Steven Reiss, Ph.D.

Steven Reiss is a retired tenured Professor of Psychology living in Columbus, Ohio. He was educated at Dartmouth (A.B.) and Yale (Ph.D.) and completed a clinical psychology internship at Harvard Medical School.  He is a Senior Fellow of Dartmouth College and a fellow of both  the American Psychological Association and the American Association on Intellectual Disabilities.  He taught at The Ohio State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In a series of scientific studies, he identified 16 basic desires of human nature.  This research was reported in numerous newspapers of record worldwide in addition to the highest quality scientific journals.  He is the author of the Reiss Motivation Profile (RMP), a widely-used standardized psychological assessment of what motivates someone.  A worldwide network of training institutes teach his methods.  The RMP has many applications, including self-discovery; motivating workforce; human resources; leadership training; conflict resolution; motivating students; world-class athletics (Olympic teams); counseling; coaching; relationships; marketing; faith-based counseling; and wellness.  It has been translated into most European languages and an increasing number of Asian languages. 

Reiss is the author of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, a standardized psychological assessment widely used throughout the world to study and diagnose Panic Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  The measure has been used in more than 1,600 peer-reviewed studies..

In the 1980s and 1990s Reiss conducted extensive research on the mental health aspects of intellectual disabilities, or the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders and developmental disabilities. This work was recognized with five national awards and was cited to help justify hundreds of new psychiatric and psychological clinics in North America and Europe.  In 1988 he authored the Reiss Screen, a standardized assessment tool that has been used extensively to screen for need for psychiatric services.  He gave an invited presentation before the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice and three invited presentations at the National Institutes of Health.  In 1987 Steven Reiss organized the first ever international research conference on the mental health aspects of intellectual disabilities.  The Director of the National Institute of Mental Health convened an ad hoc review panel specifically to fast track the funding of Reiss's conference.  Steven Reiss received three awards for volunteer efforts serving people with disabilities.

In 1995 Steven Reiss was diagnosed with a life-threatening autoimmune disease and in 2002 he received a liver transplant at The Ohio State University Medical Center.  With L. Jones he started a national program to improve access to organ transplantation for people with intellectual disabilities. This work has been reported in hundreds of newspapers and was cited in a number of recent nationally publicized cases.

In 2008 Steven Reiss founded the World Society of Motivation Scientists and Professionals, a new nonprofit organization

Steven Reiss's theory of religion builds on and extends William James's observation that different types of people respond to different aspects of religion.  The publication of the theory in academic journals was reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Washington Post. 

According to the Social Science Citation Index, Reiss's research is frequently cited by other psychologists and scholars.   

In 1971 Steven Reiss married Maggi Musico, a school psychologist and President of IDS Publishing, and they have two adult children. Maggi is a graduate of Smith College (A.B.) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (M.A.).