Congratulations to Christina Maslach on receiving the Society for Personality and Social Psychology's 2017 Application of Personality and Social Psychology Award!

“Few 20th-century, research-based psychological constructs have become so widely recognized that dictionaries date their etymology to around the time when they were coined in a professional publication.  “Burnout” is one such construct.  Christina Maslach, Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, began her groundbreaking work on emotional exhaustion from long, intense, and stressful occupational efforts in the early 1970s.  Not only did Dr. Maslach introduce the construct, she has persisted in further research about burnout and in making those who are in a position to use her findings aware of the implications of her work, from which have sprung wellness and stress-reduction programs, mindfulness exercises, and many more efforts to better the lives of employees worldwide.  As the nomination letter for Dr. Maslach noted, “the best applied science has the hallmarks of rigorous science: field-shaping, discovery-oriented work that is founded in theory and strong methods.  At the same time, it shapes culture and practice outside of the laboratory, inspiring shifts in values, new perspectives upon a compelling social issue, and interventions of different kinds.”  Dr. Maslach’s work on burnout has accomplished all of this in exemplary ways. Her outstanding contributions are recognized with the 2017 Application of Personality and Social Psychology Award.”