Demonstrating the world class reputation of Temple's psychology department and faculty, Laurence Steinberg, Distinguished University Professor and Laura H. Campbell Professor of Psychology, and Lauren Alloy, Professor and Joseph Wolpe Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Psychology, have been recognized for their career achievements by the two leading professional organizations in psychology.
Steinberg was presented with a Presidential Citation by the American Psychological Association at its annual meeting in August, while Alloy has been named the 2008-2009 co-recipient of the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science.
The Steinberg citation, which was presented by APA President Alan Kazdin, recognized "his contributions to multiple substantive areas within the field of adolescent development and his extraordinary impact in the areas of socioemotional development, juvenile justice, child labor, family relationships, and developmental psychopathology. He has disseminated his findings to the broadest possible audience and mentored a generation of scientists who share his commitment to the importance of using science to guide public policy."
"I was very honored and very surprised because these things are not announced beforehand," said Steinberg, who is also the Director of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. "There are some very important awards that APA gives through their directorates, but this is the highest honor that you can receive from the president of APA."
An internationally recognized expert on psychological development during adolescence, Steinberg has been a frequent consultant to state and federal agencies and lawmakers on public policy, with his research touching on such issues as high school reform, child labor, gang-related crimes and the abolishment of the juvenile death penalty.
Steinberg, a member of Temple's psychology faculty since 1988, noted that the bulk of the work for which he was recognized in the APA Presidential Citation has been accomplished while at the University.
"That is testimony to the kind of support that Temple has given me, personal support as well as the resources to do this type of research while I've been here," he said.
He noted that the reputation of Temple's Psychology Department as one of the best in the world has also been a factor in what he has accomplished because it has allowed him to attract some of the best graduate students to come and work in his lab.
"You can't do the kind of work that I do without a team, as we are out in the field collecting data on very large samples and you need really good graduate students to do that kind of work," Steinberg said. "I don't think I could have done it without the particular graduate students I've had while I've been at Temple."
Reflecting back on the one thing that stands out most to him during his three-plus decades of achievement, Steinberg said it is hard to beat having your work cited by the United States Supreme Court in a case as important as the juvenile death penalty.
"For someone who from the beginning of his career has been interested in trying to do the kind of research that is going to have an impact on policy and practice, having our research figure in a landmark decision is a pretty proud moment," he said.
Alloy, an internationally renowned researcher in mood disorders, will receive the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award, which recognizes Association for Psychological Science members for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the area of applied psychological research. The award will be presented to Alloy and her collaborator, Lyn Abramson of the University of Wisconsin, at the APS annual convention in San Francisco next May.
Founded in 1988, APS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of scientific psychology and its representation at the national and international level. Its mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in research, application, teaching, and the improvement of human welfare.
Alloy said that receiving the honor was special to her and Abramson because it was awarded for work in applied science and is coming from an organization that is focused on serving the needs and interests of science-oriented researchers and clinicians in psychology.
"Other awards that I've recently received were also lifetime achievement awards, but they were specifically from APA's Division on Clinical Psychology," said Alloy, who came to Temple from Northwestern University in 1989. "This award is coming from across all areas of psychology, and from an organization, APS, that I hold in the highest esteem."
Alloy and Abramson have been collaborating on research into mood disorders, specifically depression and bipolar disorders or manic depression, since 1975. They are the authors of the "hopelessness theory of depression," which they've tested quite a bit over the years.
"Maybe the single most important finding from that work is that we found that certain types of negative cognitive styles, or negative thinking patterns, make people vulnerable to first onset of depression and also to recurring episodes of depression," she said. "It seems to be a pretty important risk factor."
As an example, Alloy pointed out that when they looked at college freshmen who had never been depressed in their life, the researchers could predict with reasonable accuracy which students were going to develop a first onset of clinically significant depressive disorder based on their thinking patterns.
"For those who did suffer from depression before college, the risk factors could predict who was more likely to have repeated episodes," she said.
Alloy said that winning this award is just another example of the world class stature of Temple's Psychology Department. "I'm fortunate to have such really fantastic colleagues and a lot of them have been honored with very prestigious awards too."
"Many on our faculty are award-winning scholars and researchers, but these two awards are unique in that they are each for lifetime contributions to the field," said Department Chair Marsha Weinraub. "We are very proud of all that Laurence Steinberg and Lauren Alloy have contributed to science and to the reputation of Temple's Psychology Department as one of the premier places in the country for graduate work in both clinical psychology and developmental psychology."