The Dunnette Prize recognizes work that has significantly expanded knowledge of the causal significance of individual differences through advanced research, development, and/or application.
Professor Marvin D. Dunnette devoted virtually his entire academic and professional life to the assessment, prediction, and explanation of individual differences in human behavior and performance.
This award is given to honor a living individual or team who has made programmatic, significant, and lasting contributions to the understanding of the role of individual differences in assessing, predicting, and explaining human behavior and performance. Such contributions can be in the form of basic research, applied research, or applications in practice. Professor Dunnette did not see these three as distinct entities – each informs the others.
Award recipients receive a plaque and a cash prize of $50,000. Recipients are expected to give an invited address about the Prize-winning contributions at the SIOP conference at which the award is received.
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Nomination Guidelines
- A nomination letter by a SIOP member is required. Self-nominations are welcome. If a SIOP member nominator is needed, please contact the SIOP Foundation at SIOPFoundation@siop.org.
- SIOP membership is not a requirement for nominees.
- The Dunnette Prize is intended to recognize individuals who have made programmatic, significant, and lasting contributions to understanding the causal nature of individual differences on behavior and performance. Nominees are thus likely to be in later stages of their career, although mid-career nominees are not precluded.
- The nomination package should also include: a current curriculum vitae for the nominee or for each member of the nominated team, a self-statement from the nominee or nominated team, three to five letters of support, and any additional materials that illustrate the contributions of the nominee.
- The letter of nomination, CVs, self-statement, supporting letters, and any additional materials must be submitted online by the nominator.
- When submitting the nomination materials, nominators will also be asked if the nominee(s) are being investigated, or have been found responsible, for misconduct prohibited in SIOP’s Anti-Harassment Policy and to provide a brief explanation if this is the case.
Criteria for the Award
The nomination package should address the below criteria for the award. Nominees will be judged in terms of their overall contribution to understanding the role played by individual differences in predicting, explaining, or facilitating human behavior and performance. Note that the number of publications and citation counts are secondary and perhaps even irrelevant concerns. Rather, it is the quality and impact of the work along with focus on the role of individual differences in predicting, changing, and explaining human behavior and performance.
- Appropriateness – primary focus is on individual differences that are important for predicting, changing, or explaining human behavior and performance.
- Quality – sound scientific and technical base. Fads, fashions, and folderol will be discounted (see Dunnette, M. D. (1966). Fads, fashions, and folderol in psychology. American Psychologist, 21(4), 343–352. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0023535).
- Impact – innovative, programmatic work that has had significant and lasting impact on the field, advancing understanding, research, and/or practice.
Administrative Procedures
- At least five members of the Dunnette Prize Subcommittee will review and evaluate each nomination package and recommend an award recipient to the SIOP Executive Board.
- The Executive Board may either endorse or reject the recommendations of the Subcommittee but may not substitute a nominee of its own.
- In the absence of a nominee who is deemed deserving of the award, the award may be withheld.
Composition of Committee
- Subcommittee members should be recognized experts in I-O psychology with expertise in individual differences).
- The subcommittee should be comprised primarily of SIOP Members, Fellows, and Associates.
- Lead Contributors can name a member to the subcommittee who may or may not be a SIOP member.
- The majority of subcommittee members should be independent, that is, they were not recommended to serve on the committee by Lead Contributors.
- Diversity of all types is encouraged, including non-U.S. based members.
Charter Contributors to the Dunnette Prize Fund
(These donors generously donated $1,000 or more. This list was last updated February 7, 2018.)
Cristina G. Banks
Michael Beer
Thomas and Pauline Bouchard
Harry Brull
David Campbell
James Campion
Howard C. Carlson
Chesapeake Insts for Behavioral Research
Sandra L. Davis
René V. Dawis
Robert Eichinger
James L. Farr
Irv and Micki Goldstein
Harrison G. Gough
George and Joni Graen
Rick Guzzo
Milt and Lee Hakel
Keith and Karen Grabow Halprin
Jo-Ida C. Hansen
Joy and John Hazucha
Lowell Hellervik
Ray S. Hibbs
Hogan Assessment System
Thomas Hollmann
Leaetta Hough
Allen I. Kraut
Frank Landy
Gary Latham
Patty and Ed Lawler
Cynthia E. Marsh
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Jeffrey J. McHenry
Douglas and Kimberly McKenna
Robert F. Morrison
Robert Muschewske
Dianne Nilsen
Cal Oltrogge
Frederick Oswald
PDI Charitable Giving Fund St Paul Foundation
Patricia Pedigo
David B. Peterson
Lyman W. Porter
David L. Prin
Lise M. Saari
Paul and Pat Sackett
Frank Schmidt
Benjamin and Brenda Schneider
Lance Seberhagen
James Campbell Sharf
Rob Silzer
Elaine B. Sloan
Snyder Leadership Group
Wayne W. Sorenson
SWA Consulting Inc.
