James E Maddux

Emeritus Faculty

Maddux's major scholarly interest is the interface of social, clinical, and health psychology, which is concerned with the ways that theory and research from social psychology can help us understand psychological adjustment, psychological disorders, and health-related behavior.

Distinguished University Professor Emeritus and Senior Scientist, Center for the Advancement of Well-Being.

Maddux earned his Ph.D in clinical psychology (with a minor in social psychology) from the University of Alabama in 1982, including an internship in medical psychology at the former University of Oregon Health Sciences Center (now the Oregon Health and Science University). At George Mason he served as the associate chair for graduate programs in psychology and director of the clinical psychology doctoral program. He is the former editor of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology and has served on the editorial boards of several other scientific journals in psychology. For ten years he was a member of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards' Examination Committee, which is responsible for the Examination for the Practice of Professional Psychology used throughout the US and Canada as a requirement for licensure in psychology.

Maddux is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in the Divisions of General, Clinical, and Health Psychology and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. In 2007 he received the George Mason University College of Humanities and Social Science's Celebration of Scholarship Award, and in 2008 was named a Distinguished University Professor. In September of 2013 he was appointed a Senior Scholar -now Senior Scientist - in George Mason University's Center for the Advancement of Well-Being.

Maddux was a Guest Professor in 2003 - 2004 at the Free University in Berlin, Germany and has been a guest lecturer at Sigmund Freud University in Vienna, Austria. For five years he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychology at Klaipeda University in Lithuania where he taught cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy in their masters' program in counseling psychology and consulted on program development.

Maddux retired from full-time employment at George Mason in May of 2011. His mission since then has been to facilitate well-being around the world through the promotion of psychological science. His major professional activities have included lecturing, organizing and giving workshops, and teaching on evidence-based practice and supervision primarily in--but not limited to--the former communist bloc countries of Eastern Europe. He also has presented workshops on publishing in English-language psychology journals for psychologists for whom English is a second language. These activities have been funded by George Mason University, the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, the European Union via the Lithuanian Science Foundation, the Fulbright Specialist Program, the various universities he has visited, and his own wallet. All of this work has been pro bono because he believes in "giving psychology away." This includes taking advantage of invitations from journalists to discuss the science on psychological issues of interest and importance to the public.

The second edition of his edited volume Subjective Well-Being and Life Satisfaction: Social Psychological Foundations was published in 2025.

The 6th edition of his textbook (co-edited with Barbara Winstead of Old Dominion University) Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding was also published in 2025.

He regularly serves as a site visitor for the American Psychological Association's Commission on Accreditation, which is responsible for the accreditation of health service psychology (including clinical) doctoral programs.

Selected Publications

Recent Books:

Maddux, J. E. (Ed.) (2025). Subjective well-being and life satisfaction: Social psychological foundations (2nd edition) New York: Routledge.

Maddux, J.E., & Winstead, B.A. (Eds.) (2025). Psychopathology: Foundations for a contemporary understanding (6th edition.). New York: Routledge.

Recent Book Chapters:.

Maddux, J. E., & Mendis, T. (in press). Self-efficacy. In C. Cooper, S. Patnaik, & R. V.Rodriguez (Eds.). Advancing positive organizational behavior. London: Taylor & Francis.

Maddux, J. E., (2025). Subjective well-being and life satisfaction: Conceptions, theories, and measurement. In J. E. Maddux (Ed.) Subjective well-being and life satisfaction: Social psychological foundations (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Maddux, J.E., Winstead, B. A., & Gosselin, J T. (2025). Conceptions of psychopathology: A social constructionist perspective. In J. E. Maddux & B. A. Winstead (Eds.), Psychopathology: Foundations for a contemporary understanding (6th ed.). New York: Routledge.

Maddux, J. E. & Kleiman, E. (2021). How to encourage people to engage with the arts and humanities: Suggestions from self-efficacy theory and research. In J. Pawelski. J. & L. Tay, (Eds.). Oxford handbook of positive psychology and the arts and humanities. New York: Oxford University Press

Maddux, J. E. (2021). Stopping the madness: Positive psychology and the deconstruction of the illness ideology and the DSM. In S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, & S. C. Marques (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (3^rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Maddux, J. E. (2021). Self-efficacy: The power of believing you can. In S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, & S. C. Marques (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (3^rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Maddux, J. E. (2021). Foreword. In S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, & S. C. Marques (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (3^rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Education

B.A., University of Richmond (1976).

M.A., University of Alabama (1979)

Ph.D., University of Alabama (1982)

Recent Presentations

Maddux, J. E. (2021, November). The ingredients of a happy and satisfying life: What does the science of well-being tell us? Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Washington, DC.

Maddux, J. E. (2021, October). Subjective well-being and life satisfaction: An overview of theory and research. Alexandru Ione Cuza University, Iasi, Romania.

Maddux, J. E. (2019, October). Psychiatric diagnosis: Scientific issues and controversies. Invited address at Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ione Cuza University, Iasi, Romania.

Maddux, J. E. (2019, July). Psychiatric diagnosis: Scientific issues and controversies. Invited address at Department of Psychology, Pontifica Javeriana Universidad, Bogota, Colombia.

Maddux, J. E. (2017, September). Innovations in the delivery of psychosocial mental health services: An overview. Invited address at Lithuanian Ministry of Health Forum on Mental Health across Different Life Stages. Vilnius, Lithuania.

Maddux, J. E. (2018, March 13). Self-efficacy as a foundational concept for positive psychology. The Positive Psychology Leader Series. International Positive Psychology Association.

Dissertations Supervised

Anne Marie Strauss, The Relationship Between Premarital Sexual History and Marital Satisfaction for Men (2011)