Dr. Clinton DeSoto, a retired Johns Hopkins psychology professor who recovered from alcoholism and studied its effects, died Tuesday of a brain tumor at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care.

He was 71 and lived in Towson.

A pioneer researcher in the field of social cognition and author of more than 50 professional articles, he taught social psychology at Hopkins' Homewood campus from 1956 until he retired in 1993.

"He had a lot of native curiosity," said Dr. John Bosley, a former student and friend who lives in Kensington.

"He had a huge breadth of interest. When he'd go to the library, he'd read poetry and book reviews. ... His students would cluster around him," Dr. Bosley said. "He seemed to have 40 new ideas a day."

"His courses were informal, and he had a terrific sense of humor," Dr. Bosley said.

Dr. DeSoto was born in Hartford, Conn., and raised in Colfax, Wis.

He earned his undergraduate and master's degrees and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

He conducted research in the 1950s and 1960s in the fields of memory, cognitive psychology and social cognition.

In the 1970s, after he acknowledged his alcoholism, he turned his attention to his condition.

He studied the psychological, psychiatric, sociological and anthropological literature on alcoholism.

He then researched the long-term changes that occur in abstinent, recovering alcoholics. Using various scientific approaches, he found that the recovery process was the most rapid in the early years of abstinence but continued for 10 years or more.

According to his research, the two keys to recovery were abstinence and time.

He wrote that prolonged abstinence provided time for the withdrawal syndrome to subside and for the healing of brain dysfunction -- and for the rebuilding of lives.

He played the guitar and maintained a large classical music library. He was also a movie buff and vegetable gardener.

A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Ruck Towson Funeral Home, 1050 York Road.

Dr. DeSoto is survived by the former Janet Tolbert, his wife of 27 years; three sons, Clinton Brian DeSoto of Beloit, Wis., William DeSoto of San Marcos, Texas, and Stewart DeSoto of Addison, Texas; a stepson, Dean Kuethe of Tijeras, N.M.; two sisters, Betsy Heath of McKinney, Texas, and Jackie Lundberg of Arlington, Texas; and three granddaughters.