Biosketch
I knew in the 8th grade that I wanted to be a clinical psychologist. I wanted to do something that involved science and also involved working directly with people and helping them. Clinical psychology enabled me to do both during my career. As an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, I did an independent study that investigated creativity and anxiety. Affect and creativity has been an enduring interest of mine. After I received my Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, I did a child internship at the Pittsburgh Child Guidance Center. I then spent 4 years at the Washington University Child Guidance Center where I worked with many children using play in therapy. I began to notice the link between play and creativity at that time. After joining the faculty at Case in 1975, I pursued my interests in studying play, affect, and creativity.
I have also been active in professional organizations. I have served as President of the Society for Personality Assessment, Child Clinical section of Division 12 of APA, and Division 10 of APA (Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts). I also served on the Council of APA. I have loved working with my psychology colleagues in these organizations and being involved in current issues in psychology.
Research Interests
My research has focused on understanding how pretend play is involved in child development and in child psychotherapy. I have worked with my students to develop a measure of pretend play that assesses both cognitive and affective processes. We have also carried-out a number of studies that have investigated the relationship between pretend play and areas of adaptive functioning such as creativity, coping, and emotional understanding. In addition, we have developed play intervention procedures to help children improve their play skills. Next steps are to investigate play and the facilitation of play in clinical populations. We are also working on a brief behavior rating system that assesses play. A broad question that I have also worked on and written about is how affect in involved in the creative process.
Courses Taught
- PSCL 335A - Seminar and Practicum in Preschool Children
- PSCL 335C - Seminar and Practicum in Hospitalized Children
- PSCL 390 - Creativity Through the Life Span
- PSCL 426 - Psychological Assessment- Module in Projective Measures
- PSCL 535 - Child and Family Therapy
- SAGES Courses - Psychology of Creativity, Life of the Mind
Recent, Representative Publications (2001-present)
Books
Russ, S. (1993). Affect and Creativity: The role of affect and play in the creative process. Hillsdale, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Association.
Russ, S. & Ollendick, T. (1999). (Eds.) Handbook of psychotherapies with children and families. NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Russ, S. (2004 ). Play in child development and psychotherapy:Toward empirically supported practice. Mahwah, NJ.: Lawrence Erlbaum Ass.
Articles and Chapters
Russ, S. (1998). Play, creativity, and adaptive functioning:Implications for play interventions. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 469-480.
Seja, A. & Russ, S. (1998) Children's fantasy play and emotional understanding. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 28, 269-277.
Russ, S., Robins, D., & Christiano, B. (1999). Pretend play: Longitudinal prediction of creativity and affect in fantasy in children. Creativity Research Journal, 12, 129-139 .
Russ, S., Niec, L., & Seja, A. (2000). Play assessment of affect- The affect in play scale. In K. Gitlin-Weiner, A. Sangrund, & C. Schaefer (Eds.), Play Diagnosis and Assessment, (722-749). NY: Wiley.
Russ, S. (2000). An evolutionary model of creativity:Does it fit? Psychological Inquiry, 10, 359-361.
Russ, S. & Freedheim, D, (2001) Psychotherapy with children. In C.E. Walker & M. Roberts (Eds), Handbook of Clinical Child Psychology, 3rd edition (pp. 840-859), NY:Wiley.
Niec, L. & Russ, S. (2002) Children's internal representations, empathy, and fantasy play: A validity study of the SCORS_Q, Psychological Assessment, 14, 331-338.
Russ, S. (2003). Play and creativity:Developmental issues. Scandinavian Journal of Educational research , 47, 291-303.
Russ, S. (2003) Creativity research: Whither thou goest… Creativity Research Journal, 15, 143-145.
Russ, S., Goldstein, A., & Schafer, E. (2003) Implications of research on play and interpersonal development for the study and delivery of child psychotherapy. In R. Lerner, F. Jacobs, & D. Wertlieb (Eds.) Handbook of applied developmental science. Vol. 2. Promoting positive youth development:Practice and evidence, (pp253-272). Sage.
Russ, S. (2005). Building an empirical foundation for the use of pretend play in therapy. In C. Schaefer, J. McCormick, & A. Ohnogi (Eds.) International handbook of play therapy, (pp227-240) Lanham: Aronson.
Russ, S. (2006). Pretend Play, affect, and creativity. In P. Locher, C. Martindale, & L. Dorfman (Eds.) New Directions in aesthetics, creativity, and the arts. (pp239-250). Baywood Publishing.
Sacha, T. & Russ, S. (2006). Effects of pretend imagery on learning dance in preschool children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33, 341-345.
Moore, M. & Russ, S. (2006). Pretend play as a resource for children: Implications for pediatricians and health care professionals. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 27, 237-248.
Russ, S. & Schafer, E. (2006). Affect in fantasy play, emotion in memories, and divergent thinking. Creativity Research Journal, 18, 347-354.
Russ, S., Pearson, B., & Sacha, T. (2007). Play assessment. In S. Smith & L. Handler (Eds). The clinical assessment of children and adolescents: A Practitioners Handbook, (pp 87-97), Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Cordiano, T., Russ, S. & Short, E. (2008). Development and validation of Affect in Play Scale-Brief Rating Version. (APS-BR). Journal of Personality Assessment, 90, 52-60.
Pearson, B., Russ, S., Spannagel, S. (2008). Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions. Journal of Positive Psychology, 3, 110-11l.
Russ, S., Pearson, B. & Spannagel, S., (in press). Play. In S. Lopez (Ed.) Encyclopedia of positive psychology. London: Blackwell Publishing.
Current Graduate Students
- Tori Sacha Cordiano
- Allison Burck
- Sara Cain Spannagel
- Karla Fehr
- Jessica Dillon
- Julie Fiorelli
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