Full text of DOI:10.1111/1467-6494.7103002

Introduction to Stephen G. West’s Murray
Award Address
Avril Thorne
University of California, Santa Cruz Chair, Murray Award
Committee, 2000
I am honored to introduce Stephen G. West, the winner of the Henry A.
Murray Award for Outstanding Contributions to Personology and the
Study of Human Lives. Steve’s contributions as a methodologist and
statistician are appreciated by anyone who has struggled with complex
interactions and unusualresearch designs. These empiricalinnovations
have contributed enormously to broadening and deepening the kinds of
data that can be used to study personality. Perhaps less apparent, but
crucial in his selection for this award, is Steve’s leadership in diversifying
the field of personality psychology. In his capacity as editor of the Journal
of Personality in the 1980s and early 1990s, Steve effectively shepherded
personology into the mainstream of personality research. Also important
was Steve’s willingness not only to mentor his own graduate students, but
to rescue a considerable number of strays. In his generativity and
inclusiveness, Steve has effectively elevated the field of personality and
the persons within it.
INTRODUCTION
The lead article in this issue of Journal of Personality is based on
Steve West’s 2000 Murray Award talk at the American Psycholo-
gicalAssociation annualmeeting hedl in Washington, D.C. Murray
This article is based on my Henry A. Murray award address presented at the
meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA, August, 2001.
Correspondence should be addressed to Stephen G. West, Psychology Department,
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104. E-mailaddress: sgwest@asu.edu.
Journal of Personality 71:3, June 2003.
Copyright r 2003 Blackwell Publishing.

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West
award winners are leaders in the field of personality psychology who
maintain the Murray tradition by: (a) bringing together a variety of
theoreticalviewpoints and research techniques; (b) integrating the
tough and tender in personality research; (c) recognizing the
thematic unity in individuailvles in the midst of phenotypic
diversity; (d) including biography, literature, and myth as psycho-
logical data; (e) showing interest in the biological, social, and
cultural contexts of personality; and (f) providing intellectual
leadership that has contributed to outstanding work that exhibits
these characteristics.
Howard Tennen
Editor