Robert O. Pihl
Education[edit]
Pihl earned his master's degree and his PhD at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. At the time, he worked in a neurological hospital and became interested in impulse control. He received his PhD in 1966 under the supervision of Joel Greenspoon, a clinical psychologist and leading researcher in behavioral analysis.[3] Pihl completed his clinical internship from 1964 to 1966 at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.
Professional life[edit]
Research and publications[edit]
Pihl's research includes over 250 publications, on which he has collaborated with over 200 co-authors from around the world. According to Google Scholar, his work has been cited over 16,000 times.[4] He is also on the board of reviewing editors for Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.[5] Pihl's research addresses psychopharmacology, alcohol, aggression, substance abuse, behavior modification, the cognitive consequences of addiction, and several risk factors for disorders.
Some of Pihl's early research projects involved the hair analysis of children with learning disabilities. He found that children with learning disabilities had higher levels of lead and cadmium in their hair compared to children without these disabilities.[6] These findings influenced the US Congress to mandate that lead be removed from paint in the 1970s. Pihl later conducted similar analyzes in which he also found greater levels of lead and cadmium in the hair of violent criminals, compared to the normal population.[7]
Pihl has extensively studied the link between alcohol and aggression, namely that alcohol consumption increases aggression. He has also studied other predictors of aggression, such as pain sensitivity, levels of cognitive functioning, and one's social environment.[8] His investigations of the link between tryptophan depletion and aggression suggest an association between disturbances of the brain's serotonin system and one's aggression.[9] Pihl linked this research to alcohol intoxication, finding that intoxicated subjects with lower tryptophan (and thus lower serotonin) levels in the brain were more aggressive than those with higher serotonin levels.[10]
Pihl has also researched motivational, physiological and cognitive factors that predict substance abuse. Pihl looked at people's varying reactions to substance consumption, and how this affects their behavior when intoxicated. He investigated the risk factors for abuse of different substances, and in 2000 Pihl collaborated in developing The Substance Use Risk Profile Scale, a scale for classifying substance abusers on the basis of personality and motivational risk factors for substance abuse, such as hopelessness, impulsivity, and sensation-seeking.[11]
Some of his most notable research publications include: