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Before starting his journey in higher education, Pavel Blagov attended the , an American honors high school in Europe. His interests in human biology and philosophy of mind turned into the fascination with psychology that took him to , where he worked on research of personality linkages to autobiographical memories. Blagov embraced the values of a liberal arts education and empirical science, majoring in psychology and neuroscience/neurochemistry. He planned to become a psychologist.

At , he worked on psychotherapy process research. Blagov's research goals took him to , where he studied emotion-driven reasoning, the classification of personality pathology, certain forms of mild personality dysfunction and such severe disorders as borderline personality and psychopathy. He also trained in pedagogy and psychological assessment and therapy, and completed his predoctoral internship at in Manhattan. Blagov says that he came to because of the congenial atmosphere, the balance between teaching and research and the tradition of student-faculty research.

His teaching interests include personality, psychological measurement and testing, and courses about the classification and treatment of psychopathology. He also teaches research methods, research on sexual orientation, and forensic psychology, and is well-versed in basic neuroscience and psychopharmacology.

Education

Ph.D. Clinical Psychology
Emory University

B.A. Psychology & Neuroscience/Neurochemistry
Connecticut College

Courses Taught by Professor Blagov

• PSYC-110: Introduction to Psychology
• PSYC-217: Psychology and Law
• PSYC-220: Research Methods
• PSYC-260: Abnormal Psychology
• PSYC-270: Personality Theories
• PSYC-309: Science of Sexual Orientation
• PSYC-353/6: Applied Psychology
• PSYC-495/6: Undergraduate Thesis

Psychology majors interested in joining the Personality Lab should contact Professor Blagov. His research addresses individual differences in personal memories, the ability of maladaptive traits to predict aspects of everyday life, and, more generally, connections between personality and psychological adjustment.

Blagov is highly interested in working on research projects with students who are curious about personality, mental illness, psychological adjustment, relational functioning, the effects of emotions and motivation on decision making and sexual orientation and gender. 

Licensed to practice psychology in Washington, Blagov has a (not associated with ³Ô¹ÏÍø) that focuses on individual psychotherapy with adults. In the past, he has been able to take on practicum students from Whitman to shadow his clinical work. Blagov is always happy to speak with current or prospective students and with alumni, about the psychology majors, graduate school and career options in psychology, as well as volunteering and internship opportunities in Walla Walla.

Journal Articles

Bergey, A.E., Liponis, O.M., & Blagov, P.S. (2025). Belonging to the general and LGBTQ+ Communities: Their role in the link between attachment and depression in sexual minority U.S. adults. Current Psychology. Advance online publication. .

Dolence, X.A., Hermann, B.A., Mullins, I.I., & Blagov, P.S. (2025). Does LGBTQ+ community connectedness buffer discrimination's indirect effect on generalized anxiety through rejection sensitivity in LGBTQ+ U.S. adults? Journal of Homosexuality. Advance online publication. .

Blagov, P.S., Singer, J.A., Oost, K.M., Bergey, A., Dolence, X.A., Duvall, A.M., Hermann, B., Kantor, R.E., Liponis, O., O'Neal, K., Rubino, M., Storm, E., Yu, M., & Goodman, J.A. (2023). Expression and detection of triarchic psychopathy traits in the self-defining memories of U.S. undergraduates. Personality and Individual Differences, 214, 112323. .

Blagov, P. S., Singer, J. A., Oost, K. M., & Goodman, J. A. (2022). Self-defining memories – narrative features in relation to adaptive and maladaptive personality traits (replication and extension of Blagov & Singer, 2004). Journal of Personality, 90, 457-575. 

Blagov, P.S. (2021). Adaptive and dark personality in the Covid-19 pandemic: Predicting health-behavior endorsement and the appeal of public-health messages. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(5), 697-707. doi: 10.1177/1948550620936439 

Blagov, P.S., Von Handorf, K., Pugh, A. T., & Walker, M. G. (2019). Maladaptive personality and psychopathy dimensions as predictors of music and movie preferences in U.S. adults. Psychology of Music, 47(6), 821-833. doi: 10.1177/0305735619864630

Blagov, P.S., Patrick, C.J., Oost, K.M., Goodman, J.A., & Pugh, A.T. (2016). Triarchic Psychopathy Measure: Validity in relation to normal-range traits, personality pathology, and psychological adjustment. Journal of Personality Disorders, 30(1), 71-81. 

Westen, D., Waller, N., Shedler, J. & Blagov, P.S. (2014). Dimensions of personality and personality pathology: Factor structure of the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-II (SWAP-II). Journal of Personality Disorders, 28(2), 281-318.

Singer, J.A., Blagov, P.S., Berry, M., & Oost, K.M. (2013). Self-defining memories, scripts, and the life story: Narrative identity in personality and psychotherapy. Journal of Personality, 81(6), 569-582. 

Blagov, P.S., Bi, W., Shedler, J., & Westen, D. (2012). The Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP): Evaluating psychometric questions about its reliability, validity, and impact of its fixed score distribution. Assessment, 19(3), 370 - 382. 

Blagov, P.S., Patrick, C.J., Lilienfeld, S.O., Powers, A.D., Phifer, J.E., Venables, N., et al. (2011). Personality constellations in incarcerated psychopathic men. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, & Treatment, 2(4), 293-315. 

Blagov, P.S., & Westen, D. (2008). Questioning the coherence of Histrionic Personality Disorder: Personality subtypes in adults and adolescents. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 169 (11), 785-797. 

Blagov, P.S., Bradley, R., & Westen, D. (2007). Under the Axis II radar: Clinically relevant personality constellations that escape DSM-IV diagnosis. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195 (6), 477-483. 

Westen, D., Blagov, P.S., Harenski, K., Kilts, C., & Hamann, S. (2006). Neural bases of motivated reasoning: An fMRI study of emotional constraints on partisan political judgment in the 2004 U.S. presidential election.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(11), 1947-1958. 

Blagov, P.S., & Singer, J.A. (2004). Four empirically derived dimensions of self-defining autobiographical memories (structure, meaning, content, and affect) and their relationships to social-emotional maturity, distress, and repressive defensiveness. Journal of Personality, 72, 481-511. 

Book Chapters

Blagov, P.S., & Ortigo, K.M. (2017). Schizoid personality disorder and gender. In K. Nadal (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press. 

Ortigo, K.M., & Blagov, P.S. (2017a). Avoidant personality disorder and gender. In K. Nadal (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press. 

Ortigo, K.M., & Blagov, P.S. (2017b). Dependent personality disorder and gender. In K. Nadal (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press. 

Blagov, P.S., Goodman, J.A. (2016). Sex, gender, and sexual orientation in the assessment of affective disorders. In V. Brabender and J. Mihura (Eds.), Handbook of gender and sexuality in psychological assessment (pp. 256-289). New York, N.Y.: Routlege. 

Blagov, P.S., Fowler, K., & Lilienfeld, S. (2007). Histrionic personality disorder. In W. O'Dononue, S. O. Lilienfeld, and K. A. Fowler (Eds.), Personality disorders: Toward DSM-V (pp. 203-232). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press. 

Westen, D., & Blagov, P.S. (2007). A clinical-empirical model of emotion regulation: From defenses and motivated reasoning to emotional constraint satisfaction. In J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 373-392). New York, NY: Guilford Press. 

Westen, D., Gabbard, G., & Blagov, P. (2006). Back to the future: Personality structure as a context for psychopathology. In R. F. Krueger & J. L. Tackett (Eds.), Personality and psychopathology: Building bridges (pp. 335-384). New York, NY: Guilford Press. 

Singer, J.A., & Blagov, P.S. (2004a). The integrative function of narrative processing: Autobiographical memory, self-defining memories and the life story of identity. In D. R. Beike, J. M. Lampinen, & D. A. Behrend (Eds.), The self and memory. New York, NY: The Psychology Press.  

Singer, J.A., & Blagov, P.S. (2004b). The integrative function of self-defining memories in the self-memory system and their use in individual psychotherapy. In L. Angus and J. McLeod (Eds.), The Handbook of Narrative and Psychotherapy: Practice, Theory, & Research (pp. 229-246). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press. 

Selected Service to the College

(Current and/or past)

• Chair, Psychology Department
• Chair, Curriculum Committee
• Chair, Institutional Review Board
• Chair, Board of Review
• Secretary/Treasurer, ³Ô¹ÏÍø AAUP Chapter
• Member, Faculty Personnel Committee
• Member, Council on Academic Standards
• Member, Council on Student Affairs
• Member, Fulbright Committee