Timothy D. Wilson

Researcher

Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Virginia. His research tests how well people can explain their own judgments.

Wilson is a retired teacher of psychology at Virginia. He studies self-knowledge, social thought, future feelings, and small steps for change. One question ties this work together. How well do people know what shapes their own choices? [1]

He wrote Telling More Than We Can Know with Richard Nisbett. [2]

Wilson also wrote Strangers to Ourselves about the hidden mind. He wrote Redirect about how people change. He has also tested how people guess what they will feel later. [1]

Trust him on self-report, thought, and change. These are direct issues in talks, feedback, and judgment at work. Yet his main field studies people, not firms. Use his work to question easy tales about a motive. Do not assume you know another person’s hidden cause. [1] [2]

1
University of Virginia Department of Psychology, “Timothy D. Wilson,” accessed September 2, 2026.
https://psychology.as.virginia.edu/people/timothy-d-wilson
2
Richard E. Nisbett and Timothy D. Wilson, “Telling More Than We Can Know,” Psychological Review 84, no. 3 (1977): 231–259, p. 231.