12 Facts About Daniel Wegner

Daniel Merton Wegner was an American social psychologist.

Daniel Wegner was a professor of psychology at Harvard University, Trinity University, and a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Daniel Wegner was known for applying experimental psychology to the topics of mental control and conscious will, and for originating the study of transactive memory and action identification.

In 2011, Daniel Wegner was awarded the William James Fellow Award by the Association for Psychological Science, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by the American Psychological Association, and the Distinguished Scientist Award by the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.

Daniel Wegner coined the term "ironic mental processes" for this effect, which is known more commonly as the "white bear phenomenon".

Daniel Wegner found that the ironic effect is stronger when people are stressed or depressed.

Daniel Wegner conducted a series of experiments in which people experience an illusion of control, feeling that their will shapes events which are actually determined by someone else.

Daniel Wegner argued controversially that the ease with which this illusion can be created shows that the everyday feeling of conscious will is an illusion or a "construction" and that this illusion of mental causation is "the mind's best trick".

Daniel Wegner defined conscious will as a function of priority, consistency, and exclusivity.

Daniel Wegner argued that the feeling of intention is something attributed "after the fact" according to three principles: consistency, exclusivity, and priority.

Daniel Wegner did not claim that conscious thought cannot, in principle, cause action, merely that any connection between conscious thought and action should be determined by scientific enquiry, and not by unreliable introspection and feelings.

Daniel Wegner was survived by his wife and two daughters.