| William J. McGuire | |
| Birth Date: | 17 February 1925 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, New York |
| Death Place: | New Haven, Connecticut |
| Nationality: | American |
| Fields: | Social psychology |
| Workplaces: | Columbia University University of California, San Diego University of Illinois Yale University |
| Education: | Fordham College Université catholique de Louvain Yale University |
| Thesis Title: | A multi-process model for paired associates learning |
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| Thesis Year: | 1954 |
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| Notable Students: | John Jost David O. Sears |
| Known For: | Persuasion Social cognition |
| Awards: | Fulbright Fellow (1950–51) Fellow of eight divisions of the American Psychological Association APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology (1988) Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Psychological Society (1992) |
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William James McGuire (February 17, 1925 in New York City, New York – December 21, 2007 in New Haven, Connecticut) was an American social psychologist known for his work on the psychology of persuasion and for developing Inoculation theory.[1] He was a faculty member at Yale University from 1970 until he retired in 1999, and chaired the psychology department there from 1971 to 1973. He was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology from 1967 to 1970.[2]
An obituary of McGuire in American Psychologist stated that McGuire was "...for several decades the field’s premier researcher of the psychology of persuasion".