On September 30, 2020, Scott O. Lilienfeld succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of fifty-nine, and the skeptical movement lost a valued member far too soon. Lilienfeld was the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University and also a visiting fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia. A tireless advocate for rigorous science in his field, Lilienfeld was widely recognized as the foremost authority on pseudoscience in psychology and a preeminent scholar of psychopathology.
He also was a treasured friend, colleague, and advisor to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer magazine. He was elected a fellow of CSI in 2000 and had served as a member of the CSI Executive Council since October 2010. He also was a consulting editor for Skeptical Inquirer. He was a speaker at CSICOP/CSI conferences in 2002, 2011, 2012, and 2013 and at the CFI Reason for Change conference in Amherst, New York, in 2015.
Lilienfeld was active to the end, writing and working closely with his scientific and skeptical colleagues. In fact, he coauthored two of the last four Skeptical Inquirer cover articles. He coauthored “The Nobel Disease” with colleagues Candice Basterfield, Shauna M. Bowes, and Thomas H. Costello in our May/June 2020 issue, and he was the lead author of “Intellectual Humility: A Guiding Principle for the Skeptical Movement” with Adele N. Strother, Bowes, and Costello in our September/October 2020 issue. Those who knew him were in awe at his ability and determination to continue working productively under terrible adversity.
Lilienfeld was born and raised in New York City. He received his BA in psychology from Cornell University in 1982 and his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1990. He was assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany from 1990 to 1994 and had been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Emory since 1994.
As a scholar, Lilienfeld was enormously productive, publishing over 350 articles and writing or editing thirteen books. In 2002, he founded the journal The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, with the stated goal of presenting “objective investigations of controversial and unorthodox claims in clinical psychiatry, psychology and social work.” He was editor-in-chief of the journal Clinical Psychological Science and associate editor of Archives of Scientific Psychology. He also served on the editorial boards of several other journals, including American Psychologist. He was a past president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology and the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Heterodox Academy. Among his many honors, Lilienfeld received the James McKeen Cattell Award for Lifetime Contributions to Applied Psychological Science from the Association for Psychological Science and the David Shakow Award for Early Distinguished Contributions to Clinical Psychology from the American Psychological Association. Just a few months ago, the Association for Psychological Science established a travel award in his name “to honor and extend” his influence on the next generation of clinical psychologists (see SI, September/October 2020).
Lilienfeld’s most well-known books for general readers are 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior (coauthored with Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry L. Beyerstein) and Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience (with Sally Satel).
For many years, Lilienfeld was a leading figure in the fight against facilitated communication (FC) and other pseudoscientific autism therapies, giving presentations about FC and publishing evaluations of these techniques. In 2015, he published a book for general readers and students titled The Horse That Won’t Go Away: Clever Hans, Facilitated Communication, and the Need for Clear Thinking (with Thomas E. Heinzen and Susan A. Nolan). It tells the famous story of Clever Hans, the early twentieth-century German horse who was said to be capable of solving addition problems by stomping his front paw the requisite number of times. Scientific testing showed that Hans was being unconsciously cued by his owner, Wilhelm von Osten, and that he was unable to perform if von Osten was out of sight. The book goes on to draw a connection between the Clever Hans phenomenon and facilitated communication.
Most recently, Lilienfeld and colleagues began investigating whether intellectual humility may temper extremism and polarization and, if so, whether it is a skill that can be taught and learned. As Lilienfeld summed it up: “It’s good to disagree if we hold respect for the other side. When we disagree to the point of not liking each other or hating each other, there is an increased risk for discord, extremism and violence.” Among other things, this work led to the recent SI cover story “Intellectual Humility,” mentioned earlier.
Equally as important as his enormous professional accomplishments, stories of Lilienfeld’s warmth, generosity, and support fill the many remembrances of him. “He treated students like colleagues from day one,” said Shauna Bowes, a student who worked in Lilienfeld’s research group at Emory. “Scott never made you feel small or inadequate. Anything that you brought to the table he would look at and discuss. He built you up. He wasn’t just a great intellect and a titan in his field. He was a wonderful person.” Many people who came into contact with Lilienfeld have similar stories of his humanity and the kindnesses—small and large—that he performed for others.
Lilienfeld is survived by his wife, Candice Basterfield, and his sister, Laura Lilienfeld, who lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. He will be sorely missed by the worldwide skeptic community.