I'm originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, although I did most of my growing up in Los Angeles, California. I decided early on that the beach was the ideal educational environment, and thus I did my undergraduate and graduate work at the two "most coastal" University of California campuses (San Diego and Santa Barbara, respectively).

The University of Richmond has been the only job I've known, and I'm quite happy here. The students are outstanding, the facilities world-class, and the campus breathtakingly beautiful. The only thing missing is the beach, but fortunately the Atlantic Ocean is a mere 90 minutes away.

My students and I are currently involved in several research projects focusing on the psychological processes underlying judgments of heroes, villains, underdogs, great leaders, martyrs, and dead legends. I have written two book on heroes, both co-authored with George Goethals. One, published by Oxford University Press, is called Heroes: Who They Are and Why We Need Them. The second will be published next year and is entitled True Heroes: 100 Extraordinary Individuals and How They Shape Us.

Primary Interests:

Ethics and Morality
Group Processes
Helping, Prosocial Behavior
Judgment and Decision Making
Motivation, Goal Setting
Person Perception

Ethics and Morality
Group Processes
Helping, Prosocial Behavior

Judgment and Decision Making
Motivation, Goal Setting
Person Perception

Research Group or Laboratory:

Heroes Laboratory Group [Map]

Books:

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2011). Heroes: What they do and why we need them. New York: Oxford University Press.

Journal Articles:

Allison, S. T., Eylon, D., Beggan, J. K., & Bachelder, J. (2009). The demise of leadership: Positivity and negativity in evaluations of dead leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 20, 115-129.
Eylon, D., & Allison, S. T. (2005). The frozen in time effect in evaluations of the dead. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1708-1717.
Goethals, G. R. & Allison, S. T. (2012). Making heroes: The construction of courage, competence and virtue. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.
Kim, J., Allison, S. T., Eylon, D., Goethals, G., Markus, M., McGuire, H., & Hindle, S. (2008). Rooting for (and then abandoning) the underdog. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 2550-2573.

Other Publications:

Allison, S. T., & Burnette, J. (2010). Fairness and preference for underdogs and top dogs. In R. Kramer, A. Tenbrunsel, & M. Bazerman, (Eds.), Social Decision Making: Social Dilemmas, Social Values, and Ethical Judgments. New York: Psychology Press.
Allison, S. T., & Eylon, D. (2005). The demise of leadership: Death positivity biases in posthumous impressions of leaders. In D. Messick & R. Kramer (Eds.), The Psychology of Leadership: Some New Approaches (pp 295-317). New York: Erlbaum.
Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2012). The Seven Paradoxes of Heroism. Personality and Social Psychology Connections.
Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2008). Deifying the dead and downtrodden: Sympathetic figures as exceptional leaders. In C. L. Hoyt, G. R. Goethals, & D. R. Forsyth (Eds.), Leadership at the crossroads: Psychology and leadership. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Courses Taught:

Group Dynamics
Heroes and Villains
Research Methods and Statistical Analyses
Social Psychology

Group Dynamics
Heroes and Villains

Research Methods and Statistical Analyses
Social Psychology

Scott T. Allison
Department of Psychology
University of Richmond
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, VA 23173
United States

Phone: (804) 289-8127
Fax: (804) 287-1905