Follow me as I journey across the world to converse with influential Psychologists
Dr. Alison Gopnik is inspired by the scientific vision of young children. Without the preconceptions, the extensive set of cognitive heuristics, and the rigid approaches to problem-solving we adopt in adulthood, children see the world with a sense of exploration. Dr. Gopnik and her colleagues have shown young children to be incredible problem-solvers, creative theoreticians, … Continue reading The Intellectual Wonderland of Dr. Alison Gopnik
The goal of this Journey2Psychology project has been to capture conversations with influential Psychologists -- those who have contributed scholarship, ideas, and activities that have helped to develop the field as it currently stands. From that perspective Dr. Michael Shermer, Founder of Skeptic magazine, is both ideal and curious as an important part of this … Continue reading Dr. Michael Shermer Brings Science to the People
Over the past two weeks this Journey2Psychology has been in Southern California: moving from Santa Barbara into various parts of Los Angeles (the inland empire, the OC, Long Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica), and onwards into San Diego. It would be easy to spend months here, chronicling the tremendous and influential psychologists/behavioral scientists who were lured … Continue reading Side note: Journeys into the Real, the Unreal, and the Surreal
Themes from the personal to the political permeate the research of Dr. Brenda Major: from her groundbreaking work on issues of mental health and emotional responses to abortion, to her early research on gender and the psychology of non-reciprocal touch between people, to her more recent studies on stigma relating to ethnicity, culture, and body-weight. … Continue reading The Empowered Dr. Brenda Major
With increasing frequency I've been speaking with amazing scholars about their lives, their journey's to Psychology, and the contributions that they've made to this discipline. I've now traveled 27,000 mi/43,000 km from New Jersey to Boston, from Boston to Montreal, from Montreal to Toronto, from Toronto to Ohio, from Ohio to Wisconsin and Iowa, through … Continue reading Psychology now and then
Dr. Albert Bandura has been one of the foremost influential thinkers and researchers in Psychology since his career began in the mid-1950's. His work with Social Learning Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, Self-Efficacy, and the related clinical applications with Guided Mastery have been seminal to our understanding of everything from how people learn, to the Psychology … Continue reading The Legend of Dr. Albert Bandura
Dr. Laura Carstensen is an award-winning scientist at Stanford University who has spent her life's work on one of the defining issues of our era: older adulthood and developmental psychology in the second half of life. Even a cursory glance at population demographics will show the global increase in longevity and the growing size of our … Continue reading Dr. Laura Carstensen Across Time and Space
I've had a chance to speak with more than 35 influential psychologists so far on this Journey and there are some themes that seem to be emerging. One idea that has intrigued me, and is echoed time and time again, is the emphasis on being wrong. I can't put this bluntly enough: almost all of … Continue reading The Beauty of Being Wrong
Paraphrasing from Dr. Tony Jorm, I'll make a prediction. You know someone who is suffering from a mental illness. Each year close to 20% of adults will experience a mental health issue that might include anxiety, a drug problem, clinical depression, an eating disorder, schizophrenia, dementia -- and quite possibly more than one. Despite the widespread … Continue reading Dr. Anthony Jorm and a Quest for Global Literacy with Mental Health
Dr. Mike Corballis met me on the tiny island of Waiheke, a short ferry ride from downtown Aukland. He is an Emeritus Professor and Inaugural Creativity Fellow at the University of Aukland in New Zealand where he has served since 1978. His research is far-reaching in scope, his publications are theoretically provocative and speak to … Continue reading A Few Short Stories of Dr. Michael Corballis
Journey2Psychology 