Gerald Paul Koocher (born March 13, 1947) is an American psychologist and past president of the
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 ...
(APA). His interests include ethics, clinical child psychology and the study of scientific misconduct. He is Dean Emeritus
Simmons University and also holds an academic appointment at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
. Koocher has over 300 publications including 16 books and has edited three scholarly journals including ''Ethics & Behavior'' which he founded. Koocher was implicated as an author of the so-called "torture memos" that allowed psychologists to participate in torture during interrogations in the
Hoffman Report, an APA investigation into psychologists' involvement in interrogation at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Biography
Career
Gerald Koocher earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
in 1968. He completed a master's degree (1970) and Ph.D. (1972) in clinical psychology from the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
. He worked full-time at Boston's Children's Hospital from 1971 to 2001, ultimately serving as chief of psychology. While at Boston Children's, he was an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. In June 2001 he became a professor and dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Simmons College in Boston.
[ He later served as associate provost at Simmons, while continuing part-time service at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.]DePaul University
DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...
on July 1, 2013.American Board of Professional Psychology
The American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) is the primary organization for specialty board certification in psychology.
Mission statement
"The mission of the American Board of Professional Psychology is to increase consumer protectio ...
. In 2006 he became president of the APA.[ Koocher is the founder of the journal ''Ethics & Behavior'' and served as editor for 26 years.]
Children's Understanding of Death and Loss
Beginning in the early 1970s while still a graduate student, Koocher began studying children's understanding of death and loss. He published several papers growing out of his doctoral dissertation research.
Family Coping with Chronic Illness
*Koocher, G. P. & O'Malley, J. E. (1981). The Damocles Syndrome: Psychosocial Consequences of Surviving Childhood Cancer. New York: McGraw Hill.
*Williams. J. & Koocher, G. P. (1999). Medical Crisis Counseling on a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Case Examples and Clinical Utility. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 6, 249-258.
*Roberts, M.C., Koocher, G. P., Routh, D. K., & Willis, D. J. (Eds.) (1993). Readings in Pediatric Psychology. New York: Plenum.
*Koocher, G. P. & La Greca, A. M. (Eds.) (2011) Emotional First Aid for Parents: Helping children and adolescents cope with predictable life crises. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ethical Issues in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions
Koocher has developed an interest in the flip-side of the evidence based practice movement by studying discredited mental health theories, therapies, and assessment tools that have come into popular use. He has trademarked the term "Psychoquackery" and is developing popular press materials for the public. His scholarly work on these topics include:
*Koocher, G. P. (Ed.) (1976). Children’s Rights and the Mental Health Professions. New York: Wiley Interscience.
*Koocher, G. P. & Keith-Spiegel, P. C. (2008). Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases (third edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
*W. B. Johnson & Koocher, G. P. (Eds.) (2011). Ethical Conundrums, Quandaries and Predicaments n Mental Health Practice: A Casebook from the Files of Experts. New York: Oxford University Press.
*Koocher, G. P. & Keith-Spiegel, P. C. (2016). Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases (fourth edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
Psychoquackery: Discredited Treatments, Theories, and Tests
*Norcross, J. C., Koocher, G. P., & Garofalo, G. P. (2006) Discredited Psychological Treatments and Tests: A Delphi Poll. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37, 515-522. doi: 10.1037/0735-7028.37.5.515
*Norcross, J. C., Koocher, G. P., Fala, N.C., & Wexler, H.K. (2010) What Doesn’t Work? Expert Consensus on Discredited Treatments in the Addictions. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 4, 174-180. DOI: 10.1097/ADM.0b013e3181c5f9db.
*Koocher, G. P., Norcross, J. C., McMann, M., & Stout, A. (2015). Consensus on Discredited Assessment and Treatment Techniques used with Children and Adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 44, 722-729. DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2014.895941
*Koocher, G. P. & Gill, E. (2016). Pet Me, Sniff Me, Squeeze Me: Quack Treatment for Autism. In R. M. Foxx & J. Mulick, J. (Eds.) Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities (2nd Ed.). Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis, pp 347–356.
Research Ethics
*Melton, G.B., Koocher, G. P., & Saks, M. J. (Eds.) (1983). Children's Competence to Consent. New York: Plenum.
*Koocher, G. P. (2002). Using the CABLES Model to Assess and Minimize Risk in Research: Control Group Hazards. Ethics & Behavior, 12, 75-86.
*Keith-Spiegel, P. & Koocher, G.P. (2005). The IRB Paradox: Could the Protectors Also Encourage Deceit? Ethics & Behavior, 15, 339-350.
*Keith-Spiegel, P., Koocher, G. P, Tabachnick, B. (2006). What Scientists Want from Their Research Ethics Committees. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 1, 67-82.
*Koocher, G. P. & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2010). Opinion: Peers nip misconduct in the bud. Nature, 466, 438-440. doi:10.1038/466438a
*Koocher, G. P. (2012). Colleagues as a Defense Against Bad Science. The Physiologist, 55 (2), 52-56.
*Koocher, G. P. (2014). Research Ethics and Private Harms. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 29 (18) 2367- 3276, DOI: 10.1177/0886260514534986
Awards
1969 1970 United States Public Health Service Fellow, University of Missouri
1971 Psi Chi
Psi Chi () is a college student honor society in psychology with international outreach founded in 1929 at the University of Kansas in the United States.
Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States, with more than 1,150 cha ...
