Abstract
The field of Psychology lost a world-class scholar, teacher, and advocate for the science of psychology when Dr. Scott O. Lilienfeld, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University, passed away on September 30, 2020 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 59. He was a prominent researcher, spokesperson, and translator of scientific concepts for a wide audience who dedicated his career to promoting a rigorous scientific approach to the study of the mind and behavior. He is survived by his wife, Candice Basterfield, and his sister, Laura Lilienfeld.
Dr. Lilienfeld earned his undergraduate degree at Cornell University and his doctorate at the University of Minnesota. He served four years on the faculty of the State University of New York, Albany, before joining the faculty at Emory University in 1994. He also held a visiting professorship at the University of Melbourne at the time of his death.
Dr. Lilienfeld passionately believed that psychological science could change people and the world for the better. He fully embraced his calling to share his love for psychology with others, and he used the popular media, the classroom, and scientific venues, to do so. As an intrepid champion of scientific rigor and a fierce combatant of misinformation and mythology in the field of Psychology, he fought to advance knowledge with original research and theoretical contributions and to challenge empirically unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims in the psychological literature, in the media, and in popular understanding. He was courageous, not one to shy away from controversy or debate, yet he was admired for his ability to be impeccably balanced, fair, and gracious. His book, 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconception About Human Behavior (Lilienfeld et al., 2009), which has been translated into more than 20 languages, took on such critical issues as the validity of the Rorschach test, the notion that hypnosis produces a special state of consciousness, and the unmasking of pseudoscientific and potentially harmful psychotherapy practices. For nearly a decade, Dr. Lilienfeld was a regular columnist for Scientific American Mind. A compendium of his columns was presented in a trade book, Facts and Fictions in Mental Health (Arkowitz & Lilienfeld, 2017).
Dr. Lilienfeld was highly respected as a consummate teacher. He regarded the privilege to teach introductory psychology as a gift and as an opportunity to exert a lifelong impact on students by equipping them with the critical thinking tools they needed to evaluate claims and separate fact from fiction in their everyday lives. It was certainly important to Dr. Lilienfeld that students master the basic vocabulary and phenomena that comprise the study of Psychology, yet far more important to him was providing an accessible framework for thinking about Psychology: What questions are (and are not) appropriate for scientific study? How does the scientific approach lend itself to the study of the mind and behavior? What conclusions are warranted from the available evidence? Where are the pitfalls that lead to faulty reasoning about evidence?
In inviting students to address these questions, Dr. Lilienfeld brought verve, creativity, and humor to the Intro classroom, which inspired and impassioned hundreds of students annually. He brought these same amazing qualities to the development of an introductory psychology textbook, Introduction to Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding, now in its fourth edition (Lilienfeld et al., 2018) and to his graduate textbook, Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology (Lilienfeld et al., 2015). Dr. Lilienfeld’s dedication to teaching and his skills on the podium were acknowledged by his selection for the “Great Teachers” Lecturer Series at Emory University, which he regarded as a great honor.
Dr. Lilienfeld was also a prominent and prodigious contributor to the literature on the study of mind and behavior. He published more than 500 articles and chapters, and 20 books that traversed the topics of psychiatric classification and diagnosis, neuroscience, memory and trauma, dissociation, and personality disorders and psychopathy, for which he is best known. The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996), which he created for his doctoral dissertation, stands today as a landmark in the field as the most cited self-report measure of psychopathy.
As befitting his many accomplishments, Dr. Lilienfeld received numerous awards for early career and lifetime achievements from the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy. He was the past editor and founder of the Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, and he served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and of Applied and Preventive Psychology. At the time of his death, Dr. Lilienfeld was the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Clinical Psychological Science, Associate Editor of the journal Archives of Scientific Psychology, and he held leadership positions in the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Heterodox Academy. He served as president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (twice) and of the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy.
Dr. Lilienfeld valued the pursuit of knowledge as both an intellectual and social enterprise, as a means to share his consuming love for psychological science with many colleagues around the world who were fortunate to become his friend. His legacy will be carried forward by his legions of students and collaborators who were impacted by his remarkable gifts: his keen intelligence, boundless curiosity, zeal for learning, kindness, generosity, encyclopedic knowledge of psychology, wicked sense of humor (and matchless puns), and by his humanity and humility in his quest to achieve and share a more perfect and complete understanding of human psychology.