תרומתו המוכרת ביותר היא גילוי טעות הייחוס הבסיסית, הטיה קוגניטיבית חברתית מרכזית בחקר הפסיכולוגיה החברתית, אשר מקבלת מקום מרכזי בספרי הלימוד הבסיסיים בפסיכולוגיה חברתית.
תחומי העניין האחרונים שלו כללו בעיות חברתיות מתמשכות, בפרט קונפליקטים בין-קבוצות ממושכים, רציונליזציה אינדיבידואלית וקולקטיבית של הרוע, ותהליכים פסיכולוגיים המקשים על התמודדות עם אתגרים חברתיים. רוס אף יצא מהמעבדה ועירב את עצמו בפתרון סכסוכים ובתהליכי שלום אזוריים במזרח התיכון, בצפון אירלנד ובאזורים אחרים בעולם.[3]
רוס פיתח והגדיר בעזרת קולגות נוספים מספר מושגים בתחום הפסיכולוגיה החברתית, כאשר המושג האחרון שטבע היה "ריאליזם נאיבי".
Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology(vol. 10). New York: Academic Press.
Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment. Prentice-Hall, Century Series, 1980 (with R.E. Nisbett).
Flavell, J. & Ross, L. (eds.) 1981 Cognitive social development: Frontiers and possible futures. 1981 Cambridge Press.
Ross, L & Nisbett, R.E. (1991) The Personal and the Situation: McGraw-Hill (re-issued, 2011, with a new introduction by Malcolm Gladwell, Pinter and Martin).
Griffin, D.W. & Ross, L. Subjective construal, social inference, and human misunderstanding. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, (Vol. 24). New York: Academic Press, 1991.
Ross, L and Nisbett, R.E. The person and the situation. McGraw Hill, 1991 (with R.E. Nisbett). Reissued with new foreword by Malcolm Gladwell and afterword by the authors, 2011.
Arrow, K., Mnookin, R., Ross, L., Tversky, A. & Wilson, R. (Eds.) Barriers to conflict resolution, Norton, 1995.
Mnookin, R.H. & Ross, L. Strategic, psychological, and institutional barriers: An introduction. In K. Arrow, R. Mnookin, L. Ross, A. Tversky, & R. Wilson (Eds.), Barriers to conflict resolution. New York: Norton, 1995.
Ross, L. The reactive devaluation barrier to dispute resolution. In K. Arrow, R. Mnookin, L. Ross, A. Tversky, & R. Wilson (Eds.), Barriers to conflict resolution. New York: Norton, 1995.
Ross, L & Ward, A. Psychological barriers to dispute resolution. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, (Vol. 27). New York: Academic Press, 1995.
Ross, L. & Ward, (1996) A. Naive realism in everyday life: Implications for social conflict and misunderstanding. In T. Brown, E. Reed, & E. Turiel (Eds.), Values and knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996.
Ross, L. & Ward, A. Naive realism in everyday life: Implications for social conflict and misunderstanding. In T. Brown, E. Reed, & E. Turiel (Eds.), Values and knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996.
Ross, L., Lepper, M. & Ward, A. a history of social psychology: Insights, contributions, and challenges. In S. Fiske & D. Gilbert (Eds.) Handbook of social psychology(4th ed., Vol. 1) New York: Random House, 2010.
Ross, L. Perspectives on disagreement and dispute resolution: Lessons from the lab and the real world. In E. Shafir (Ed.) The behavioral foundations of public policy.2014 Princeton University & Russell Sage Foundation Press, Princeton, NJ: 2012.
Gilovich, T. & Ross, L. The wisest one in the room - How you can benefit from social psychology's most powerful insights,Free Press, 2015.
Ross. L., Rodin, J., Zimbardo, P. Toward an attribution therapy: The reduction of fear through induced cognitive-emotional misattribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1969, 12, 279-288.
Ross, L., Lepper, M. & Hubbard, M. Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975, 32, 880-892.
Ross, L.; Greene, D.; House, P. (1977). "The false consensus effect: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 13 (3): 279–301. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(77)90049-x.
Ross, L., Amabile, T. & Steinmetz, J. Social roles, social control, and biases in social perception processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1977, 35, 485-494.
Ross, L. The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, (Vol. 10). New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Lord, C. G.; Ross, L.; Lepper, M. R. (1979). "Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 37 (11): 2098–2109. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.2098.
Vallone, R. P.; Ross, L.; Lepper, M. R. (1985). "The hostile media phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 49 (3): 577–585. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.49.3.577. PMID4045697.
Ross, L. & Stillinger, C. Barriers to conflict resolution. Negotiation Journal, 1991, 7, 389-404.
Cohen, G., Steele, C., Ross L. The mentor's dilemma: Providing critical feedback across the racial divide. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1999, 25(10), 1302-1318.
Pronin, E., Kruger, J., Savitsky, K. & Ross, L. You don't know me, but I know you: The illusion of asymmetric insight. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2001, 81, 639-656.
Pronin, E., Lin, D. & Ross, L. The bias blindspot: Perceptions of bias in self and others.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2002, 28, 369-381.
Maoz, I., Ward, A., Katz, M., Ross, L. Reactive devaluation of an "Israeli" vs a "Palestinian" peace proposal. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2002, 46, 515-546.
Ross, L.; Curhan, J. R.; Neale, M. A. (2004). "Dynamic valuation: Preference changes in the context of face-to-face negotiation". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 40 (2): 142–151. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2003.12.002.
Kay, A. C.; Wheeler, S. C.; Bargh, J. A.; Ross, L. (2004). "Material priming: The influence of mundane physical objects on situational construal and competitive behavioral choice". Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 95 (1): 83–96. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.06.003.
Liberman, V.; Samuels, S. M.; Ross, L. (2004). "The name of the game: Predictive power of reputations versus situational labels in determining prisoner's dilemma game moves". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 30 (9): 1175–1185. doi:10.1177/0146167204264004. PMID15359020.
Pronin, E.; Gilovich, T.; Ross, L. (2004). "Objectivity in the eye of the beholder: Divergent perceptions of bias in self versus others". Psychological Review. 111 (3): 781–799. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.111.3.781. PMID15250784.
Pronin, E.; Steele, C. M.; Ross, L. (2004). "Identity bifurcation in response to stereotype threat: Women and mathematics". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 40 (2): 152–168. doi:10.1016/s0022-1031(03)00088-x.
Liberman, V., Samuels, S. & Ross, L. The name of the game: Predictive of reputations vs. situational labels in determining Prisoner’s Dilemma game moves power. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2004, 30, 1175- 1185.
Ehrlinger, J.; Gilovich, T.; Ross, L. (2005). "Peering into the bias blind spot: People's assessments of bias in themselves and others". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 31 (5): 680–692. doi:10.1177/0146167204271570. PMID15802662.
Hackley, S.; Bazerman, M.; Ross, L.; Shapiro, D. L. (2005). "Psychological dimensions of the Israeli settlements issue: Endowments and identities". Negotiation Journal. 21 (2): 209–219. doi:10.1111/j.1571-9979.2005.00058.x.
Pronin, E.; Ross, L. (2006). "Temporal differences in trait self-ascription: When the self is seen as an other". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 90 (2): 197–209. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.90.2.197. PMID16536646.
Bryan, C., Dweck, C., Ross, L. Kay, A. & Mislavsky, N. Political mindset: Effects of schema priming on liberal-conservative political positions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009, 45, 890-895.
Liberman. V., Anderson, N.R. & Ross, L. Achieving difficult agreements: Effects of positive expectations on negotiation processes and outcomes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2010, 46, 494-504.
Liberman, V., Minson, JA, Bryan, CJ, Ross, L. Naïve realism and capturing the "wisdom of dyads." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2011, 48, 507-512.
Ross, L. & Shestowski, D. Two psychologists’ reflections on situationism and the criminal justice system. In Ideology, Psychology, and Law. J. Hanson (ed). Oxford University Press, 2012.
Ross, L., Lelkes, Y. & Russell A. How Christians reconcile their personal political views and the teachings of their faith: Projection as a means of dissonance reduction. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science, 2012, 109 (10), 3616-3622.
Ross, L, Arrow, K., Cialdini, R., Diamond, J Diamond-Smith, N., Dunne, J; Ehrlich, P., Feldman, M., Horn, R., Murphy, C.N., Pirages, P., Smith, K.R. & York, R. The Climate Change Challenge and Barriers to the Exercise of Foresight Intelligence. BioScience, (2016) DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biw025.
Ross, L. From the fundamental attribution error to the truly fundamental attribution error and beyond: My research journey. (In Press Perspectives in Psychology).
Bland, B. & Ross, L Pursuing a shared future in the face of globalization: Four essential questions. (In press International Journal of Law and Public Administration).
Ross, L., Kahn, D, & Liberman V. The objectivity illusion in responses to perceived dissimilarity in political views and sentiments: An extension of naïve realism. (Manuscript under revision. Journal of Conflict Resolution).