Cover Story
During APA's 2008 Annual Convention in Boston, the American Psychological Foundation (APF) will showcase distinguished lecturers who will discuss topics ranging from human rights and violence prevention to psychologists as artists.
This year's speakers and topics are:
Ellen Winner, PhD, professor of psychology at Boston College and senior research associate at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, will present the Esther Katz Rosen Lecture on Gifted Children and Youth on "Why Study the Arts? The Wrong Question," on Aug. 15. Winner's research is focused on learning and cognition in the arts in typical and gifted children.
W. Rodney Hammond, PhD, will present the William Bevan Lecture on Psychology and Public Policy on "Violence Prevention: What Can We Assume from a Public Health Perspective?" on Aug. 15. Hammond is the director of the division of violence prevention within the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Clarence J. Sundram, JD, president of Mental Disability Rights International, will deliver the Lynn Stuart Weiss Lecture on American Psychology-Law on "Autonomy, Human Rights and Professional Responsibility: Implications of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" on Aug. 16. A nationally recognized expert on conditions in institutions and community programs for people with mental disabilities, Sundram also serves as special master for the U.S. District Court.
Alan D. Entin, PhD, will deliver the Rosalee G. Weiss Lecture for Outstanding Leaders in Psychology on "Psychologists as Artists: Artists as Psychologists" on Aug. 16. His internationally known research uses photographs and albums in psychotherapy to understand family relationships.
Susan T. Fiske, PhD, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, will present the Arthur W. Staats Lecture on Unifying Psychology on "Unifying Brain, Mind, and Culture via Social Cognition" on Aug. 16. Fiske investigates emotional prejudices at cultural, interpersonal and neural levels.
John Wixted, PhD, University of California, San Diego, professor of psychology, will deliver the F.J. McGuigan Lecture on Understanding the Human Mind on "Dual Process Theory of Recognition Memory: Psychological and Neuroanatomical Considerations" on Aug. 16. Wixted's primary research interests include the signal-detection analysis of recognition memory and the psychology and neuroscience of forgetting.
APF will also host the 13th annual Charles D. Spielberger Symposium on Emotion, Motivation, and Personality (EMPathy) on Aug. 15. The symposium aims to facilitate and stimulate discussion in these areas of psychological inquiry. This year's speakers and their presentations are:
Lee Anna Clark, PhD, professor of psychology and director of clinical training at the University of Iowa, on "A Structural Framework for Unifying Personality and Psychopathology."
Kevin Ochsner, PhD, assistant professor of psychology and director of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Columbia University, on "The Role of Social Cognition in Emotion: Insights from Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience."
Louis A. Penner, PhD, senior scientist in the communication and behavioral oncology program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute, on "From Parent to Child: A New Role for Empathy in Prosocial Behavior?"
