Niagara University · Dept. of Psychology · est. 1982

Timothy M.
Osberg, Ph.D.

Clinical psychologist, professor, and prolific researcher of what people believe — about themselves, about food, about alcohol — and how those beliefs shape the lives they live.

A career, by the numbers

43
years on the
Niagara faculty
40
peer-reviewed
publications & chapters
2,492
citations on
Google Scholar
69
undergraduate honors
theses supervised
190+
convention
presentations
29
peer-review
journals served
24
internal & external
research grants
4
editorial
boards

Publications over four decades

Each bar is a calendar year, 1980 – 2021. Hover the chart for detail. Productivity tracks the questions he's chasing — self-prediction in the 80s, prison & teaching in the 90s, MMPI-2 and irrational food beliefs in the 00s, college alcohol beliefs from 2010 on.

Journal article Book chapter / manual / review

Four research programs

1980s — present

Self-prediction & the accuracy of self-knowledge

With his SUNY-Buffalo mentor J. Sidney Shrauger, Tim mapped the conditions under which people can — and cannot — predict their own future behavior. The 1981 Psychological Bulletin review and 1986 JPSP paper became standard citations on the topic.

  • What information do people use when forecasting themselves?
  • Does depression make us "sadder but wiser," or just gloomier?
  • How does self-prediction compare to others' predictions of us?
1985 — 2010

The MMPI-2 in young adults and forensic populations

A sustained, careful program of work asking whether the field's most-used personality inventory over-diagnoses psychopathology in 18-year-olds, elderly populations, and prison inmates — and whether the Restructured Clinical (RC) scales fix the problem.

  • MMPI-2 vs. MMPI-A in late adolescents
  • Wiener-Harmon Subtle-Obvious scales in inmates
  • RC scales: psychometric properties and diagnostic efficiency
1996 — present

Irrational food beliefs

Built the Irrational Food Beliefs Scale (IFBS) from the ground up over a decade of grant-funded validation work, then showed how cognitively distorted beliefs about food mediate stress, relationship insecurity, and bulimic symptoms. Now translated and validated internationally.

  • Scale development & psychometric validation (2008)
  • IFBs as a mediator of stress → bulimic symptoms (2012)
  • Persian-language adaptation (2023, by other researchers)
2009 — present

College alcohol beliefs & the drinking culture

Created the College Life Alcohol Salience Scale (CLASS) to measure how much students believe alcohol is essential to college life — and showed that this belief structure incrementally predicts drinking, drinking consequences, regretted sexual encounters, and pandemic-era partying, beyond norms and expectancies.

  • CLASS development (2010, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors)
  • Prospective freshman-drinking trajectories
  • Pandemic partying, e-cigarette use, regretted sex

Selected publications

  1. 2021Osberg, T. M., & Doxbeck, C. R. Dangerous partying during a pandemic: College alcohol beliefs, social norms, and students' participation in college parties during COVID-19. Journal of American College Health.
  2. 2018Osberg, T. M., & Boyer, A. College alcohol beliefs and drinking consequences: A multiple mediation analysis. Journal of American College Health, 66, 209–218.
  3. 2016Osberg, T. M., & Boyer, A. Dangerous beliefs: College alcohol beliefs are associated with increased risk of regretted sexual encounters. Substance Use & Misuse, 51, 1555–1565.
  4. 2012Osberg, T. M., Billingsley, K., Eggert, M., & Insana, M. From Animal House to Old School: A multiple mediation analysis of the association between college drinking movie exposure and freshman drinking. Addictive Behaviors, 37, 922–930.
  5. 2012Osberg, T. M., & Eggert, M. Direct and indirect effects of stress on bulimic symptoms and BMI: The mediating role of irrational food beliefs. Eating Behaviors, 13, 54–57.
  6. 2011Osberg, T. M., Insana, M., Eggert, M., & Billingsley, K. Incremental validity of college alcohol beliefs in the prediction of freshman drinking and its consequences. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 333–340.
  7. 2010Osberg, T. M., Atkins, L., Buchholz, L., et al. Development and validation of the College Life Alcohol Salience Scale. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 24, 1–12.
  8. 2008Osberg, T. M., Haseley, E. N., & Kamas, M. M. The MMPI-2 clinical scales and Restructured Clinical (RC) scales: Comparative psychometric properties and relative diagnostic efficiency in young adults. Journal of Personality Assessment, 90, 81–92.
  9. 2008Osberg, T. M., Poland, D., Aguayo, G., & MacDougall, S. The Irrational Food Beliefs Scale: Development and validation. Eating Behaviors, 9, 25–40.
  10. 2002Osberg, T. M., & Poland, D. L. Comparative accuracy of the MMPI-2 and the MMPI-A in the diagnosis of psychopathology in 18-year-olds. Psychological Assessment, 14, 164–169.
  11. 1990Osberg, T. M., & Shrauger, J. S. The role of self-prediction in psychological assessment. In Butcher & Spielberger (Eds.), Advances in Personality Assessment (Vol. 8, pp. 97–120). Erlbaum.
  12. 1986Osberg, T. M., & Shrauger, J. S. Self-prediction: Exploring the parameters of accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1044–1057. doctoral dissertation
  13. 1981Shrauger, J. S., & Osberg, T. M. The relative accuracy of self-predictions and judgments by others in psychological assessment. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 322–351. foundational review

Full publication list on Google Scholar →

Career & recognition, in brief

1977B.A. Psychology, SUNY Buffalo · magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Feldman-Cohen Memorial Award for outstanding undergraduate
1980M.A. Clinical Psychology, SUNY Buffalo
1981–82Intern in Clinical Psychology, VA Medical Center, Buffalo (APA-accredited)
1982Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, SUNY Buffalo · summa cum laude, 4.0 GPA
1982Joins the faculty of Niagara University as Assistant Professor
1985Opens part-time private clinical practice in Niagara Falls (continues to today)
1987–91Chairperson, Department of Psychology, Niagara University
1988–92Editorial Board, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
1990Promoted to Professor of Psychology
1994Elected Fellow, American Psychological Association (Division 2)
1995Niagara University Award for Excellence in Teaching
2000Mental Health Association of Niagara County · Community Service Award
2004MHA of Niagara County · Donald Walck Professionalism in Mental Health Award
2005Inaugurates "Active Minds" chapter at Niagara University; runs annual depression & anxiety screenings with students (still going)
2007College of Arts & Sciences Excellence in Service Award
2013–15Third cohort, Vincentian Mission Institute (Niagara · St. John's · DePaul)
2013–pres.Item writer/editor, Psychological, Social & Biological Foundations section of the MCAT
2020Nationally certified Mental Health First Aid Trainer

"What I keep coming back to, after forty years, is how powerfully our beliefs — about ourselves, about food, about what college is supposed to be — shape what we do next."