author
Clifford R. (Clifford Rose) Adams
1902–1987
Known for practical, mid-century advice on love and marriage, this American psychologist brought academic research into everyday life for a wide general audience. His best-known work, coauthored with Vance O. Packard, helped make relationship counseling a popular topic far beyond the classroom.
1 Audiobook
How to Pick a Mate: The Guide to a Happy Marriage
by Clifford R. (Clifford Rose) Adams, Vance Packard
About the author
Born in 1902 and dying in 1987, he was an American psychologist and marriage counselor whose work focused on courtship, compatibility, and marital adjustment. He served as an associate professor of psychology and director of the Marriage Counseling Service at Pennsylvania State College, bringing a research-minded approach to questions many readers treated as deeply personal.
His most widely recognized book is How to Pick a Mate, written with Vance O. Packard and published in 1946. The book presented relationship advice in a direct, accessible style, and it helped establish him as a public voice on marriage during the postwar years.
He also wrote Preparing for Marriage, continuing his effort to translate psychology into practical guidance. Contemporary photographs and library records show how visible he became as a public expert, appearing in the press as a nationally known counselor whose ideas reached readers well beyond academic psychology.