Auke Tellegen

We are sad to announce the passing of long-time SPA member and Bruno Klopfer Award winner Professor Emeritus Auke Tellegen. Auke obtained a Bachelor of Law degree from the Free University in Amsterdam in 1949, a Doctorandus of Psychology degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1957, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the university of Minnesota in 1962. He served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Psychology from 1963-1999, when he transitioned to emeritus status. He made trailblazing, long-lasting contributions to the basic and applied study of personality and psychopathology, including research on the structure of mood and its association with psychopathology, investigations of the structure of personality, and the study and measurement of hypnotic susceptibility. Auke was a member of the committee that developed the MMPI-2 and led subsequent work to modernize the inventory, beginning with development of the Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales, and co-development of the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-3. His normal-range personality inventory, the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) was the subject of decades of research culminating in its publication for applied use in 2023. Auke mentored dozens of graduate students, formally and informally, and willingly shared his keen insights with colleagues and mentees who eagerly sought his input and wise counsel. On a personal level, Auke was kind, generous, witty, and humble. He will be missed by his many friends who will carry with them fond memories of a gentle intellectual giant.

- Dr. Yossef Ben-Porath