John Bargh received his B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois in 1977, and completed his PHD in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1981, under the supervision of Robert B. Zajonc. That same fall Bargh moved to an assistant professorship in Psychology at New York University, where he was promoted to full professor in 1990 at the age of 35. After 23 years at NYU, Bargh moved to Yale University in 2003. Bargh's research has long focused on automatic or unconscious influences on higher mental processes, including social judgment, social behavior, and goal pursuits. For this research, Bargh received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nijmegen (the Netherlands), a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Early Career Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association (1989), and the Donald Campbell Career Contribution Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2006), among others.