan, Korea, India, Singapore, and the United States backed the nomination.
The site states, “People go far beyond the information given to them in social judgments. They actively process multiple pieces of information and relate activated processes with each other (often serially) in producing an overt response. Theoretically, therefore, these core cognitive complexities underlie affect and behaviour in many settings, and a cross-cultural view of human experience helps to identify and unpack those complexities.”
Professor Singh has made significant contributions to the fields of psychology and management research. During the 1980s, the prevalent American viewpoint was that humans were cognitive misers, that is, they took shortcuts in their thoughts and behaviours. Professor Singh’s research, on the other hand, demonstrated how cognitively affluent and dynamic humans are.
Professor played critical roles in advancing psychology as science
Professor Singh played critical roles in advancing psychology as a science in Asia at the national level in India through the University Grants Commission (UGC) and in Asia through the Asian Association of
Social Psychology. On a global scale, he was a consulting and/or associate editor for several journals, as well as a member of the Mentor Award Committee of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in the United States.
While accepting the honour, Professor Singh said, “I am entirely satisfied with the international recognition I have received this year for my lifelong efforts toward excellence over five decades as an experimental social psychologist. However, undoubtedly, my biggest delight is that my mentor Donn Byrne was simultaneously honoured at the ‘Heritage Wall of Fame’ and that his name rightfully precedes mine. As his 21st doctoral student, I remain grateful to Donn Byrne for guiding me to the path my research and life took.”
