Biography:

Tom Pyszczynski, PhD, is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He received his PhD in psychology from the University of Kansas in 1980. With his colleagues, Jeff Greenberg and Sheldon Solomon, he developed Terror Management Theory, which explores the role of death in life and suggests that cultural worldviews, self-esteem, and close personal relationships function to manage the potential for existential terror that results from the uniquely human awareness of the inevitability of death. Research supporting the central propositions of the theory has been conducted in diverse cultures and over 35 countries. He has also conducted research on clinical problems such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Tom is co-author or co-editor of several books, including The Worm at the Core: The Role of Death in Life (2015), In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror (2003), the Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology (2003; Guilford Press), and Hanging on and Letting Go: Understanding the Onset, Progression, and Remission of Depression (1994). He received lifetime achievement awards from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the International Society for Self and Identity, the International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology, and the Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychology Association.