Psychology Prof Receives Highest Honor

Les Morey, the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Professor in the Department of Psychology, is the 2016 recipient of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology award for his outstanding work in the assessment of mental illness.

He was honored Aug. 5 at the national APA conference in Denver, Colorado.

“I’m a college professor, so summarizing anything in one sentence is very tough,” he said of winning the award. “It’s certainly gratifying and humbling, because many of the previous recipients are people that I looked up to in the field.”

Psychological assessment deals with how a psychologist can determine whether or not their patient has a mental illness. For example, the military uses these assessments to determine whether a soldier has PTSD; police academies use them to see if an applicant is mentally fit to be an officer; and the justice system uses them to tell if a prisoner is ready for parole.

“Forty years ago, as I was filling out applications for graduate school, I decided that I was interested in this field of psychological assessment,” Morey said. “I thought there was room for improvement, and that I could play a role in that.”

In an effort to simplify assessments, Morey developed the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). The PAI is designed for adults but is written at a fourth-grade reading level, takes less than an hour to complete, and has led to more accurate testing.

Morey has been teaching at Texas A&M University since 1999 and has been the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Professor in Liberal Arts since 2012.