Richard R Lewine, PhD

Professor

DR. LEWINE is no longer accepting graduate school applicants. He is available to work collaboratively with students accepted by other faculty. Dr. Lewine is Chair, DPBS Undergraduate Committee, is a member of the University Honors Committee, is a member of the Delphi Center Advisory Board, and is Academic Liaison to the Kentucky Psychological Association Board of Directors.

Education

• NIMH Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 1975-1978
• Ph.D. Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 1975
• A.B. Psychology, Harvard, 1969

Current Students

Graduate

• Rachel Waford, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Emory University
• Catherine Robertson, Internship, Hines VA, Illinois
• Mara Hart; 3rd year and lab coordinator

Current Students-Undergraduate

• Shelby Jenkins, Psychology Honors

Research Interests

Emotions have often been viewed as the obstacles to effective thinking. Conversely, both clinicians and critical thinkers have viewed core negative beliefs as causing "irrational" thinking. As reflected in serious mental and emotional disorders, the interplay between affect and cognition is complex. Further, that some of us have serious thinking problems and others of us do not, grossly simplifies the reality. We are all subject to "impaired cognition" and to moments of lucid and critical thinking, the former occurring far more than than we like to believe and the latter far less frequently.

Our group's interests lie at the interface of affect and cognition. Serious mental and emotional disorders affect one's ability to meet life expectations and requirements, in part by subverting the cognitive tools needed to assess self and others accurately and, as a consequence, adjust expectations and behaviors. We are currently addressing how affect influences thought disorder in schizophrenia, thereby potentially opening novel paths for cognitive improvement via affect intervention. Such an approach is not, however, limited to psychiatric patients.

Critical thinking, a focus of major pedagogical efforts across colleges and universities in the United States, represents in many respects the opposite end of the thought disorder continuum and is subject to the same questions about the influence of affect.

Whether in the clinic or in the classroom, we seek to understand the phenomenon of thought, its positive and negative effects in carrying out life's tasks, and how affect might be used to improve our thinking.

Current Activities

• The role of affect intensity and valence in thought disorder in schizophrenia - R. Waford
• Personality differences in schizophrenia and their relation to thought disorder - C. Robertson
• The role of family history in the expression of thought disorder in schizophrenia - M. Hart

Representative Publications of Current Research

• Robertson, C., Lewine, R. & Sommers, A. (in press). Perseverating  to academic failure in male undergraduates. NACADA Journal.
• Lewine, R. (2013). Review of Education in the Digital Age. NACADA Journal, 33(2).
• Lewine, R (2013). Self Knowledge. APS Observer. 26(1).
• Lewine, R., Sommers, A., Waford,R., Bustanoby, H., Robertson,C., Hall, R., & Eisenmenger, K. (2011). Sex, affect and academic performance: It's not what you think. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, July Volume 5, Number 2.
• Waford, R., & Lewine, R. (2010). Is perseveration uniquely characteristic of schizophrenia? Schizophrenia Research, available online, doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2010.01.031; print available June, 2010.
• Thurston-Snoha, B. & Lewine, R. (2010). Sex, affect, and cognitive perseveration in schizophrenia. The Internet Journal of Mental Health, Volume 6 Number 2.
• Thurston-Snoha, B. & Lewine, R. (2007). Intact Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance: Implications for the role of executive function in schizophrenia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46, 361-369.

Current Courses

• PSYC 201: Introductory Psychology
• PSYC 375: Personality
• PSYC 444: Self Awareness- Culminating Undergraduate Experience
• PSYC 685: Clinical Supersision