Brehm (April 18, 1945 - March 30, 2018) was professor of psychology in the clinical and social programs at Indiana University Bloomington. Born and raised in Roanoke, Va., she received a BA in psychology from Duke University, an AM in clinical psychology from Harvard University, returned to Duke for a PhD in clinical psychology and completed a clinical psychology internship at the University of Washington Medical Center. After 15 years on the psychology faculty at the University of Kansas, she served as dean of the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at the State University of New York, Binghamton, provost at Ohio University and chancellor of the Indiana University Bloomington campus.
Trained as a clinical psychologist, Brehm specialized in child clinical psychology, focused increasingly on social psychology, advocated the integration of clinical and social psychology, and encouraged a stronger dialogue between developmental and social psychology. Her empirical research has examined the effects of psychological reactance, empathy and self-focus. The scope of her work includes providing professional advice for the general public in "Help for Your Child: A Parent's Guide to Mental Health Services;" editing a collection of papers by feminist scholars, "Seeing Female: Social Roles and Personal Lives;" and coauthoring with Jack Brehm a comprehensive theoretical and empirical review, "Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and Control." Two multi-authored textbooks continue to be highly regarded and widely adopted: Intimate Relationships by Rowland Miller, Daniel Perlman and Brehm in its fourth edition, and "Social Psychology" by Brehm, Saul Kassin and Steven Fein in its sixth edition.
Brehm was an intra-university professor at the University of Kansas, a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and a visiting professor in Germany and Italy. She was chair of the governing board of Ohio, the statewide higher education library consortium; founding chair of the governing board of the Ohio Learning Network; and a member of the American Council on Education's Commission on International Education. She served on the boards of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Institute of International Education, Medaille College in Buffalo, N.Y., and the Bloomington Area Arts Council.
Her service to psychology included chairing the Discipline Screening Committee for Fulbright Awards in Psychology and membership on numerous journal editorial boards and the National Institute of Mental Health Mental Health Small Grant Review Committee. In APA, she served two terms on the Council of Representatives and two terms on the Finance Committee. She was a member of Division 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology), Division 7 (Developmental Psychology), Division 9 (Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues), Division 13 (Society of Consulting Psychology), Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging), Division 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women), Division 53 (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology) and a fellow of Division 1 (Society for General Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry), Division 8 (Society for Personality and Social Psychology), Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology) and Division 52 (International Psychology).
