Rate My Professor Richard Linscott

Richard Linscott is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago, where he serves as a registered clinical psychologist and Director of Clinical Training. He holds a BSc (Hons), PhD, and Graduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology (GDipCIPs), all obtained from the University of Otago. Linscott joined the Department of Psychology as a Teaching Fellow in 1996 and completed his PhD and professional training in clinical psychology in 1999. He progressed to Lecturer and Senior Lecturer positions thereafter and was appointed Director of Clinical Training in 2008. In addition, he maintains an Honorary Researcher appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, along with active collaborations with research groups in Australia, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Linscott's research specializations encompass psychotic experiences and psychometric risk for schizophrenia, including their distribution in the general population, precipitating factors, and basic cognitive mechanisms such as enhanced priming effects in semantic memory and potentiated automatic memory processes, especially in individuals exhibiting thought disorder symptoms. His interests also extend to schizotypy as a measurable precursor to schizophrenia, taxometric analysis of its latent structure, and ethical issues surrounding risk assessment and informed consent in diagnosis. Representative publications include Linscott and van Os (2013), An updated and conservative systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological evidence on psychotic experiences in children and adults, Psychological Medicine; Morton, O'Hare, Maha, Nicolson, Machado, Topless, Merriman, and Linscott (2017), Testing the validity of taxonic schizotypy using genetic and environmental risk variables, Schizophrenia Bulletin; Schimanski, Mouat, Billinghurst, and Linscott (2017), Preliminary evidence that schizophrenia liability at age 15 predicts suicidal ideation two years later, Schizophrenia Research; Linscott (2007), The latent structure and coincidence of hypohedonia and schizotypy and their validity as indices of psychometric risk for schizophrenia, Journal of Personality Disorders; and Linscott, Marie, Arnott, and Clarke (2006), Over-representation of Maori New Zealanders among adolescents in a schizotypy taxon, Schizophrenia Research. Linscott teaches PSYC 203 Abnormal Psychology, PSYC 403 Adult Psychopathology, PSYC 495 Masters Thesis Preparation, and PSYC 601 Clinical Psychology Internship, and supervises numerous postgraduate theses.