One Trinity Place, San Antonio, Texas 78212

View map Free Event

Trinity University's Distinguished Scientists Lecture Series presents Scott O. Lilienfeld, professor in the Department of Psychology at Emory University, who will present a talk titled "The Brave New World of the Brain: Promises and Perils for Understanding Mental Illness."

In this talk, Lilienfeld will examine the increasing influence of neuroscience on psychology, especially clinical psychology. He will discuss the potential of neuroscientific discoveries to transform our classification and treatment of mental disorders as well as our understanding of their etiology. At the same time, he will express concerns regarding the dangers of focusing unduly on a single level of analysis in explaining psychopathology, and will delineate potential perils in the premature application of brain-based discoveries to mental disorders.

Scott O. Lilienfeld is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and visiting professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia.  He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Cornell University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in psychology (clinical) from the University of Minnesota in 1990. He completed his clinical internship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinics (University of Pittsburgh) from 1986-1987. He was a faculty member at the State University of New York at Albany from 1990 to 1994, when he joined the faculty at Emory.  

Lilienfeld is editor of the journal Clinical Psychological Science, associate editor of Archives of Scientific Psychology, and president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. He is also a consulting editor for, and frequent contributor to, Skeptical Inquirer magazine. He has published more than 350 manuscripts on personality disorders (especially psychopathy), dissociative disorders, psychiatric classification, pseudoscience in psychology, and evidence-based practice. He has also authored or co-authored 14 books, including the 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology (Wiley, 2010). He is especially interested in the application of scientific thinking to psychology. 

Lilienfeld has received the David Shakow Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Clinical Psychology from American Psychological Association (APA) Division 12, the Ernest R. Hilgard Lifetime Achievement Award (for integrating psychology across subdisciplines) from APA Division 1, and the James McKeen Cattell Award for Distinguished Career Contributions to Applied Psychological Science from APS. He has received extensive press coverage in The New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets, and has appeared on CNN, ABC’s 20-20, and the CBS Evening News, among other television stations.


The Distinguished Scientists Lecture Series is made possible by the Walter F. Brown Family of San Antonio.

Event Details

0 people are interested in this event