2025 Grawemeyer psychology award goes to James Gross for work on emotional regulation

Stanford professor cited for research demonstrating the benefits of managing feelings early

For noticing and explicating the different ways people manage their feelings, and for creating and developing the field of emotion regulation, Stanford Psychology Professor James Gross, the Ernest R. Hilgard Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, will receive the 2025 Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.

Gross theorized that managing one’s feelings before they are fully formed (antecedent-focused emotion regulation) offers a healthier approach than trying to manage them after they’re in full swing (response-focused emotion regulation). In testing these predictions, he examined prototypical examples of each type of emotion regulation: cognitive reappraisal, which involves interpreting a potentially emotional situation in a way that alters its impact, and expressive suppression, which involves inhibiting the behaviors that are associated with one’s feelings.

“Bringing simplicity to an age-old debate, James Gross has demonstrated that the manner in which people regulate their emotions deeply affects their lives and the lives of others,” said Grawemeyer Psychology Award Director Brendan E. Depue. “Moreover, he and his research team have shown that reappraisal interventions — teaching people how to regulate their feelings before the feelings have ‘taken over’ — can dramatically improve the way people interpret and handle stress. Emotion regulation exemplifies the kind of powerful idea Charles Grawemeyer had in mind when he established the Psychology Award.”

Notable previous winners whose work relates to Gross’s include Aaron Beck, the father of cognitive therapy, who won the 2004 Grawemeyer; Antonio Damasio, who demonstrated the integral role emotions play in human reasoning and decision-making (2014); and James McGaugh, a neuroscientist who helped explain the way our emotions affect what we learn and remember (2015).

Gross will accept his award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 10.  

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, education, religion, psychology, and world order. Business executive and family man H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville in collaboration with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is relevant to society at large. The University of Louisville announces the winners in December and presents the awards at a ceremony the following April. Each award winner receives $100,000, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more at grawemeyer.org.