Alan S. Kaufman

86

Alan S. Kaufman : biography

1944 –

Children

His son is a professor and researcher in psychology (creativity): James C. Kaufman.

Influence on other researchers

Widely regarded as a teacher and mentor, as well as a researcher, Kaufman’s cadre of doctoral students at the University of Georgia has gone on to become a significant influence in the field as well. Kaufman mentored, among others, Cecil R. Reynolds, Randy W. Kamphaus, Bruce Bracken, Steve McCallum, Jack A. Naglieri, and Patti Harrison, all of whom became Professors at major universities and authors of some of the most widely used psychological tests in the United States.

In 1994 he was one of 52 signatories on "Mainstream Science on Intelligence,Gottfredson, Linda (December 13, 1994). Mainstream Science on Intelligence. Wall Street Journal, p A18." an editorial written by Linda Gottfredson and published in the Wall Street Journal, which declared the consensus of the signing scholars on intelligence research following the publication of the book The Bell Curve.

Publications

Early life and career

Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, Kaufman earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965; M.A. in Educational Psychology from Columbia University in 1967; and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1970 (under Robert L. Thorndike), specializing in psychometrics.

He has been married to psychologist Nadeen L. Kaufman since 1964. While Assistant Director at The Psychological Corporation from 1968 to 1974, he worked closely with David Wechsler on the revision of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and supervised the standardization of the revised version (WISC-R). He also collaborated with Dorothea McCarthy in the development and standardization of the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities. He held positions at University of Georgia (1974–1979) and University of Alabama (1984–1995) before taking a position at Yale University.

Both have been at Yale University’s Child Study Center in the School of Medicine since 1997.