American Psychological Association Honors Dr. Cortney S. Warren

Dr. Warren receives the 2015 Minority Fellowship Program Early Career Achievement Award

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, August 8, 2015:  How many women and men dislike their appearance and weight?  How do eating norms and ideals of beauty differ across countries and ethnic groups?  Are we responsible for our own emotional reactivity?  How does our inability to be honest harm our romantic relationships?  How honest can we be with ourselves about who we really are?

These are just a few of the meaningful questions that Dr. Warren explores through her research and clinical practice.  Provocative and compelling, Dr. Warren’s work earned her the 2015 American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Programs’ Early Career Achievement Award.

Raised traveling the world, Warren has a unique perspective on how culture influences eating norms, food ritual, ideals of beauty, and personality identity.  As such, the majority of Warren’s research explores eating pathology, addictions, self-deception and the practice of psychotherapy from a cross-cultural perspective.  Her new book, “Lies We Tell Ourselves: The Psychology of Self-Deception”  and her recent TEDx talk: “Honest Liars: The Psychology of Self-Deception”  highlight the ways that humans struggle to be honest with themselves.  At the core, Dr. Warren argues that people lie to themselves because they don’t have enough psychological strength to admit the truth and deal with the consequences that will follow.  In essence, “our lies reflect what we wish were true.”  Through her new website, ChooseHonesty.com, Dr. Warren provides information about self-deception, its practical influence on our quality of life, and a free monthly blog that highlights some aspect of her work.

With 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, seven book chapters, and a book, Warren’s work appears in many top journals, including the International Journal of Eating Disorders, Appetite and Obesity. Warren has won some of the most prestigious awards in her field, including the 2004 Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research Award, 2010 Samuel M. Turner Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Diversity in Clinical Psychology, and the 2011 Theodore H. Blau Early Career Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Clinical Psychology from American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Foundation.

Cortney’s Background & Education

Cortney graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Macalester College (St. Paul, Minnesota) in 2000. Funded by the American Psychological Associations’ Minority Fellowship Program, Cortney earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Texas A&M University after completing a pre-doctoral clinical internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.  Cortney joined the faculty at the University of University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2006; earned tenure in 2012; and resigned effective summer, 2014.  For more information on Cortney and her work, visit ChooseHonesty.com.