Camille Wortman

Camille B. Wortman (born July 2, 1947) She is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Stony Brook University.

Wortman received the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution in Social Psychology in 1980, in recognition of her research "providing stimulating and influential analyses of how people react to uncontrollable outcomes and cope with undesirable life events." She was the recipient of a joint award from the APA Science Directorate and the National Science Foundation recognizing the achievements of women in science. At Duke, Wortman was mentored by Jack Brehm and Ned Jones. According to their model, people tend to exhibit reactance (and enhanced performance) when subjected to minor failures or adverse events, but are more likely to exhibit helplessness (and poor performance) when subjected to major failures or adversities.

Wortman and her husband joined the faculty of psychology at Northwestern University in 1972. Philip Brickman, and others, on studies of how people make attributions of blame.

Wortman, along with her husband, was on the faculty of the University of Michigan before moving to Stony Brook University in 1990. Her research program on stress and mental health of physicians was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health. Her work on bereavement was funded the National Institute on Aging.

Research Wortman's research career has focused on how humans deal with adverse life events and their experiences of grief and bereavement when losing a loved one. Wortman emphasized the need to "expand our notions of what is a normal reaction to loss." Their research findings ran counter to the view that mentally healthy people must experience distress after the loss of a loved one.

In one line of her research, Wortman focused on cancer patients, their physicians, and caregivers, and how interpersonal relationships and social supports helped people cope with terminal illness. Counter to the Wortman–Brehm model and its emphasis on hopelessness, Wortman's work has sparked interest on how to create effective interventions for people impacted by crisis. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wortman created a list of resources to help people coping with the deaths of their loved ones.

Books

Carr, D. S., Nesse, R. M., & Wortman, C. B. (Eds.). (2005). Spousal bereavement in late life. Springer Publishing Company. Jones, E. E., & Wortman, C. B. (1973). Ingratiation: An attributional approach. Morristown, N.J: General Learning Press. Pearlman, L. A., Wortman, C. B., Feuer, C. A., Farber, C. H., & Rando, T. A. (2014). Treating traumatic bereavement: A practitioner's guide. Guilford Publications. Wortman, C. B., Loftus, E. F., & Marshall, M. E. (1981). Psychology. Alfred and Knopf.