Deborah Prentice

Deborah A. Prentice (born November 1961) is an American psychologist and university administrator. Since 2023, she has served as the vice-chancellor at the University of Cambridge in England.^[1] She was previously the provost at Princeton University^[2] and Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs.^[3]

Prentice was raised in Oakland, California, where she was educated at state schools and learned the piano.^[4] She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in human biology and music from Stanford University in 1984. She then pursued graduate studies at Yale University, where she received an M.S. in psychology in 1986, an M.Phil. in psychology in 1987, and a Ph.D. in psychology in 1989.^[5]

Prentice began teaching at Princeton University in 1988, and became an assistant professor at Princeton in 1989.^[3] Prior to becoming provost on July 1, 2017, Prentice served as Dean of the Faculty from 2014 to 2017.^[3] She became vice-chancellor at the University of Cambridge in 2023 and is also a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.^[4]

Her research focuses on social norms.^[6] She writes that her early focus was on attachments to both abstract views and concrete items; she then researched the way in which social groups form a "dynamic system" that both reflects and is affected by the way in which their members act. She has applied her research to methods of helping people to alter problematic behaviors such as overconsumption of alcohol, gender stereotyping, and violence against domestic partners.^[4] Her pioneering work on pluralistic ignorance applied to college campus alcohol use is a foundation of numerous campus alcohol education and bystander intervention programs.

In 2025 Prentice's life and work, and the role played by music, was the subject of the BBC Radio 3 programme Private Passions, compered by Michael Berkeley.^[7]

Prentice is married to Jeremy Adelman, who leads the global history lab at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge. They have three children.^[3][4]

• "Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm" with D.T. Miller, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 64(2): 243–256. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.64.2.243 http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.64.2.243
• "What women and men should be, shouldn't be, are allowed to be, and don't have to be: The contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes" with E. Carranza, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26 (2002), 269–281.
• "Essentializing differences between women and men" with D. T. Miller, Psychological Science, 17 (2006), 129–135.
• (2006). "On the distinction between acting like an individual and feeling like an individual" in T. Postmes & J. Jetten (eds.) Individuality and the Group: Advances in Social Identity (37–55). (Sage Publications, 2006).
• "Mobilizing and weakening peer influence as mechanisms for changing behavior: Implications for alcohol intervention programs" in M. J. Prinstein & K. A. Dodge (eds.) Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents (161–180). (Guilford, 2008).
• "The psychology of social norms and the promotion of human rights" in R. Goodman, D. Jinks, & A. K. Woods (eds.), Understanding Social Action, Promoting Human Rights (Oxford University Press, in press)