Paul W Thayer
The Robins Family Foundation
Nancy T. Tippins
Harry C. Triandis
Victor Vroom
Stroller Tod White
Marti and Shelly Zedeck
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Dunnette Prize Award Winners
2022 Winner - Robert Hogan
Dr. Robert Hogan is the Founder and President of Hogan Assessments and a Past Professor of Psychology at the University of Tulsa and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Robert Hogan’s career has been devoted to the subject of personality, creating practical assessment instruments and methodologies for applying the science of personality to real-world matters like employee selection, executive assessment, leadership development, and social justice. His contributions include demonstrating the utility of personality assessment in employee selection and the prediction of job performance; explaining why response sets and faking do not invalidate personality assessment; applying and extending the five factor model with the Hogan Personality Inventory; introducing the dark side of personality and assessment with the Hogan Development Survey; defining leadership and how it influences organizational performance; explaining links among personality, leadership, and organizational performance; and articulating a comprehensive, foundational theory of personality. He has contributed directly to understanding of the subject, revitalizing it through renewed interest and widespread acceptance. Hogan is also a collaborator, often working with younger I-O psychologists to establish their views and credentials.
Watch Robert Hogan's Award address
2020 Winner - Paul Sackett
Dr. Paul R. Sackett, Beverly and Richard Fink Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, is known for research that is as deep as it is broad. For more than 40 years, he has contributed to the knowledge of individual differences in cognitive ability, job knowledge, integrity, personality, background characteristics, achievement, motivation, job performance, and counterproductive work behaviors, among others. His research expands beyond the I-O field and has impacted educational and work settings including military, public, and private organizations. With more than 300 papers to his credit—and an h-index of 73—Dr. Sackett continues to influence the national and international discussion on the use of individual differences constructs and measures. His role as a thought leader has led him to testify before the U.S. Congress, play a pivotal role in policy issues, and lead national discussions on psychological testing and assessment. Not only has he greatly contributed to the literature, he has also endeavored to make that research applicable to practice and has been critical in guiding the development of policy on assessment and individual differences.
Watch Paul Sackett's Award address
2018 Winner - Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr.
Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr., Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Bouchard received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. Soon afterward, he was recruited to the University of Minnesota, where he began studying the new field of behavioral genetics, along with applied and individual differences in psychology. Bouchard’s most well-known work involves the famous Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, which has yielded a rich harvest of information shaping scientific fields including psychology, medicine and genetics..
Watch Thomas Bouchard's Award address.
2015 (Inaugural Year) Winner - Frank L. Schmidt
It is only fitting that the first Dunnette Prize was awarded to Dr. Frank L. Schmidt (1944–2021). The award is designed to “honor living individuals whose work has significantly expanded knowledge of the causal significance of individual differences through advanced research, development, and/or application.” These criteria defined Dr. Schmidt. After receiving his PhD in Industrial Psychology from Purdue University in 1970, he began a career that spanned over 40 years and numerous employment sectors, from academia to government to business. Dr. Schmidt’s list of publications is astounding and includes seven books, over 200 studies, and over 300 presentations. Perhaps most impressive is that these publications had nearly 36,000 citations and that his h Index was 77 when he won the award. His honors are too numerous for an exhaustive list to be provided here, but they include the APA Foundation Gold Medal Lifetime Achievement Award for Applications of Psychology, the APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, and the APS James McKeen Cattell Award for Scientific Contributions to Applied Psychology. Dr. Schmidt remained active in I-O research after his retirement in 2012, publishing four research articles and the third edition of his meta-analysis book while serving on a number of editorial boards.
Updated March 21, 2024