Elliot Aronson (born January 9, 1932) is an American psychologist who has carried out experiments on the theory of cognitive dissonance and invented the Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative teaching technique that facilitates learning while reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice.

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.

[3] In 2007, he received the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science, in which he was cited as the scientist who "fundamentally changed the way we look at everyday life".

His was the only Jewish family in the neighborhood, and it was not rare for Aronson to be bullied on the way home from Hebrew school by anti-Semitic gangs.

[8] After attending this lecture, he realized that there was an entire science devoted to exploring the kinds of questions that had intrigued him as a child.

[8] His undergraduate years at Brandeis brought him closer to a number of respected psychologists, but Maslow was his primary mentor and had the biggest impact on his early academic career.

[14] Aronson refined the theory, which posits that when attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent (dissonant), psychological discomfort results.

[1] Together with his graduate students, he developed a model of teaching practice to encourage a culture of shared goals and mutual support.

[1] In the jigsaw classroom approach, pupils are divided into small groups, mixed by race and by ability, to work co-operatively on a task.

This success encouraged Aronson to apply his research to other policy issues including energy conservation and the treatment of the elderly.

Elliot is married to Vera Aronson, whom he met while they were both undergraduate research assistants under Abraham Maslow.

In 2010, Psychology Press published a book of essays and scholarly articles by his friends, colleagues, and former students celebrating his influence on their work: The Scientist and the Humanist: A Festschrift in Honor of Elliot Aronson.