(Honorary in Psychology)
1977 Elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (12 Divisions)
1981 Jack D. Krasner Memorial Award, Division of Psychotherapy, American Psychological Association
1983 Distinguished Professional Contribution Award, Section on Clinical Child Psychology, American Psychological Association
1986 Distinguished Career Contribution Award, Massachusetts Psychological Association
1986 Michael Dinoff Memorial Lecturer, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
1987 Elected to the Collegium of Distinguished Alumni, College of Liberal Arts, Boston University
1987 Distinguished Professional Contribution Award, Society of Pediatric Psychology
1987 Matthew Ryan Young Memorial Lecturer, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
1988 Nicholas Hobbs Award for Distinguished Contributions to Children's Services, American Psychological Association, Division of Child, Youth and Family Services
1989 Elected a Fellow of the American association for the Advancement of Science
1988-1989 Linda Pollin Memorial Lecturer, Linda Pollin Foundation, Bethesda, MA
1992 American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service
1993 Elected to the National Academies of Practice; Distinguished Practitioner in Psychology
1993 Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award, American Psychological Association
1996 Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Missouri, College of Arts and Sciences
1996 Robert Chin Memorial Award of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
2003 Florence Halpern Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions, Society of Clinical Psychology, American Psychological Association
2005 Distinguished Psychologist Award, Division of Psychotherapy, American Psychological Association
2005 Distinguished Career Contribution Award, Connecticut Psychological Association.
2010- National Institutes of Health, College of CSR Reviewers
2010 2010 Annual Innovation Award for Excellence in Human Research Protection, Health Improvement Institute
2011 Walter C. Randall Lecturer on Biomedical Ethics, American Physiological Society
2012 Asuncion Miteria Austria and John Robinson Distinguished Mentoring Award, Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (APA Division 45)
2015 American Board of Professional Psychology, recognition award for leadership, service, and mentoring
Editorial Service
1976 1988 Consulting Editor, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 1994-2000
1977 Consulting Editor, Journal of Pediatric Psychology
1977 1994 Consulting Editor, Journal of Clinical Child Psychology
1982- Consulting Editor, Journal of Psychosocial Oncology
1982 1987 Editor, Journal of Pediatric Psychology
1985 1989 Consulting Editor, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 2001-
1985 1999 Consulting Editor, Children and the Law series, University of Nebraska Press
1988-1995 Consulting Editor, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
1988-1990 Editor, The Clinical Psychologist
1989-1990 Editor, Clinical Psychology Bulletin
1990-2016 Editor, Ethics & Behavior
1992- Consulting Editor, Oxford University Press Series on Clinical Psychology
1994- Consulting Editor, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice
1996-2000 Associate Editor, Encyclopedia of Psychology, APA and Oxford University Press
1998- Consulting Editor, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma
2000- Consulting Editor, Journal of Trauma Practice
2004-2006 Consulting Editor, Canadian Psychologist
2009- Consulting Editor, Forensic Psychology Unbound
Selected works
*Gerald P. Koocher (Ed.). ''Children's Rights and the Mental Health Professions''. Wiley, 1976. .
*Patricia Keith-Spiegel, and Gerald P. Koocher. ''Ethics in Psychology: Professional Standards and Cases''. Erlbaum, 1985. .
*Gerald P. Koocher and Patricia Keith-Spiegel. ''Children, Ethics, and the Law: Professional Issues and Cases''. University of Nebraska Press, 1990. .
*Michael C. Roberts, Gerald P. Koocher, Donald K. Routh, Diane J. Willis (Eds.). ''Readings in Pediatric Psychology''. Plenum Press, 1993. .
*Gerald P. Koocher. ''Whistleblowing And Scientific Misconduct: A Special Issue of Ethics & Behavior''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1993, .
*Gerald P. Koocher. ''Ethics in Cyberspace''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996. .
*Gerald P. Koocher, John C. Norcross and Sam S. Hill (Eds.). ''Psychologists' Desk Reference''. Oxford University Press, 1998. .
*Gerald P. Koocher (Ed.). ''Protection of Participants in Sensitive Social Research: A Special Issue of Ethics & Behavior''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. .
*Gerald P. Koocher. ''The Science And Politics of Recovered Memories: A Special Issue of Ethics & Behavior''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. .
*Steven N. Sparta and Gerald P. Koocher (Eds.). ''Forensic Mental Health Assessment of Children And Adolescents''. Oxford University Press, 2006. .
* Gerald P. Koocher and Patricia Keith-Spiegel. ''Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Professional Standards and Cases''. Oxford University Press, 2008.
*Kenneth S. Pope, Janet L. Sonne, Beverly Greene and Gerald P. Koocher. ''What Therapists Do Not Talk About and Why: Understanding Taboos That Hurt Us and Our Clients''. American Psychological Association, 2006. .
*Koocher, G. P. & La Greca, A. M. (Eds.) (2011) Emotional First Aid for Parents: Helping children and adolescents cope with predictable life crises. New York: Oxford University Press.
* Gerald P. Koocher, John C. Norcross and Beverly A. Greene (Eds.). ''Psychologists' Desk Reference, 3rd Edition''. Oxford University Press, 2013. .
* Gerald P. Koocher and Patricia Keith-Spiegel. ''Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Professional Standards and Cases, 4th Edition. Oxford University Press, 2016.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koocher, Gerald
1947 births
Living people
Presidents of the American Psychological Association
DePaul University faculty
Simmons University faculty
Harvard Medical School faculty
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
University of Missouri alumni