Paul E. Meehl, 83; Psychologist Linked Schizophrenia to Genes

Paul E. Meehl, a psychologist perhaps best known for his assertion in the 1960s that schizophrenia has a genetic link, has died. He was 83.

Meehl, a Regents professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, died Friday of complications from leukemia.

In 1962, when Meehl was president of the American Psychological Assn., he put forth the theory -- then quite controversial -- that schizophrenia had roots in genetics. At the time, it was commonly believed that bad parental care or other environmental conditions created the disease.

Over the years, research has helped tilt opinion toward Meehl’s assertion.

A native of Minneapolis, Meehl read works by Sigmund Freud as a teenager and became interested in psychology.

He earned his bachelor’s degree and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. As a graduate student in the 1940s, Meehl helped develop one of the scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, still one of the most commonly used tests in psychology.

He began teaching at the university in 1944 and was a full professor by 1952. His wide-ranging interests broadened his academic career. He held appointments, at various times, in the schools of psychology, law, philosophy, neurology and psychiatry.

In 1954, he gained wide attention in the field of psychology when he published what he called “my disturbing little book.”

In “Clinical vs. Statistical Prediction: A Theoretical Analysis and a Review of the Evidence,” Meehl said that statistical studies were better than clinicians at predicting things like what treatment would be best for a mentally ill person. The work is still cited.

“I was trained at Minnesota in a tough-minded behavioristic and statistical tradition,” Meehl told an interviewer some years ago. “Much of my work has been a struggle to integrate -- to be scientific about the complex human mind. I write for me, plus a tiny minority of first-class psychologists.”

William Grove, an associate professor at the university and one of Meehl’s last doctoral students, recalled him as an engaging lecturer and thinker.

“He was famous for the powers of his intellect and for his very broad interests,” Grove told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Tuesday. “He was terribly brilliant.”

Grove also remembered him as gracious in debate.

“Most of us were aware that we were not in his intellectual league,” Grove said. “Paul was not about scoring points.... He was not interested in whether he was a big shot.”

He is survived by his wife, Leslie Jane Yonce; a daughter; a son; and three grandchildren.