Scott T. Allison is Professor of Psychology at the University of Richmond. His research program examines the psychology of heroism, leadership, and heroic leadership. He has served on the editorial boards of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice.

Scott has published over 150 articles and books, including:

Goethals, G. R., Allison, S. T., & Sorenson, G. J. (Eds.) (2023). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Leadership Studies. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Allison, S. T. & Goethals, G. R. (2020). The heroic leadership imperative: How leaders inspire and mobilize change. West Yorkshire: Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-175-920201007

Goethals, G. R., & Allison, S. T. (2019). The romance of heroism and heroic leadership: Ambiguity, attribution, and apotheosis. West Yorkshire: Emerald. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-175-920201006

Allison, S. T., Beggan, J. K., & Efthimiou, O. (2019). The art and science of heroism and heroic leadership. Lausanne: Frontiers Media. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88945-889-9

Worthington, E. L, & Allison, S. T. (2018). Heroic humility: What the science of humility can say to people raised on self-focus. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/0000079-000

Beggan, J. K., & Allison, S. T. (Eds.) (2018). Leadership and sexuality: Power, principles, and processes. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. doi: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786438652

Efthimiou, O., Allison, S. T., & Franco, Z. E. (Eds.) (2018). Heroism and wellbeing in the 21st Century: Applied and emerging perspectives. New York: Routledge. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315409023

Allison, S. T., Goethals, G. R., & Kramer, R. M. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of heroism and heroic leadership. New York: Routledge. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315690100

Allison, S. T., Kocher, C. T., & Goethals, G. R. (Eds.) (2016). Frontiers in spiritual leadership: Discovering the better angels of our nature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-58081-8

Goethals, G. R., Allison, S. T., Kramer, R., & Messick, D. (Eds.) (2014). Conceptions of leadership: Enduring ideas and emerging insights. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137472038

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2013). Heroic leadership: An influence taxonomy of 100 exceptional individuals. New York: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203100882

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2011). Heroes: What they do and why we need them. New York: Oxford University Press.

Scott Allison’s work has been featured in media outlets such as National Public Radio, USA Today, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate Magazine, MSNBC, CBS, Psychology Today and the Christian Science Monitor.  He is the recipient of the University of Richmond’s Distinguished Educator Award and the Virginia Council of Higher Education’s Outstanding Faculty Award.

Scott also provides an analysis of television and movie heroes at REEL HEROES.

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George (“Al”) Goethals holds the E.Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professorship in Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond.  Previously he taught at Williams College where he was Chair of the Department of Psychology, founding Chair of the Program in Leadership Studies, Acting Dean of the Faculty, and Provost.  Goethals graduated with a BA from Harvard College and holds a PhD in social psychology from Duke University.

Goethals explores leadership from psychological and historical perspectives.  With Georgia Sorenson and James MacGregor Burns he edited the Encyclopedia of Leadership (Sage, 2004), with Sorenson, The Quest for a General Theory of Leadership (Elgar, 2006), and with Crystal Hoyt and Donelson Forsyth, Leadership at The Crossroads, Psychology and Leadership (Praeger, 2008).  He recently published  Presidential Leadership and African-Americans.

With Scott Allison, he is author of many books and articles, including  Heroes, What They Do & Why We Need Them, published in 2011 by Oxford University Press, “Making Heroes:  The Construction of Competence, Courage and Virtue” published in 2012 in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 46, and The SAGE Encyclopedia of Leadership Studies, to be published in 2023.

Here is more information about Scott Allison and George Goethals.

            George Goethals (seated left) and Scott Allison in 2010