Bill Swann is a Professor of Social and Personality Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary appointment is in the Social-Personality area of the Psychology Department, but he also has appointments in Clinical Psychology and in the School of Business. Dr. Swann is best know for developing self-verification theory, which focuses on people’s desire to be known and understood by others. The theory assumes that once people develop firmly held beliefs about themselves, they come to prefer that others see them as they see themselves - even if their self-views are negative. In recent years, he has developed identity fusion theory, which can help explain why people make extreme sacrifices for their group (e.g., including sacrificing oneself during wartime or as part of terrorist activity). He has published a number of articles on identity negotiation and behavioral confirmation, self-verification and self-enhancement, social perception and attribution among other topics.