Each year, ISSI honors researchers who have made important empirical and theoretical contributions to the understanding of self and identity. The Distinguished Lifetime Career Award is presented to researchers who have made major, enduring contributions to understanding self and identity over the course of their academic careers. The Outstanding Early Career Award is given to researchers who have made impressive contributions to the field within their first 10 years of obtaining a Ph.D.

• 2026 Andrew Elliot, University of Rochester
• 2025 Dan McAdams, Northwestern
• 2024 Joanne Wood, University of Waterloo
• 2023 Dianne Tice, Brigham Young University 
• 2022 Robert J. Vallerand, Université du Quebec at Montreal
• 2021 Daphna Oyserman, University of Southern California
• 2020 Michael Hogg, Claremont Graduate University 
• 2019 Brenda Major, UC Santa Barbara
• 2018 Mark Alicke, Ohio University
• 2017 Constantine Sedikides, University of Southampton
• 2016 David Dunning, University of Michigan
• 2015 William B. Swann, University of Texas
• 2014 June Tangney, George Mason University
• 2013 Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, University of Rochester
• 2012 Charles Carver, University of Miami and Michael Scheier, Carnegie Mellon University
• 2011 Roy Baumeister, The University of Queensland
• 2010 Mark Leary, Duke University
• 2009 Jeff Greenberg, University of Arizona, Tom Pyszczynski, University of Colorado, and Sheldon Solomon, Skidmore College
• 2008 Jennifer Crocker, The Ohio State University
• 2007 E. Mark Snyder, University of Minnesota
• 2006 Sheldon Stryker, Indiana University
• 2005 E. Tory Higgins, Columbia University
• 2004 Claude Steele, Stanford University
• 2003 Hazel Markus, Stanford University
• 2002 Abraham Tesser, University of Georgia
• 2001 Marilynn Brewer, The Ohio State University 

• 2026 Kim Chaney, University at Buffalo and Tonglin Jiang, Peking University
• 2025 Teri Kirby, Purdue University
• 2024 Jackson G. Lu, MIT
• 2023 Eddie Brummelman, University of Amsterdam
• 2022 Marina Milyavskaya, Carleton University
• 2021 Sarah Gaither, Duke University
• 2020 Mesmin Destin, Northwestern University 
• 2019 Jochen E. Gebauer, University of Mannheim 
• 2018 Kimberly Rios, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• 2017 Sapna Cheryan, University of Washington and Mary Murphy, Indiana University 
• 2016 Emily Balcetis, New York University
• 2015 Wilhelm Hofmann, University of Cologne
• 2014 Brandon Schmeichel, Texas A&M
• 2013 Mark J. Landau, University of Kansas
• 2012 Nathan DeWall, University of Kentucky
• 2011 Simine Vazire, Washington University
• 2010 Jessica Tracy, University of British Columbia
• 2009 Jamie Arndt, University of Missouri
• 2008 Kathleen Vohs, University of Minnesota
• 2006 Serena Chen, University of California, Berkeley
• 2005 Wendi Gardner, Northwestern University
• 2004 John Jost, New York University
• 2003 Ying-Yi Hong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 2002 Andrew J. Elliot, University of Rochester
• 2001 Steven J. Heine, University of British Columbia
• 2000 Sandra L. Murray, University at Buffalo, State University of New York