Lecture to look at point where history and psychology intersect

Psychology Professor Alexandra Rutherford will look at how history and psychology meet to create an understanding of the self in the next lecture in the Calumet College Faculty Research Profile Series.

The lecture will take place Thursday, May 14 from 2:30 to 4pm at 214 Calumet College, Keele campus.

Right: Alexandra Rutherford

“At the crossroads of history and psychology are a host of interesting questions about the uniquely human and deeply historical preoccupation with making sense of ourselves,” says Rutherford, author of the upcoming book Beyond the Box: B.F. Skinner’s Technology of Behaviour from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s (University of Toronto Press, 2009).

“In this talk, I briefly describe my own career trajectory as a clinical-psychologist-historian and offer some examples from my ongoing research to highlight how history can be used to understand psychology.”

Rutherford suggests that historical knowledge is actually a form of psychological knowledge that can be used by students to critically evaluate, and eventually to create, such knowledge.

Everyone is welcome. Light refreshments will be served.