Personality Science

Marvin Zuckerman, PhD, is a professor emeritus in psychology at the University of Delaware, where he taught and conducted research for 33 years. He received his doctoral degree from New York University in the area of clinical psychology.

He worked for several years as a clinical psychologist in state hospitals before accepting a research position at Indiana University Medical Center's Institute of Psychiatry. There he began his experimental studies in sensory deprivation, which continued for the next years at Brooklyn College, Adelphi University, and the Endocrinology Research Labs of Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

His curiosity about individual differences in reactions to sensory deprivation led to the development of the first Sensation Seeking Scale. Research and theory building around the sensation seeking trait has been the major part of Dr. Zuckerman's work to the present and has resulted in three major books on that topic: Sensation Seeking: Beyond the Optimal Level of Arousal ( 979), Behavioral Expressions and Biosocial Bases of Sensation Seeking ( 994), and Sensation Seeking and Risky Behavior (2 7).

Results of the research on sensation seeking pointed to a strong genetic amp ndash psychobiological basis for the trait in brain reactivity and psychopharmacology and, more recently, neuropsychology using new brain-imaging methods. On the basis of this research and comparative research on animals, Dr. Zuckerman began to formulate a trait model based on the biological as well as the behavioral aspects of personality.

Two books emerged from this research: Psychobiology of Personality ( 99 ) and a second, revised and updated edition (2 5). Another book, Vulnerability to Psychopathology: A Biosocial Model, was published in 999. In addition to these books and two edited volumes, Dr. Zuckerman has published over 2 research and theoretical articles and chapters in edited volumes.

Dr. Zuckerman is a fellow of APA and the Association for Psychological Science, and he is one of the founders and a past-president of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences.