Charles R. Snyder
American psychologist (1944–2006)
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ToursExplore Lably’s 3D toursSnyder was internationally known for his work at the interface of clinical, social, personality and health psychology. His theories pertained to how people react to personal feedback, the human need for uniqueness, the ubiquitous drive to excuse transgressions and, most recently, the hope motive.
Education
Snyder obtained his PhD from Southern Methodist University, then had doctoral training in clinical psychology at Vanderbilt University, and then postdoctoral training at the Langley Porter Institute.
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Career
His entire professional career was at the University of Kansas. He was a pioneer in the field of positive psychology, and wrote the first textbook in that field, Positive Psychology.
He was best known for his work on hope and forgiveness, and also developed theories explaining how people react to personal feedback, to the human need for uniqueness, and to the drive to excuse and forgive transgressions. His theory of hope emphasizes goal-directed thinking, where a person uses both pathways thinking (the perceived capacity to find routes to their desired goals) and agency thinking (the necessary motivation to use those routes). His analysis of the motivational forces – excuse-making and forgiveness – allowed individuals to disconnect themselves from past negative experiences and connect themselves to hope, the possibilities of the future. In 2000, he demonstrated his hope theory on Good Morning America by conducting a live experiment with the show's correspondents.
Honors
Snyder received 27 teaching awards at the university, state, and national level, and 31 research awards, including the 2002 Balfour Jeffrey Award for Research Achievement in Humanities and Social Science and the 2001 Guilford Press Award for Pioneering Scholarly Contributions in Clinical/Social/Personality Psychology.
Snyder was two times awarded KU's Outstanding Progressive Educator award (known as the HOPE award) by the undergraduate seniors. He became a fellow of the American Psychological Association's Division of Teaching in 1995. Snyder served on the PhD dissertation committees for 41 students, and received APA's Raymond Fowler Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in 2000. In 2005, he received an honorary doctorate from Indiana Wesleyan University. His research on uniqueness was the subject of a Sunday Doonesbury cartoon sequence.