Marilynn Brewer

Marilynn B. Brewer is an American social psychologist, born in Chicago in 1942 as Marilynn Bolt. She is professor emerita of psychology at Ohio State University and was formerly Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute for Social Science Research at UCLA. She earned her bachelor's degree at North Park College in 1963 and her Ph.D. at Northwestern University in 1968. Her work concerns social identity, social cognition and intergroup relations, and she is especially recognized for the theory of optimal distinctiveness. She has presided over the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the Midwestern Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, and she has edited Personality and Social Psychology Review. Her honors include the Kurt Lewin Memorial Award and the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.