Susan Krauss Whitbourne (born 1948) is a developmental clinical psychologist known for her work on personality and identity over the lifespan. She holds the position of professor emerita of psychology at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

. Whitbourne served as president of the Eastern Psychological Association from 2017 to 2018 and as president of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

, Division 20, Adult Development and Aging from 1995 to 1996. She received an APA Presidential Citation in 2011 and was awarded the Distinguished Membership Award from Psi Chi, The International Honors Society in Psychology in 2018.

Biography

Whitbourne was born on December 16, 1948, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

in 1970 and her Ph.D. in clinical/developmental psychology at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1974. She subsequently finished a clinical psychology postdoctoral re-specialization program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Whitbourne was an assistant professor at the

State University of New York at Geneseo The State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo State College or, colloquially, "Geneseo") is a public liberal arts college in Geneseo, New York. It is New York's public honors college and part of the State University ...

from 1973 to 1975. She was on the faculty of the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

from 1976 to 1984, before moving to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. At Rochester, Whitbourne was involved in conducting the Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study––a 50-year, 4-cohort, 1200 participant, 5-wave sequential study of Eriksonian

psychosocial development Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, as articulated in the second half of the 20th century by Erik Erikson in collaboration with Joan Erikson, is a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of eight stages that a he ...

in adulthood. Whitbourne has served as a columnist and/or consultant for multiple popular media outlets, including

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

Psychology Today ''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. The publication began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The print magazine's reported circulation is 275,000 as of 2023. ...

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

CapRadio CapRadio (Capital Public Radio) is the public radio service of California State University, Sacramento. It consists of two full-power stations and five repeaters, all members of National Public Radio. It is the NPR member for Sacramento and much ...

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

Today's Parent ''Today's Parent'' is a Canadian bi-monthly magazine for parents of children from birth to age 14. Topics like health, education, behaviour, and nutrition are covered each month. Due to falling print ad revenues, ''Today's Parent'' was published o ...

, and more.

Research

Whitbourne's research program has examined a variety of issues related to people's experiences of

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

over the lifespan. Topics include identity and

self-consciousness Self-consciousness is a heightened sense of awareness of oneself. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. Historically, "self-consciousness" was synonymous with " self-awareness", referring to a state of awareness th ...

in middle and later adulthood the connection between national, ethnic, and personal identity in a multiethnic sample of young adults, and the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with studying identity processing in adulthood. Whitbourne and her colleagues have conducted research to evaluate the theory that older people experience physical, psychological, and

social role A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, moral obligation, obligations, beliefs, and social norm, norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behav ...

changes that threaten their sense of self and ability to live happily, as well as being bombarded with negative ageist stereotypes. She has used a variety of methodologies to examine ageism in society, including a study of ageist stereotypes in undergraduate psychology textbooks.

Books

* Cavanaugh, J.C. & Whitbourne, S.K. (1999). ''Gerontology: An interdisciplinary perspective.'' Oxford University Press. * Halgin, R.P. & Whitbourne, S.K. (2000). ''Abnormal psychology: Clinical perspectives on psychological disorders'' (3rd Ed.). McGraw-Hill. * Whitbourne, S. K. (1985). ''The aging body: Physiological changes and psychological consequences.'' Springer-Verlag. * Whitbourne, S. K. (1986). ''The me I know: A study of adult identity.'' Springer-Verlag. * Whitbourne, S.K. (2008). ''Adult development and aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives'' (3rd Ed.). Wiley. * Whitbourne, S. K. (2010). ''The search for fulfillment.'' Ballantine Books. * Whitbourne, S. K. & Ebmeyer, J. B. (1990). ''Identity and intimacy in marriage: A study of couples.'' Springer-Verlag. * Whitbourne, S.K. & Willis, S.L. (2006). T''he baby boomers grow up: Contemporary perspectives on midlife.'' Erlbaum. * Whitbourne, S.K. & Cavanaugh, J.C. (2003). ''Integrating aging topics into psychology: A practical guide for teaching undergraduates.'' American Psychological Association.

Representative publications

* Rodriguez, L., Schwartz, S. J., & Whitbourne, S. K. (2010). American identity revisited: The relation between national, ethnic, and personal identity in a multiethnic sample of emerging adults. ''Journal of Adolescent Research'', ''25''(2), 324–349. * Sneed, J. R., & Whitbourne, S. K. (2003). Identity processing and self-consciousness in middle and later adulthood. ''The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences'', ''58''(6), P313-P319. * Sneed, J. R., & Whitbourne, S. K. (2005). Models of the aging self. ''Journal of Social Issues'', ''61''(2), 375–388. * Whitbourne, S. K., & Hulicka, I. M. (1990). Ageism in undergraduate psychology texts. ''American Psychologist, 45''(10), 1127–1136. * Whitbourne, S. K., Sneed, J. R., & Skultety, K. M. (2002). Identity processes in adulthood: Theoretical and methodological challenges. ''Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research'', ''2''(1), 29–45.

References

External links

Susan Krauss Whitbourne
Emeritus Faculty profile at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Susan Krauss Whitbourne
publications indexed by

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitbourne, SusanKrauss Living people American women psychologists University at Buffalo alumni Columbia University alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty State University of New York at Geneseo faculty American developmental psychologists 1948 births American clinical psychologists 21st-century American psychologists