Meehl, Paul Everett
Life Dates
1920–2003
Introduction
Dr. Meehl was a leading psychologist whose work profoundly influenced methods of psychological inquiry and the understanding of psychopathology and personality. A true philosopher of science, he addressed wide ranging issues including the identification of symptom categories, the validation of test procedures, statistical significance testing, the analysis of cause, the mind-body problem, and applications of metascience, and is credited with inducing actual paradigm shifts in several of these areas. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century [6]. It has been written that “Meehl’s contributions to psychopathology and personality research are without parallel” [1].
Educational Information
Meehl was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he remained to attend the University of Minnesota, completing his bachelor’s degree (1941) and doctorate of philosophy (1945). Among several prestigious faculty...
References
- 1.Baker, T. B., Chapman, L. J., & Chapman, J. (2006). Paul Meehl: Past and future lessons for the field. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 191.PubMedGoogle Scholar
- 2.Beuchaines, T. P. (2003). Taxometrics and developmental psychopathology. Development & Psychopathology, 15, 501–507.Google Scholar
- 3.Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281–302.PubMedGoogle Scholar
- 4.Faust, D. (2006). Paul Meehl as methodologist-philosopher of science: The formulation of metascience. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 205–209.PubMedGoogle Scholar
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- 6.Haggbloom, S. J., Warnick, R., Warnick, J. E., Jones, V. K., Yarbrough, G. L., Russell, T. M., et al. (2002). The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century. Review of General Psychology, 6, 139–152.Google Scholar
- 7.Meehl, P. E. (1954). Clinical versus statistical prediction: A theoretical analysis and a review of the evidence. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson (Original work published 1954).Google Scholar
- 8.Meehl, P. E. (1962). Schizotaxia, schizotypy, schizophrenia. American Psychologist, 17, 827–838.Google Scholar
- 9.University of Minnesota (n.d.). Paul E. Meehl. Retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.tc.umn.edu/∼pemeehl/.
- 10.Waller, N. G. (2006). Carving nature at its joints: Paul Meehl’s development of taxometrics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 210–215.PubMedGoogle Scholar