Education
Coyne received his Bachelor of Arts from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Doctor of Philosophy from Indiana University.
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James Coyne
Edit Profilepsychologist university professor
Career
He is also the director of the Behavioral Oncology program at the Abramson Cancer Center there. A 2007 study led by Coyne found that positive emotional well-being was not associated with increased life expectancy among head and neck cancer patients.
Views
Coyne has criticized the field of positive psychology and the research claiming that a positive attitude can impact one"s health. He has also criticized studies which have concluded that personality traits are linked to an increased risk of cancer death.
Coyne has stated that a 1970s study by Ellen Langer, which found that elderly people given plants to take care of lived longer than those who were not, would not have "much credibility today, nor would it meet the tightened standards of rigor."
In 2015, Coyne attacked Gabriele Oettingen"s book Rethinking Positive Thinking and accused Oettingen of aggressively promoting pseudoscience while ignoring other research in clinical psychology. Coyne pointed out that as part of Oettingen"s aggressive promotional campaign for her book, her own son created Wikipedia articles about her work.
