Matthew S. Lebowitz, PhD

Matthew Lebowitz is is Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University and affiliated with the Center for Research on Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics at Columbia University. His research primarily concerns the ways in which attitudes and beliefs—about mental disorders and other health conditions, as well as about behavior more broadly—are affected by causal reasoning and related psychological processes. In light of recent trends that favor conceptualizing mental disorders (as well as other health conditions, such as obesity) as biomedical diseases, he has been particularly interested in how these kinds of causal explanations affect attitudes and beliefs among symptomatic individuals, clinicians, and members of the general public. He is also interested more broadly in understanding the implications of biological explanations for behavior and identity. He has received a number of prestigious awards and grants for his work, including funding from the National Institutes of Health and the John Templeton Foundation.