The 2009 Lifetime Career Award was presented to the Terror Management Theory research team of Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, and Sheldon Solomon, for their highly influential and innovative theory, and the extensive and programmatic empirical research they have conducted to test it. Their research has applied Terror Management Theory to a wide range of

social issues, from politics to health, and has inspired researchers around the world to study the effects of mortality salience.

The winner of the 2009 Early Career Award is  Jamie Arndt. The society makes this award annually to recognize and encourage a distinguished junior scientist who has made outstanding theoretical and empirical contributions to the scientific study of human self. Dr. Arndt was selected for this award on the basis of the originality, quality, and impact of  his scientific research in the area of self and identity.