Elliot Aronson
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Elliot Aronson (born January 9, 1932) is an American psychologist who is best known for his experiments on the theory of cognitive dissonance and for his invention of the Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative teaching technique which facilitates learning while reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice. In his popular (1972) social psychology textbook, The Social Animal, (now in its 11th edition), he stated Aronson's First Law: "People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy," thus asserting the importance of situational factors in bizarre behavior. He is the only person in the 120-year history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its major awards: for writing, for teaching, and for research.
