Steven Reiss (1947-2016)

Abstract

This article memorializes Steven Reiss (1947-2016), an eminent clinical psychologist. He was professor emeritus of psychology and psychiatry at the Ohio State University. Reiss has made major contributions to three areas of psychology. He formulated the concept of anxiety sensitivity, an individual difference variable signifying a person's proneness to respond fearfully to bodily sensations that accompany anxiety. He was the key developer of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), a self-report measure of the fear of anxiety sensations translated into more than 20 languages. Reiss was a pioneer in the field of dual diagnosis-the study and treatment of mental disorders in people with intellectual disabilities. Reiss's third major field of inquiry was human motivation. For the past 20 years, he has been studying individual differences in motivational profiles. To measure individual differences in 16 basic desires, he developed the Reiss Motivation Profile. (PsycINFO Database Record