Steven Pfeiffer Department: Psychological Services Email: pfeiffer@coe.fsu.edu Phone: (850) 644-8796 Fax: (850) 644-8776

Steven Pfeiffer is a Professor in the Psychological Services in Education program. Dr. Pfeiffer serves as Director of Clinical Training of the doctoral program in Counseling Psychology and School Psychology.

Dr. Pfeiffer joined the Florida State University faculty in 2003. Prior to Florida State, Dr. Pfeiffer was at Duke University, where he served as Executive Director of Duke’s Talent Identification Program for gifted students and held faculty appointments in Psychology, Education and Public Policy.

Dr. Pfeiffer received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1977 and completed an internship in clinical psychology at the Astor Home for Children. His career has included teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, Fordham University, and Northern Arizona University; practicing as a pediatric psychologist at Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, and clinical psychologist in the U.S. Navy; and directing Devereux’s Institute of Clinical Training & Research—including their APA-accredited internship.

Dr. Pfeiffer is a licensed psychologist, Fellow of APA, and Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology. He testified at the White House before the National Task Force on Health Care Reform and was recipient of the Excellence in Research Award from the Mensa Research Foundation for his work in emotional intelligence and giftedness. He serves on the editorial board of ten journals, including Psychotherapy, Journal of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders, Journal of Disability Policy and Gifted Child Quarterly, and is on the board of SENG (Serving the Emotional Needs of the Gifted) and CCIDPIP (APA Consortium of Combined-Integrated Doctoral Programs in Professional Psychology).

Professor Pfeiffer is lead author of a new test to identify multiple types of giftedness, the Gifted Rating Scales, published by Psych Corp. He also coauthored the Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders and the Devereux Behavior Rating Scale-School Form. He has authored or coauthored 5 books, 17 book chapters and approximately 100 articles. His most recent book is entitled, Early Gifts: Recognizing and Nurturing Children’s Abilities.

His areas of research interest include gifted identification and emotional issues facing the gifted, children’s mental health, measuring treatment outcomes, and test development.  He teaches courses in ethics, mental health law and clinical supervision; child psychotherapy; group counseling; and professional practice. 

View Dr. Pfeiffer's vita.