ANN ARBOR— Toni Antonucci and David Dunning, both affiliates of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR), were among the five distinguished University of Michigan professors chosen for the 2025 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“These new members’ accomplishments speak volumes about the human capacity for discovery, creativity, leadership and persistence,” academy President Laurie Patton said of the nearly 250 scholars elected this year. “They are a stellar testament to the power of knowledge to broaden our horizons and deepen our understanding.”

Toni Antonucci, Elizabeth M. Douvan Collegiate Professor of Psychology and a Senior Research Professor at ISR, is a premier scientist working at the nexus of survey research and developmental psychology across the life-span. She has been at the forefront of large-scale, longitudinal research on how relationships and health change. She is the program director of the Life Course Development (LCD) program at ISR, which examines social relationships across the lifespan and their implications for mental, physical and cognitive health. An affiliate of the Survey Research Center and the Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging, she is also the co-director of the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR), advancing our understanding of the connection between social relationships and aging.

David Dunning is a leading expert best known for describing the Dunning-Kruger effect, the cognitive bias that causes people to overrate their own competence. Across various domains, Dunning has found it is often the people who are the least skilled who are the most overconfident because they lack the skill needed to judge their own skills accurately. The Dunning-Kruger effect was first described in their 1999 study, “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.” 

Dunning is a professor of psychology and a faculty associate at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at U-M’s Institute for Social Research. 

According to the Academy, “Since 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has honored excellence and convened leaders from across disciplines and divides to examine new ideas, address issues of importance, and work together “to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” U-M’s new AAAS fellows also include Paul Johnson professor of history and of Afroamerican and African studies in LSA; biological chemistry scholar Janet Smith, and Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.