Robert Epstein (born June 19, 1953) is an American psychologist, professor, author, and journalist. He was awarded a Ph.D. in psychology by Harvard University in 1981, was editor-in-chief of Psychology Today, and has held positions at several universities including Boston University, University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University. He is also the founder and director emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Concord, MA. In 2012, he founded the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology (AIBRT), a nonprofit organization that conducts research to promote the well-being and functioning of people worldwide.
Epstein has been a commentator for National Public Radio's Marketplace, the Voice of America, and Disney Online. His popular writings have appeared in Reader's Digest, The Washington Post, The Sunday Times (London), Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, Parenting, and other magazines and newspapers. Epstein is a public figure in the world of psychology.
Early life
Epstein was born on June 19, 1953, in Hartford, Connecticut, into a
Jewish family. He went to Conard High School in
West Hartford where he was first introduced to computer programming and hacking through the school's IBM 1620, one of the first computers owned by a US High School.
Epstein went to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he majored in Psychology and also took classes in dance. After receiving his B.A., Epstein moved to Israel to pursue his 'calling' to become a rabbi, where he worked on a kibbutz and studied at a yeshiva. After six months, he decided to instead turn his attention back to psychology, after becoming enamored with the works of B. F. Skinner.
Graduate work
In 1976, Epstein enrolled in the Master's program of Community and Clinical Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. There he studied the experimental analysis of behavior under Professor A. Charles Catania. While at
graduate school, Epstein personally reached out to the then-retired B.F. Skinner, and convinced him to begin pigeon research again at the Psychology Department at Harvard University. Epstein and Skinner began collaborating on several new research projects,
and in the summer of 1977 Epstein was invited to become a full-time graduate student at Harvard. In 1981, he earned a
PhD in Experimental Psychology from Harvard without having to write a
dissertation, owing to the number of publications he had.
Career
After receiving his
PhD, Epstein founded the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in 1981. For nine years, he served as the center's executive director while conducting research and teaching at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Northeastern University, Simmons College (Massachusetts), the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Boston University.
After leaving the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in 1990, he began to write for national magazines, such as Reader's Digest
During this time, he also held visiting posts at Keio University, Tokyo,
Epstein also served as Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Department of Psychology at National University (California).
In 1999, he became the editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine, a position he held until 2003. He then hosted the Sirius XM radio show Psyched!
An autobiographical essay documenting his long involvement with the media was published in 2006 in the academic journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.["Giving psychology away: A personal journey". Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2006, 1(4), 389-400]
In 2012, he co-founded the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology (AIBRT) in Vista, California, where he is currently Senior Research Psychologist.
Contributions to behavioral science
Generativity Theory
While at Harvard in the 1980s, Epstein introduced the idea of "Generativity Theory", a quantitative, predictive theory of creativity in both animals and people, derived from research he had conducted with pigeons, children, and adults.
His 2000 book,
The Big Book of Creativity Games, includes exercises for increasing creativity.
Vulnerability Theory of Emotional Bonding (VTEB)
In various writings, Epstein has been a strong advocate of the view that people can deliberately learn to love each other, and he has proposed a formal, predictive theory of how love grows in couples.
His theory is based in part on research he has conducted on how love arises in arranged marriages in multiple cultures worldwide. In 2013, he published a study summarizing this research.
At a class on intimate relationships he taught at University of California, San Diego, he gave extra credit to students for taking part in affection building exercises, and that class attracted national news coverage.
At one time, he used himself as an experimental subject to investigate this proposition, and he proposed that couples take control over their love lives by signing a Love Contract.
Sexual continuum
Epstein has conducted large-scale studies on sexual orientation that confirm assertions made by
Sigmund Freud,
Alfred Kinsey, and others that (a) sexual orientation lies on a continuum, (b) bisexuality is the natural norm for human beings, and (c) most people claim to be straight because of social pressure.
His psychometric test on sexual orientation is available in multiple languages online.
Adolescence
Epstein is also a scholar in the field of psychological maturity, and has published an online maturity test.
He is critical of what he sees as the "artificial extension of childhood" over the past century, arguing that what society views as the "teen brain" is often the result of Western cultural factors and
infantilization, rather than a set of brain characteristics that are inherent in all humans throughout their teen years.
[ Colour Me Adult, Trinidad Express, November 25, 2011.] In certain essays, he has cited studies which found that some teenagers are in some ways more developmentally mature than most adults, and advocates giving young people more adult responsibility, as well as placing them in environments in which they will not be prone to socializing simply with other teenagers.
