UCCS professor wins top award

Two decades ago, Thomas Pyszczynski's ideas about how people use their cultural beliefs and values to shield themselves from anxiety about death - and how that plays out in international conflict - were viewed as kooky at worst, interesting at best.
9/11 changed all that.

In the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Pyszczynski, a psychology professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, was catapulted to visionary status. Words like "provocative" and "persuasive" replaced the doubts about his research, which led to a hypothesis he developed with two colleagues called "terror management theory."

"He'd been bouncing around as a visiting assistant professor at two or three schools, and no one would hire him on a tenure track because his theories were iffy. We did. We thought he was going to be a star because he had a vision of a new way that social psychology would evolve. It turns out, he was absolutely right," said Bob Durham, who was chair of the university's psychology department in 1986, when Pyszczynski was hired.

Pyszczynski's expertise on the social psychology of terrorism recently earned him one of the University of Colorado system's highest honors: the title of distinguished professor. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to an academic discipline. In the 43-year history of UCCS, only one other faculty member has been bestowed the title from the board of regents, the university's governing body.

"This brings recognition to the university and increases its prestige. It means the university is providing a way to generate this cutting-edge work that's being recognized by other institutions in the academic world," said Kelli Klebe, current chair of the UCCS psychology department.

"This distinction also will be good for generating connections with other community partners - his research can be used to improve people's lives because it looks at why people do the things they do," said Klebe, who nominated the 54-year-old Pyszczynski for the award.

Pyszczynski's ideas give insight into the connections between self esteem and human behavior, including ethnic violence and war.

And in the face of attack, his research showed, people tend to coalesce against a common enemy.

"So many of the things we'd seen happen in laboratory experiments played out in reality after 9/11," he said.

"When Americans were faced with a dramatic reminder of death and vulnerability at the hands of people challenging our culture and values, we tried to discredit those people and get rid of them, and we became more enthusiastic about our own beliefs. The majority of Americans became more patriotic and Bush's approval ratings almost doubled in a week."

His terror management theory, developed in the mid-1980s, has been the basis for more than 350 studies in 20 countries, examining aggression, stereotyping, the need for meaning and structure, phobias, political preferences, martyrdom, group identification and related topics.

Pyszczynski has developed somewhat of a cult following among students who seek out UCCS specifically to take his classes and work with him on research projects, Klebe said.

"It's almost like there are groupies following him," Durham said.

Graduate student Carl Henthorn places himself in that category. As an undergraduate at Ohio State University, Henthorn had read one of Pyszczynski's three books, "In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror," which was co-written by Jeff Greenberg of the University of Arizona and Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College. His co-authors also helped him create the terror management theory.

"I was really interested in his theory, and it's been an absolute pleasure to be able to do research with him," Henthorn said.
Pyszczynski's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 1989, and he is ranked as one of the most productive researchers worldwide in social psychology, amassing about $90,000 a year in grants.

Current students are helping Pyszczynski examine the psychological and political basis of conflict pertaining to terrorism and international discord, said Matt Motyl, a graduate student who has an undergraduate degree from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.

"One thing Tom does in his teaching and mentoring that's different is he is so passionate about what he's doing, but he still lets students develop their abilities and ideas," Motyl said. "He pushes students to extend their boundaries and is very supportive. He's also one of the friendliest people you'll meet."

At a recent reception in honor of Pyszczynski's award, UCCS Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak said she is appreciative of the previous administrators who took a chance on hiring him "when he was not particularly mainstream."

Then, she asked Pyszczynski, "How does it feel to be mainstream?"
Pyszczynski's reply: "A little scary."

In addition to constantly explaining how to pronounce his Polish surname (Pizz-zin-ski), the tall, white-haired Pyszczynski plays bass in a reggae band, demonstrates a flair for culinary arts and has a daughter who attends CU-Boulder.
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contact the writer: 636-0235 or debbie.kelley@gazette.com