Professor Daniel Wegner died of ALS July 5, 2013, in Winchester, Massachusetts. Social Psychology Network is maintaining this profile for visitors who wish to learn more about Professor Wegner's work.
Daniel Wegner's work is focused on the role of thought in self-control and in social life. He has published research on thought suppression -- for example, on how people become preoccupied with a white bear when they are merely asked not to think about it -- and on mental control of other kinds as well. He is interested in transactive memory (how people in groups and relationships remember) and has examined how people identify their actions. Currently, he is investigating how people come to experience their actions as consciously willed. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and by the National Institute of Mental Health. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He also occasionally writes about himself in the third person.