Scott O. Lilienfeld’s research while affiliated with Emory University and other places

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Publications (494)


Psychological Assessment and Clinical Judgment
  • Chapter

July 2024

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29 Reads

Howard N. Garb

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Eric A. Youngstrom

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Scott O. Lilienfeld


Locating Triarchic Model Constructs in the Hierarchical Structure of a Comprehensive Trait-Based Psychopathy Measure: Implications for Research and Clinical Assessment
  • Article
  • Publisher preview available

June 2024

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136 Reads

Psychological Assessment

The triarchic model posits that distinct trait constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition underlie psychopathy. The triarchic model traits are conceptualized as biobehavioral dimensions that can be assessed using different sets of indicators from alternative measurement modalities; as such, the triarchic model would hypothesize that these traits are not confined to any one item set. The present study tested whether the triarchic model dimensions would emerge from a hierarchical-structural analysis of the facet scales of the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA), an inventory designed to comprehensively index psychopathy according to the five-factor personality model. Study participants (Ns = 811, 170) completed the EPA and three different scale sets assessing the triarchic traits along with criterion measures of antisocial/externalizing behaviors. Bass-ackwards modeling of the EPA facet scales revealed a four-level structure, with factors at the third level appearing similar to the triarchic trait dimensions. An analysis in which scores for the Level-3 EPA factors were regressed onto corresponding latent-trait dimensions defined using the different triarchic scale sets revealed extremely high convergence (βs = .84–.91). The Level-3 EPA factors also evidenced validity in relation to relevant criteria, approximating and sometimes exceeding that evident for the Level-4 EPA factors. Together, these results indicate that the triarchic trait constructs are embedded in a psychopathy inventory designed to align with a general personality model and effectively predict pertinent external criteria.

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Weakening the ideological immune system: can debiasing techniques reduce confirmation bias?

April 2023

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123 Reads

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1 Citation

Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology

Psychologists have identified confirmation bias as a contributor to conflict and ideological extremism. However, the efficacy of social science’s existing arsenal of debiasing techniques remains largely unknown, and the extant positive findings have often been inconsistent and are in need of independent replication. In this registered report, we empirically tested the efficacy of three cognitive debiasing techniques in mitigating confirmation bias: consider-the-opposite, psychoeducation about bias, and social norms manipulation. In the control group, participants exhibited two manifestations of confirmation bias: selective exposure and biased assimilation. When it came to reducing these biases, we found evidence that the social norms technique reduced selective exposure relative to the control group, but little evidence that this was the case for the consider-the-opposite or psychoeducation techniques was found. None of the debiasing strategies significantly reduced biased assimilation relative to the control group. Comparing these strategies provides theoretical advancement in the processes that give rise to confirmation bias, and moreover, these results help to identify a promising technique to serve as the foundation for debiasing interventions, namely social norms interventions.



On the Association between Grants and Scholarly Achievement among the World’s Most Eminent Psychologists

November 2022

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122 Reads

Current Psychology

The role that grant funding should play in the conduct and evaluation of psychological science is controversial, largely because few data are available to directly inform this issue. We sought to gain insights on grant funding in psychological science by examining the extent to which grant funding influenced eminent psychologists in their research pursuits. Participants were recruited from a compiled, published list of the most eminent psychologists of the modern era (N = 108). Participants were asked about their history of grant funding, including whether their most significant empirical publication received grant funding; participants were also asked about the perceived impact of grant funding on their scholarly productivity and creativity. Virtually all participants had career histories of external funding and reported that they received external funding for their most important published study. Whereas a small minority reported that funding had hindered their creativity, most reported that funding facilitated both their scholarly productivity and creativity. Open-ended comments revealed more nuance to these findings – a slim majority reported that grant funding positively impacted their scholarship whereas an important minority reported that grant funding negatively impacted their scholarship. In sum, our results indicate that grant funding is an important, albeit fallible, marker of eminence in psychological science. Still, even among successful, eminent psychologists, perceptions of grant funding are not invariably positive. Future research is needed to clarify the extent to which grant funding is biased in favor of eminence and to examine the necessity of grant funding for influential psychological research.


Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders Reconsidered: Beyond Sociocognitive and Trauma Models Toward a Transtheoretical Framework

September 2022

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1,475 Reads

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8 Citations

For more than 30 years, the posttraumatic model (PTM) and the sociocognitive model (SCM) of dissociation have vied for attention and empirical support. We contend that neither perspective provides a satisfactory account and that dissociation and dissociative disorders (e.g., depersonalization/derealization disorder, dissociative identity disorder) can be understood as failures of normally adaptive systems and functions. We argue for a more encompassing transdiagnostic and transtheoretical perspective that considers potentially interactive variables including sleep disturbances; impaired self-regulation and inhibition of negative cognitions and affects; hyperassociation and set shifts; and deficits in reality testing, source attributions, and metacognition. We present an overview of the field of dissociation, delineate uncontested and converging claims across perspectives, summarize key multivariable studies in support of our framework, and identify empirical pathways for future research to advance our understanding of dissociation, including studies of highly adverse events and dissociation.


Standardized path estimates for direct effects of psychopathic traits. a TriPM factors. b E-LSRP factors
Interaction effects between TriPM Factors in factors in predicting workplace behaviors. Note: The x- and y-axes are scaled by standard deviations from the mean. Shaded regions indicate 95% confidence intervals. Dashed lines indicate areas of statistical significance where the confidence interval does not include zero. Tick marks represent the marginal distribution of the x-axis variable in the observed data. WD = Counterproductive Workplace Behavior. OCB = Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Interaction effects between E-LSRP factors in predicting workplace behaviors Note: The x- and y-axes are scaled by standard deviations from the mean. Shaded regions indicate 95% confidence intervals. Dashed lines indicate areas of statistical significance where the confidence interval does not include zero. Tick marks represent the marginal distribution of the x-axis variable in the observed data. WD = Counterproductive Workplace Behavior. OCB = Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Psychopathic personality traits in the workplace: Implications for interpersonally- and organizationally-directed counterproductive and citizenship behaviors

September 2022

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253 Reads

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10 Citations

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment

Relatively little is known about the relations between psychopathic traits and interpersonally-directed versus organizationally-directed workplace behaviors despite the implications of these traits for maladaptive (e.g., bullying, harassing, white-collar crime, slacking) and adaptive (e.g., improving the workplace, supporting others) workplace behaviors. In a sample of employed US-based community members (N = 352), we investigated the relations between the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) and an expanded version of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (E-LSRP), on the one hand, and interpersonal and organizational counterproductive behaviors and citizenship behaviors directed towards co-workers and the organization, on the other. As predicted, we found stronger positive associations between impulsive-antisocial traits (Disinhibition, Antisocial) and both interpersonal and organizational workplace deviance; however, these traits did not relate significantly to citizenship behaviors. We further found that interpersonal traits (Boldness, Egocentric) may play an adaptive role in the workplace, as demonstrated by increased citizenship behaviors. Affective traits (Callous, Meanness) were related to lesser engagement in citizenship behaviors and higher engagement in some interpersonally-directed counterproductive behaviors. In several analyses, statistical interactions among triarchic psychopathy traits, but not E-LSRP traits, predicted adaptive and maladaptive workplace behaviors. Our results suggest that employees’ psychopathic traits bear differential implications for both adaptive and maladaptive workplace behavior, and that these traits may operate in concert to increase the likelihood of such behavior.


Why We Should Reject the Restrictive Isomorphic Matching Definition of Empathy

May 2022

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115 Reads

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21 Citations

Emotion Review

A growing cadre of influential scholars has converged on a circumscribed definition of empathy as restricted only to feeling the same emotion that one perceives another is feeling. We argue that this restrictive isomorphic matching (RIM) definition is deeply problematic because (1) it deviates dramatically from traditional conceptualizations of empathy and unmoors the construct from generations of scientific research and clinical practice; (2) insistence on an isomorphic form undercuts much of the functional value of empathy from multiple perspectives of analysis; and (3) combining the opposing concepts of isomorphic matching and self-other awareness implicitly requires motivational content, causing the RIM definition to implicitly require the kind of non-matching emotional content that it explicitly seeks to exclude.


Citations (74)


... 2). However, this is true for all forms of psychopathology, which are in essence, open concepts (Lilienfeld et al., 2017). At the same time, the four-factor model of psychopathy has survived an array of sophisticated statistical tests (e.g., Bolt et al., 2007;Neumann et al., 2005), among adult and youth samples (Neumann et al., 2015a). ...

Reference:

Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorder (PSCD) scale: A Latent Profile Analysis with At-Risk Adolescents
Diagnosis: Conceptual Issues and Controversies
  • Citing Chapter
  • December 2023

... One prominent cognitive bias in the ideological division is confirmation bias. Confirmation bias refers to the tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs while disregarding contradictory evidence (Whitt et al., 2023). People are more likely to selectively expose themselves to information sources that align with their ideological positions, reinforcing their existing beliefs and contributing to ideological polarization. ...

Weakening the ideological immune system: can debiasing techniques reduce confirmation bias?
  • Citing Article
  • April 2023

Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology

... Yet, many questions regarding the nature of dissociative symptoms in PTSD remain unanswered [28,29]. For example, this holds true for AVH which are sometimes considered to be psychotic and sometimes considered to be dissociative in nature [30][31][32]. ...

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders Reconsidered: Beyond Sociocognitive and Trauma Models Toward a Transtheoretical Framework

... Positive empathy occurs when individuals generate empathy for positive emotions (Light et al., 2019;Morelli et al., 2015). 1 While the components of empathy-emotion sharing, perspective taking, and compassion-tend to co-occur (Depow et al., 2021), they also have important differences that hold implications for empathizer well-being (Singer & Klimecki, 2014). Empathy can therefore be conceptualized as a multidimensional process 2 (Murphy et al., 2022) that can be strategically regulated (Weisz & Cikara, 2021) depending on key features of the situation (Fabi et al., 2019;Stellar & Duong, 2023). One critical feature is the emotional valence (positivity or negativity) of the target emotion. ...

Why We Should Reject the Restrictive Isomorphic Matching Definition of Empathy
  • Citing Article
  • May 2022

Emotion Review

... TRAUMA, PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND ROLE EXPECTATIONS perception and evaluation can be explained by dissociation-a clinical presentation common among BPD patients-which involves the fragmentation of a person's sense of self (Lynn et al., 2022). Dissociative individuals exhibit tendencies to follow the instructions and suggestions from a therapist (Wieder et al., 2022). ...

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders Reconsidered: Beyond Sociocognitive and Trauma Models Toward a Transtheoretical Framework
  • Citing Article
  • February 2022

Annual Review of Clinical Psychology

... This classical and much-quoted scholarship often plays the card of Peirce's forgotten "firsts" to stress his importance as a scientist and as a thinker, yet part of Peirce's relevance lays in the ways in which he adopted theories of his time or held on to notions that were being discarded. Most recently, Murphy and Lilienfeld (2021) argue for the continuous influence of Peirce's thought in psychology, however, their account remains at a theoretical level and does not engage with nuanced historical developments. ...

C. S. Peirce’s Forgotten but Enduring Relevance to Psychological Science
  • Citing Article
  • October 2021

The American Journal of Psychology

... Contrastingly, disease models of addiction, such as the brain disease model of addiction (for a critical discussion of this specific model, see e.g. [18]), assume that addictive behaviour is caused by disease symptomatology and cannot be helped ( [19], p. 117, [20]). Thus, addiction is perceived as a (medical) illness. ...

Addiction and the Brain-Disease Fallacy
  • Citing Chapter
  • January 2022

... Individuals exhibiting cynical attitudes, whether in social or professional contexts, frequently grapple with persistent doubts regarding themselves and others. A salient feature of imposter syndrome is the individual's self-doubt, which is likely to coincide with cynical perspectives (Bensley et al., 2022). Furthermore, the locus of control referring to our beliefs about the factors that shape events in our lives may also be pertinent to understanding imposter syndrome (Tovey et al., 2022). ...

Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cognitive Style Predictors of the Generality of Unsubstantiated Belief
  • Citing Article
  • November 2021

Applied Cognitive Psychology

... Second, since PCL assessments come with a significant risk of misuse in the judicial system (presumably because of their disproportionate influence on decision makers), this risk generates an ethical incentive for avoiding these assessments. Altogether, as most jurisdictions are actively working on optimizing the way they allocate resources and reduce bias in decision making, it is imperative that researchers and practitioners can demonstrate that PCL assessments are conducive to these goals, that they provide unique evidence-based utility for decision makers with negligible risk of bias (see also DeMatteo, Haney-Caron, et al., 2020;DeMatteo & Olver, 2022;Hart, 2016;Kroner & Hanson, 2022;Lilienfeld, 2021;Martens, 2008). ...

Afterword—Psychopathy: Key unresolved questions
  • Citing Chapter
  • January 2022

... In the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in examining the relationship between psychopathy and deviant work behaviour (e.g., Neo The findings of this study demonstrated that meanness and disinhibition were substantial predictors of workplace deviance and workplace sexual harassment, while boldness was a minor predictor of workplace sexual harassment. Similar findings were found in a study (Preston et al., 2022), which showed positive associations between disinhibition and both interpersonal and organisational workplace deviance and positive associations between meanness and interpersonal workplace deviance, while boldness was unrelated to workplace deviance. ...

Psychopathic personality traits in the workplace: Implications for interpersonally- and organizationally-directed counterproductive and citizenship behaviors

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment