Gerald Davison

{{Short description|American psychologist and professor}}

{{Infobox person

|birth_date= {{birth year and age|1939}}

|nationality=American

|occupation=Psychologist, gerontologist, academic

|module={{Infobox academic |child=yes |workplaces=The University of Southern California}}

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Gerald C. Davison (born 1939) is an American psychologist and professor. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Gerontology and former dean of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California.

Education

Gerald C. Davison completed a bachelor of arts in social relations at Harvard College in 1961. He spent a Fulbright year in Germany at University of Freiburg in 1961-1962. He obtained his Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford University in 1965.

Career

In 1973-1974 Davison served as president of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.{{Cite web|url=http://gero.usc.edu/faculty/gerald-c-davison-ph-d/|title=Gerald C. Davison, PhD|website=USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-17}} He is Professor of Psychology and Gerontology and former dean of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California.University of Southern California (2007). Campus directory.

He has authored more than 150 publications dealing with topics such as experimental analysis of psychopathology, therapeutic change and the links between cognition and a variety of behavioral and emotional problems.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} Davison has co-authored the textbooks Abnormal Psychology,Kring, A. M., Johnson, S. L., Davison, G. C., Neale, J. M., (2012). Abnormal psychology (12th edition). Wiley. Case Studies in Abnormal PsychologyOltmanns, T. F., Martin, M. T., Neale, J. M., & Davison, G. C. (2012). Case studies in abnormal psychology (9th edition). Wiley. and Clinical Behavior Therapy.Goldfried, M. R., & Davison, G. C. (1994). Clinical behavior therapy. Expanded edition. Wiley.

In 2018, he was featured in an episode of a Radiolab podcast, UnErased where he spoke about his seminal role in 1974 in arguing against sexual reorientation (aka conversion) therapies for gay individuals.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/unerased-davidson-gay-cure|title=UnErased: Dr. Davison and the Gay Cure {{!}} Radiolab|last=|first=|date=November 21, 2018|website=WNYC Studios|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2018-12-17}} “Conversion” (2022) is a one-hour biographical documentary film based on the podcast and is on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, iTunes, and YouTube.{{Cite web |url=https://news.usc.edu/200228/gay-conversion-therapy-documentary/ |title=Unlikely hero in LGBTQ+ history is back in the spotlight |date=June 27, 2022 |publisher=USC News |last=Hernandez |first=Greg |quote=The movie was an early cut of the documentary Conversion, which tells the story of how Davison went from being a young psychologist practicing a form of conversion therapy on gay men to publicly speaking out against the practice at a national convention before about 1,000 of his peers.}}

Awards and honors

Davison received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and in 2020 the Clinical Science Visionary Award from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

See also

References