SPA Conference

The Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) annual meeting was fantastic. It’s been a while since I attended any professional conference and I’m reminded how important it is to do so…even if you’re not presenting. It doesn’t heart that the location was the bay of San Diego but for the record, the next meeting I plan to attend is in Minnesota during the winter.

While personality assessment is now less central to my position it’s still rooted in my teaching and research. It was nice to hear others discussing methods that I have used (ROD, MOA, and the MMPI-2 for example), to have conversations about projective methodology, and just be immersed in the culture of assessment and treatment again. I really miss these aspects of psychology. You can’t get more cutting edge news either. I am thrilled to hear that the DSM is moving toward a dimensional model of personality disorders instead of the current categorical structure. This is a welcomed evolution.

There was tragedy surrounding this year’s conference as John Exner passed away just a month before. Then, on the way to the meeting Paul Lerner passed away. A number of his good friends spoke about him before their talks. Dr. Lerner was very young. I only knew him through his work but nonetheless, I feel the loss.

If you get the opportunity to attend your professional conference take it. Go hear the big names in your field talk, no matter what the subject. It’s something I learned years ago at the APA conference. The impact of hearing the experienced and productive bigwigs is exciting and formative. I find that almost all of these well established scholars are self-defacing and toss the credit around like an Oscar winner. Dr. Steven Finn was brilliant and made a wonderful presentation about therapeutic assessment. Finn is using direct information (observation via closed circuit and recordings) to teach parents about their children’s illness. This is not an easy task to change a parent’s ideas about their children. Almost every serial killer has a mother who has uttered the words, “He’s a good boy.” If anyone can alter the perceptions of those mothers its Steven Finn. On another note, Dr. Robert Bornstein was quirky and clear and the quintessential teacher – always with striking empirical examples.

My peak experience at the conference was titled, “The Pioneers of Personality Science Lessons Learned and Ideas for the Future.” Symposium O. I could not decide between that and Symposium P (Rorschach Psychoanalytic) and Symposium N (Clinical Utility of the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale). When Bornstein went into Symposium O, not listed as a participant, the decision was made.

In short, the authors of the new autobiographical work, “Pioneers of Personality Science” attended and told stories about lessons learned. This was a lot of fun! All of these guys were funny and imparted great stories about choices and scholarship. Those in attendance were Arnold Buss, Richard Dana, Leonard Handler, Wayne Holtzman, Joseph Masling, and Marvin Zuckerman. Greg Meyer, the JPA editor, chaired. Conveying what each said would take forever so I won’t, instead I urge you to pick up the book if you’re interested in either personality assessment or the academic road. I will add that afterward I approached Dr. Buss and Zuckerman who were sitting with a reporter. As a certifiable dork I was collecting the autographs of each of the panel members and they were the last ones on the list. Arnold Buss (photo right) stopped the interview and instructed me to sit down so he could find out something about me. Many of the other guys took a moment to talk with me but this was a treat. We talked for 20 minutes! He was light hearted, full of advice, and obviously very engaging. He was very interested in one of my research ideas and cautioned me about another. I enjoyed the fact that I got a huge laugh out of him. He was telling a very candid story about his wife (I won’t repeat it here even though I have the feeling he would not mind) and I made a dumb little joke. He laughed hard and began pointing at me, and then he kept laughing. Had I attended nothing else that week this last event would have made the trip worthwhile. I am inspired by the hard work and collaborative nature of these men.

I feel compelled to thank the travel committee and our Dean for supporting my SPA trip. They did not have to approve this but value participation in professional organizations and continued learning. Thank you.