Harry Charalambos Triandis (16 October 1926 – 1 June 2019) was Professor Emeritus at the Department of Psychology of the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

. He was considered a pioneer of cross-cultural psychology and his research focused on the cognitive aspects of attitudes, norms, roles and values in different cultures.

Education and career

Triandis was born in

Patras, Greece Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

on 16 October 1926. During the Second World War, he learned four foreign languages and developed his curiosity about the differences that exist between cultures. As he met people across various European nations, it inspired him to research cultural disparities in the way people think. At age 20, he moved to Canada, where he graduated as an engineer at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in 1951. Three years later, he obtained a master's degree in commerce from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. During that time, he was exposed to the work of psychology and pursued further education in that field. In 1958, he completed his doctoral education in Social Psychology at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in Ithaca, New York. He was Professor Emeritus at the Psychology Department of the

until his death in 2019. Triandis's early contributions to the field of cross-cultural psychology involved the development of several culture-sensitive measurements. He was president of several academic societies, includingthe International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (1976), the Interamerican Society of Psychology (1987–1989), the Association of Applied Psychology (1990–1994), and Division 8 and 9 of the American Psychological Association in 1977 and 1976, respectively. He was well known for his extensive research on individualism and collectivism. He died in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

on 1 June 2019 at age 92.

Awards and honors

* Interamerican Psychology Award, Interamerican Society of Psychology (1981) * Honorary Fellow, International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (1982) * Distinguished Fulbright Professor to India (1983) * Centennial Citation,

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

(1992) * Otto Klineberg Award,

Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Founded in 1936, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) is a group of 3,000 scientists from psychology and related fields who share a common interest in research on the psychological aspects of important social and policy i ...

(1994) * Award for Distinguished Lecturer of the Year,

(1994) * Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Psychology,

(1994) * James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award, American Psychological Society (1996) * Award for Outstanding International Psychologist,

(2002) * Lifetime Contributions Award, International Academy for Intercultural Research (2004) * Career Contribution Award, Society of Personality and Social Psychology (2011)

Publications

* ''Attitude and Attitude Change'', * ''Analysis of Subjective Culture: An Approach to Cross-cultural Social Psychology'', 1971. * ''Variations in Black and White Perceptions of the Social Environment'', 1972. * ''Interpersonal Behavior'', 1976. * ''Culture and Social Behavior'', 1977. * ''Individualism And Collectivism (New Directions in Social Psychology)'', 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Triandis, Harrry 1926 births 2019 deaths Greek emigrants to the United States University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni Cornell University alumni University of Toronto alumni 20th-century American psychologists James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award recipients