Lauren B. Alloy (born Lauren Helene Bersh; November 22, 1953) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

, recognized for her research on

mood disorder A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the ''Diagnostic and Stat ...

s. Along with colleagues Lyn Abramson and Gerald Metalsky, she developed the hopelessness theory of depression. With Abramson, she also developed the

depressive realism Depressive realism is the hypothesis developed by Lauren Alloy and Lyn Yvonne Abramson that depressed individuals make more realistic inferences than non-depressed individuals. Although depressed individuals are thought to have a negative cognit ...

hypothesis. Alloy is a professor of psychology at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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Biography

Alloy was born in Philadelphia in 1953. She earned her B.A. in Psychology in 1974 and her Ph.D. in experimental and clinical psychology in 1979, both from the University of Pennsylvania. Her graduate school mentors were psychologists Martin Seligman and

Richard Solomon Richard Solomon may refer to: * Richard Solomon (psychologist) (1918–1995), American psychologist * Richard Solomon (barrister) Sir Richard Solomon, (18 October 1850 – 10 November 1913) was a South African attorney and legislator. He was a ...

. Alloy was a faculty member at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

from 1979 to 1989. She has been a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology at

since 1989. Her research focuses on cognitive, interpersonal, and biopsychosocial processes in the onset and maintenance of depression and

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. She is the author of over 250 scholarly publications. In the late 1970s, Alloy and her longtime collaborator Abramson demonstrated that depressed individuals held a more accurate view than their non-depressed counterparts in a test which measured

illusion of control The illusion of control is the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control events. It was named by U.S. psychologist Ellen Langer and is thought to influence gambling behavior and belief in the paranormal. Along with illusory supe ...

. This finding, termed "depressive realism", held true even when the depression was manipulated experimentally.

Selected awards

* 2014 -

Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) was founded in 1966. Its headquarters are in New York City and its membership includes researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, social workers, marriage and family therap ...

Lifetime Achievement Award (jointly with Lyn Abramson) *2014 - Society for Research in Psychopathology

Joseph Zubin Award The Joseph Zubin Award may refer to three different psychology awards named in honor of the psychologist Joseph Zubin. Joseph Zubin Memorial Fund Award The Joseph Zubin Memorial Fund Award was granted by the Joseph Zubin Memorial Fund at the Resea ...

*2009 -

Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...

James McKeen Cattell Award for Lifetime Achievement in Applied Psychological Research (jointly with Lyn Abramson) *2003 - Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology Distinguished Scientist Award (jointly with Lyn Abramson) *2002 - American Psychological Association Master Lecturer Award in Psychopathology (jointly with Lyn Abramson) *1984 -

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

Young Psychologist Award

Selected works

* Alloy, L.B., & Abramson, L.Y. (2007). Depressive realism. In R. Baumeister & K. Vohs (Eds.), ''Encyclopedia of Social Psychology'' (pp. 242–243). New York: Sage Publications. * Alloy, L. B., Kelly, K. A., Mineka, S., & Clements, C. M. (1990). Comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders: a helplessness-hopelessness perspective. * Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. ''Psychological review'', ''96''(2), 358. * Alloy, L.B., & Abramson, L.Y. (1988). Depressive realism: Four theoretical perspectives. In L.B. Alloy (Ed.), ''Cognitive processes in depression''. New York: Guilford. * Alloy, L. B., & Tabachnik, N. (1984). Assessment of covariation by humans and animals: the joint influence of prior expectations and current situational information. ''Psychological review'', ''91''(1), 112. * Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1979). Judgment of contingency in depressed and nondepressed students: Sadder but wiser?. ''Journal of experimental psychology: General'', ''108''(4), 441.

References

External links

Temple University faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alloy, Lauren 1953 births Clinical psychologists American women psychologists American psychologists Bipolar disorder researchers Living people Temple University faculty University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences alumni American women academics 21st-century American women American clinical psychologists