Guttentag was Director of the Families and Stress Research Project at Harvard University. A social psychologist with a passion for social action, she identified herself with many causes, including the reduction of poverty and advocacy of women's rights. She was also an active researcher, founder and first President of the Evaluation Research Society of America, and past President of the Society for the Study of Social Psychological Issues and of the Division of Personality and Social Psychology of the American Psychological Association.