He is the co-founder of National Youth Rights Day
and is the author of
The Case Against Adolescence, which was cited by the US Supreme Court in the 2010 case Graham v. Florida.
Carrier Separation Plan
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Epstein developed a plan for quickly stopping the transmission of the virus, eradicating it from the population, and reopening the economy without the need for social distancing or a
vaccine, named the Carrier Separation Plan (CSP). It was based on a mathematical model he developed, and was accepted for publication by
Frontiers in Public Health.
The model called for a three-stage approach, "(a) nearly simultaneous self-testing for the pathogen by an entire population, followed rapidly by (b) nearly simultaneous self-isolation of carriers, and (c) secondary screening at entrances to facilities where people congregate". Evidence collated in the paper suggested that the implementation of CSP would dramatically slow the spread of the virus even if compliance with the plan was only moderate.
Epstein called on both the Trump and Biden Administrations to implement the plan in the face of emerging variants.
Psychometric tests
Since the 1990s, Epstein has developed a number of psychological tests that people can take online without charge.
Some measure competencies in areas such as
creativity,
,
stress management,
and
parenting.
He has also developed a mental health screening test that is consistent with the DSM-5.
Many of the tests are available in foreign translations.
Contributions to internet studies
Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME)
In 2013, Epstein discovered a phenomenon he termed the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), an internet-influence effect that could give a dominant
search engine company the power to determine the outcome of close elections.
He presented his theory in seminars at Stanford University,
the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,
He published these findings in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
and continues to research this phenomenon.
His research led to him being invited to testify before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, hearing on
Google and
Censorship, in June 2019.
Search Suggestion Effect (SSE)
In experiments begun in 2016, Epstein determined that search suggestions—and the suppression of negative search suggestions—can also be used to manipulate votes and opinions, a phenomenon he termed the Search Suggestion Effect (SSE).
He has expressed concern that this effect could be used by
Big Tech companies to influence peoples' opinions with impunity.
He described this theory in detail during a 2017 seminar at the Stanford School of Engineering.
Criticism of Google
Epstein has been an outspoken critic of
Google and has proposed methods for reducing the threat that
Big Tech poses to free-and-fair elections.
In 2012, he said that Google could rig the 2016 United States presidential election and that search engine manipulation was "a serious threat to the democratic system of government".
[Epstein, Robert. How Google Could Rig the 2016 Election] In 2016, he wrote in
Huffington Post magazine that Google had "a fundamentally deceptive business model".
In a 2017 article, Epstein criticized efforts by companies such as Google and
Facebook to suppress fake news through algorithms, noting "the dangers in allowing big technology companies to decide which news stories are legitimate".
In 2019, Epstein compiled data that showed Google suggesting more positive terms when users searched for
Hillary Clinton compared to when searching for
Donald Trump.
Other journalists and researchers have expressed concerns similar to Epstein's. Safiya Noble cited Epstein's research about search engine bias in her 2018 book Algorithms of Oppression,
Some of his ideas have been criticized. Google dismissed Epstein's research as "nothing more than a poorly constructed conspiracy theory".
Personal life
Epstein has five children
and lives in Vista, California.
His wife Misti was killed in a car accident in 2019, shortly after Epstein testified before Congress regarding Google Search, ending a marriage that began in 2012.
Books
-
Notebooks: B. F. Skinner (editor) (1980),
-
Skinner for the Classroom: Selected Papers (editor) (1982),
-
Cognition, Creativity, and Behavior: Selected Essays (1996),
-
Creativity Games for Trainers (1996),
-
Pure Fitness: Body Meets Mind (with Lori Fetrick) (1996),
-
Self-Help Without the Hype (1996),
-
Irrelativity (1997),
-
The New Psychology Today Reader (1999),
-
Stress-Management and Relaxation Activities for Trainers (1999),
-
The Big Book of Creativity Games (2000),
-
The Big Book of Stress-Relief Games (2000),
-
The Big Book of Motivation Games (with Jessica Rogers) (2001),
-
The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen (2007),
-
Parsing the Turing Test: Philosophical and Methodological Issues in the Quest for the Thinking Computer (co-editor) (2008),
-
Teen 2.0: Saving Our Children and Families from the Torment of Adolescence (2010),
Films
Notes
External links
