Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology

Scott O. Lilienfeld, PhD, until his death in 2020, was a Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University. He was Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Psychological Science and Associate Editor of Archives of Scientific Psychology, and served on the editorial boards of several other journals. Among Dr. Lilienfeld’s principal interests were cognitive biases and their relations to personality and psychopathology, scientific thinking and its application to psychology, the causes and assessment of personality disorders (especially psychopathic and narcissistic personality disorders), psychiatric classification and diagnosis, pseudoscience and clinical psychology, evidence-based clinical practice, and the philosophy of science and psychology. He was a recipient of the James McKeen Cattell Award for Distinguished Achievements in Applied Psychological Science from the Association for Psychological Science and served as president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology and the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy.

Steven Jay Lynn, PhD, ABPP, until his death in 2024, was Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY), where he served as Director of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and Director of the Psychology Department's Psychological Clinic. Recognized as a leading expert in the field of hypnosis, he published on topics including psychotherapy, hypnosis, science versus pseudoscience, psychopathology, and memory. Dr. Lynn was founding editor of the American Psychological Association journal Psychology of Consciousness. He was a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Jeffrey M. Lohr, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, where he has been on the faculty since 1975. His research interests include affective processes in anxiety and related disorders and pseudoscience in applied and clinical psychology. In the latter domain, he focuses primarily on the empirical analysis of treatment efficacy and the promotion of "fringe" treatments, especially as they relate to trauma and anxiety disorders. Dr. Lohr is Associate Editor of The Behavior Therapist.