With great sadness we confirm the death of Emeritus Professor John Turner.
John passed away peacefully at 7am on the 24th of July, 2011, in the loving company of his daughters, Jane and Isobel, and their mother, Penny. He was 63.
John has been a leading social psychologist for 35 years. He spent 20 years at The Australian National University, serving terms as Head of the Department of Psychology, and as Dean of Science. A towering figure in international social psychology, John developed two major theories – Social Identity Theory, focused on intergroup relations and social change dynamics, and Self-Categorization Theory, an explanation of the shifts in the self-process from the individual to group level, and the consequences of this for both mind and behaviour. These theories have lead to significant advancement in core areas of social psychology (such as the self-concept, social influence, power, prejudice, categorization processes) and have fundamentally changed the field for the better, inspiring a generation of young researchers.
John will be sadly missed. We have lost a great intellectual – a man who helped us all to see the true complexity and wonder of the social mind. He is survived by two loving daughters, Jane and Isobel.
— Kate Reynolds and Penny Oakes
The Guardian’s obituary celebrating John Turner’s life and work, written by Steve Reicher and Alex Haslam, is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/sep/06/john-turner-obituary.