Dr. David Watson stands as a preeminent figure in contemporary personality psychology with a distinguished career spanning over four decades. He currently holds the position of Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, where he has been a cornerstone of psychological research since joining the faculty in 2010. Prior to his appointment at Notre Dame, Dr. Watson served as a professor of psychology at the University of Iowa beginning in 1993, and taught at Southern Methodist University before then. He earned his PhD in personality psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1982, following undergraduate studies at Santa Clara University where he graduated summa cum laude in 1975.
Dr. Watson's most influential contribution to psychological science is the development of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) in 1988, created with Lee Anna Clark and Auke Tellegen, which has become one of the most widely utilized instruments for measuring emotional states across numerous psychological disciplines. This groundbreaking assessment tool has been translated internationally, cited more than 19,000 times, and established itself as a routine component in diverse psychological research domains worldwide. His scholarly work investigating the structure and measurement of personality, affect, and psychopathology has produced over 250 publications in leading journals and two influential books that have shaped contemporary understanding of connections between personality traits and clinical disorders. Dr. Watson's expertise was further recognized through his service as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology from 2006 to 2011 and his advisory roles for both the DSM-IV Anxiety Disorders Workgroup and the DSM-5 Personality and Personality Disorders Workgroup.
Beyond his research contributions, Dr. Watson has played a pivotal leadership role through his co-founding of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium in 2015, which has catalyzed a paradigm shift toward dimensional approaches to understanding mental disorders. His professional legacy is characterized by three interwoven strands: innovative assessment development, integration of normal and abnormal psychology domains, and championing dimensional approaches to psychopathology that have transformed clinical diagnostic frameworks. In 2015, his exceptional contributions were formally recognized with the Jack Block Award for Distinguished Research in Personality from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, honoring his lifetime of scholarly excellence. Dr. Watson's enduring influence continues to shape contemporary psychological science as his work provides the foundation for ongoing research that bridges personality assessment and clinical practice across global psychological communities.
