Renaming the Tajfel Award
01.08.2019, by Tina Keil in announcement
Announcement from the EASP Executive Committee
It has recently been documented that Henri Tajfel showed reprehensible and unacceptable behaviors towards female members of his lab. While this does not question Tajfel’s theoretical contribution to Social Psychology as a field and to our association in particular, we believe that we must look at his legacy in a different way.
One direct consequence in the light of his reported misconduct is that our organization will not continue to honor Tajfel by connecting his name to our most prestigious lifetime achievement award. Naming an award after a person suggests that this individual is a role model as a scientist and beyond, which Henri Tajfel clearly is not according to the EASP’s current standards.
Therefore, from now on the EASP will not hand out a Henri Tajfel medal to honor the lifetime achievement of scientists.