Kanfer, Frederick H.

Early Influences

Kanfer and his family settled in New York City, where he mastered English in high school and then pursued his interest in science and engineering at the Cooper Union School of Technology. As a result of America's involvement in the Second World War, Kanfer's schooling was again interrupted for 2 years, during which he served combat duty in the U.S. Army in Europe and the Pacific. Returning to New York after the war, Kanfer enrolled at Long Island University, earning a BS degree (cum laude) in 1948. Although Kanfer thought seriously about pursuing a medical degree, his abiding interest in the complexities of the human condition led him to psychology as a career. He entered the clinical psychology program at Indiana University in 1949, taking his master's degree in 1952 and his PhD in 1953. His experiences at Indiana strengthened and nurtured his interests in the principles of learning as a means of understanding human distress and dysfunctional action within a framework that was both precise and testable.

Professional History

Kanfer's first academic position was in the Department of Psychology at Washington University (1953–1957). This was followed by professorships at Purdue University (1957–1962), the University of Oregon Medical School (1962–1969), the University of Cincinnati (1969–1973), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he served as director of clinical training, became a university scholar in 1990, and an emeritus professor in 1995. In addition to his work in the United States, Kanfer's unique skills and broad humanitarian interests led him to play a major role in the development of clinical/ behavioral psychology in Europe, particularly in Germany, where he engaged in collaborative research, program development, and clinical training. For example, he helped develop the first behaviorally oriented clinic in Germany in 1976.

Professional Models

Among his graduate school mentors, one whom he particularly admired was J. R. Kantor, whose “interbehavioral psychology” sought, among other things, to create a more seamless link between clinical theory and clinical practice, a cause that Kanfer championed and advanced throughout his career. His early work with George Saslow and Joseph Matarazzo was important in establishing the legitimacy of behavioral principles in psychiatry and of analogue laboratory research in clinical science.

Major Contributions to the Field

From the beginning of his career, Kanfer believed that the promise of behavioral theory for the clinical practice of psychotherapy lay in transcending the nonmentalistic stimulus response (S-R) theory of his day toward a fuller appreciation of the role of language and [Page 346]of the dynamic process by which clients can ultimately take control of and responsibility for the conduct of their lives: self-regulation. In a career spanning more than four decades, Kanfer pursued his dream of creating a richly textured, transactional model of human adaptation, adaptive disorder, and clinical intervention, a perspective he shared with students and colleagues in his 10 volumes (written in English, German, and Spanish), more than 150 articles, and countless consultations with colleagues around the globe.

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