Follow me as I journey across the world to converse with influential Psychologists
In 1967 renowned Psychology professor Ulric Neisser published a book entitled Cognitive Psychology. Prior to to 1967 certainly there was a trove language and philosophy of mind research dating from ancient Greek philosophers, biologists, and religious scholars. By the late 1950's Simon and Newell had developed the early AI programs investigating computational simulations and understanding of human … Continue reading The Mythical Fathers of Psychology
Does culture influence how we think? Dr. Daphna Oyserman has been researching culture, identity and the interaction of these constructs as they impact social and psychological development of children and families across three continents during her career. While she is currently the Dean’s Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Dornsife Center for Mind and … Continue reading The Possible Selves of Dr. Daphna Oyserman
We have spent the last couple of weeks journeying through England. From our arrival in Heathrow we traveled up to Cambridge, to York, and back down to Oxford and London. England has much storied universities, incredible scholars, and in the weeks ahead I will be posting on my conversations with Drs. Dorothy Bishop (Oxford), Susan … Continue reading Side note: A very different journey
Psychology has but a few superstars whose research is widely known across all of our sub-disciplines, and whose findings, books, and talks are influential for people not involved in Psychology. This level of renown is rare because to be known in the public requires an influence that directly affects our social mores and activities; because Psychology … Continue reading Dr. Elizabeth Loftus for the People
Happy May the 4th, aka Star Wars day! Our journey now has reached a distance of 0.000000002086 parsecs and we are celebrating the combination of bank holiday weekend, May Day, Free Comic Book Day, and Star Wars Day on the outskirts of London! I can only assume that Free Comic Book Day and Star Wars … Continue reading Side note: May the fourth be with you!
Dr. Peter Bentler of UCLA has investigated drug addiction, personality theory, and a host of other behavioral and clinical paradigms. He is also one of the most cited scholars in Psychology for his innovations with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and the related quantitative concepts. In working with SEM, Dr. Bentler and colleagues created and facilitated a … Continue reading Multivariate Analyses of Dr. Peter Bentler
We made the 4800 mi/7600 km journey from Dallas, Texas to London, England. The differences in language patterns, social interactions, and centres of cultural interest feel quite vast. After a few days in London, we continued up to Cambridge (60 mi/100 km) where I spoke with some amazing neuropsychologists/psychopharmacologists for the Journey, and then made … Continue reading Side note: The ethics of better living through chemistry (and road updates)
To date this Journey2Psychology has included conversations with 51 psychologists during travels from my starting point at William Paterson University (New Jersey) to Boston (Harvard, U Mass, Boston University, Northeastern U) to Brown University to Montreal (McGill, U of Montreal) to Toronto (U Toronto, UTM); down via Toledo OH to Washington U (St. Louis) up … Continue reading Photo journey: Southwestern States
Dr. Diane Halpern has served Psychology prominently as a scientist, writer, and leader. As Dr. Halpern describes in her introduction (below), she is most recognized for her research on gender differences in cognition and for her work to understand and advance strategies for critical thinking -- although certainly her publications extend well beyond those domains. … Continue reading The Critical Thoughts of Dr. Diane Halpern
There is a thought paradigm that I have often used to challenge students in their understanding of evidence, the world, and critical thinking. Consider the following: most people accept that there are black holes out there in the universe. As per the well-established theorizing, these black holes are stars that have collapsed into their own … Continue reading Santa Claus vs. Black Holes
Journey2Psychology 