Michael Tomasello’s pioneering research on the origins of socialcognition has led to revolutionary insights in both developmentalpsychology and primate cognition. His landmark studies of apecognition reveal that primates have a richer understanding of thesocial world than previously thought. His studies of child languageand social learning demonstrate the critical roles of human-specificsocial motivations. And his novel hypotheses about human cooperationhave led to deeper insights into the fundamental differences betweenhumans and apes. His ground-breaking theories and elegant methods have inspired generations of students. Max Planck director MichaelTomasello received the award during the annual meeting of the APA inToronto in August 2015.