Jean Maria Arrigo (April 30, 1944 – February 24, 2024) was an American social psychologist and oral historian.
Career Arrigo was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1944. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics in 1966 and 1969 respectively from the University of California and was an adjunct professor in that field at San Diego State University for 11 years. Arrigo then earned a master's degree (1995), and PhD (1999) from Claremont Graduate University in social psychology.
Arrigo was a member of a 2005 American Psychological Association (APA) task force evaluating the role of psychologists in U.S. intelligence and military interrogations of detainees.APA Interrogation Task Force Member Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo Exposes Group's Ties to Military. ’’Democracy Now!’’. 20 Aug 2007. She became known for exposing conflicts of interest of most of the others on the nominally independent task force, who were allied in advance with advocates of harsh interrogation methods.Jean Maria Arrigo at Coalition for an Ethical Psychology siteSpencer Ackerman. 'A national hero': psychologist who warned of torture collusion gets her due. ‘’The Guardian’’. 13 July 2015.
For her whistleblowing actions, the APA honored Arrigo in 2015,Steven M. Watt. Psychologists Honor Anti-Torture Whistleblower. Government, Now It’s Your Move. aclu.org, 10 Aug 2015. and the American Association for the Advancement of Science presented their 2015 AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility to her.2015 AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award Goes to Social Psychologist Jean Maria Arrigo (8 Feb 2016) at aaas.org
On February 24, 2024, Arrigo died of pancreatic cancer in Alpine, California, at the age of 79.
Published works
Sins and Salvations in Clandestine Scientific Research: A Social Psychological and Epistemological Inquiry, Claremont Graduate University, 1999
References
External links APA Interrogation Task Force Member Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo Exposes Group's Ties to Military, Democracy Now, August 20, 2007