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VOLUME 30, NUMBER 7 July/August 1999 PEOPLE Three psychologists are among the 60 newly installed members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Election to the academy, one of the highest honors bestowed on U.S. scientists and engineers, recognizes outstanding original research.
Anderson's work on ACT-R led him to develop computer-tutoring programs that help students in middle school, high school and college learn mathematics. Carnegie Mellon created a company, Carnegie Learning, Inc., to market Anderson's tutoring programs, which are being used by 10,000 students nationwide. Anderson is the Walter Van Dyke Bingham Professor of Cog-nitive Science at Carnegie Mellon University, where he has taught for more than twenty years.
Desimone is the scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and chief of the institute's intramural laboratory of neuropsychology. He joined NIMH in 1980 as a staff fellow. He was appointed director of the Division of Intramural Research Programs last year, and was appointed chief of the neuropsychology lab in 1997. He has been honored once before by the academy with the Troland award, which is given annually to an outstanding experimental psychologist.
Playwright and psychologist Paula Caplan, PhD, reveals pitfalls of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the effect that blind faith in the manual can have on patients' lives, in her play entitled "Call Me Crazy." In the play, which had a sold out run off-off-Broadway in New York, performers portraying psychiatric patients use songs, skits and monologues to dramatize how being labeled mentally ill changed their life. One female patient, for example, tells how she lost custody of her child because she was diagnosed as mentally ill after seeking therapy for an abusive relationship. Another character describes his fear of receiving unnecessary shock treatments against his will. The purpose, says Caplan, is to educate patients and clinicians about the consequences of a misdiagnosis. Caplan is planning another run of the play in New York within the next year. In the spring she received a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts to produce free performances of the play in Rhode Island. Performances there were followed with a panel discussion with psychologists and other mental health professionals about the play. Professors at Brown University, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College assigned "Call Me Crazy" to students, and the Association for Women in Psychology requested a performance for their annual meeting held March 4-7 in Providence, R.I. Caplan has videotaped the play for use as an educational tool. Caplan, who has acted for many years and written several other plays, is a consultant and a visiting scholar at the Pembroke Center at Brown University. She is also the author of the book "Lifting a Ton of Feathers: A Women's Guide to Surviving in the Academic World" (University of Toronto Press, 1993). For copies of the "Call Me Crazy" video contact, Call Me Crazy Videos, 95 Slater Ave., Providence, RI 02906, or e-mail Caplan at paula_caplan@brown.edu. Robert Epstein, PhD, has been appointed editor in chief of Psychology Today magazine. Epstein is revamping the magazine to be written mainly by scholars and scientists. He invites APA members to submit story proposals for the magazine and to call in to the magazine's national radio program, which he hosts. Epstein is a professor at the United States International University and director emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He earned his PhD at Harvard University. Members interested in participating in the radio show or submitting story ideas for Psychology Today can contact Epstein at repstein@post.harvard.edu or send a fax to (760) 436-4490. Three psychologists are among the winners of the 1999 Guggenheim Fellowships given by the John Simpson Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The prestigious fellowship provides funding to artists and scholars to enable them to travel, conduct research or engage in artistic endeavors that will advance their careers. Each psychologist was chosen for his or her outstanding accomplishments and promise of future achievement:
Carey will use the Guggenheim stipend to take a year-long sabbatical from NYU to write a book about her research. The book is the final stage of the Nicod Prize, a French honor she won last year that includes presenting a lecture series in Paris and writing a book based on the lectures. Carey is the first psychologist to win the prize. Carey has taught at NYU for three years and at the Mass-achusetts Institute of Technology for nearly 25 years. She earned her PhD at Harvard University.
"People don't realize how resilient they are," he says. "People don't consider the extent to which negative events are discountable." Gilbert hopes his research will encourage more risk-taking in people's decision-making. He will use his fellowship stipend to take a year of sabbatical from Harvard to write a book on affective forecasting. Gilbert is also chair of Harvard's social psychology program. He earned his PhD from Princeton. Educational psychologist John Fremer, PhD, has been elected vice president of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), an organization that advances educational measurement. He will serve a one-year term as vice president and assume the presidency in April. Fremer plans to expand public education about testing and to further study and promote the use of rigorous testing standards. One of Fremer's current projects is a revision of the "Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education," one of the most frequently cited documents in educational testing. Fremer represented NCME and chaired the work group that originally developed the code. Fremer is senior development leader in the school and college services division at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and a member of the College Board/ETS Joint Staff Research and Development Committee. He earned his doctorate from Teachers College at Columbia University. Matthew J. Hoptman, PhD, has been honored with a Young Investigator award by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) for expanding knowledge of the neural basis for behavior using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. With the award, he receives $59,000 in research funding over two years. Hoptman is a research scientist at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and a research assistant professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. He will use the grant in an MRI study comparing the structure of particular brain regions in aggressive and non-aggressive patients with schizophrenia. He will also investigate the interplay of genetic and neuroanatomical factors in violent patients with schizophrenia. Jan Volavka, MD, PhD, and Robert M. Bilder, PhD, also of the Nathan Kline Institute, are co-sponsors on the grant. Hoptman received his doctorate in biopsychology from the University of Chicago. Four psychologists and one psychology doctoral candidate have been chosen as fellows for the "Leaders for the 21st Century," a new two-year leadership development program sponsored by Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. As Fellows, they receive $500 each year to develop a project that will improve the lives of young children. They also attend a series of workshops, where they consult with child-health experts and leaders about their projects and receive training in leadership and communication skills. The fellows are:
For her fellowship, she has developed a research and intervention project with the juvenile court in Miami to explore ways to help infants and toddlers exposed to family violence. Her project is part of an ongoing national demonstration program on domestic violence.
Providing funding for the "Leaders for the 21st Century" fellowships are the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and philanthropist Irving Harris. In recognition of his outstanding work in forensics and psychology, Bruce Sales, PhD, JD, received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the City University of New York through its John Jay College of Criminal Justice in June. Sales, a professor of psychology, psychiatry, sociology and law at the University of Arizona, has been honored numerous times for his public service activities and for advancing care for mentally and developmentally disabled persons in the judicial system. His other honors include APA's Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service Award, membership in the prestigious American Law Institute and a Spirit of Excellence award from the governor of Arizona. Sales was the first editor of APA's journal Psychology, Public Policy and Law and is the founding editor of Law and Human Behavior, the journal of the American Psychology-Law Society. He earned his PhD from the University of Rochester and his law degree from Northwest-ern University School of Law. --J. Chamberlin
VOLUME 30, NUMBER 7 July/August 1999 Dialogue program to link youths in Israel, Palestine Warren Spielberg, PhD, will travel to Israel and Palestine this fall to conduct research on a youth dialogue program sponsored by Peace Now, a grassroots Israeli peace organization he's been volunteering with for more than 20 years. Peace Now sponsors conferences that bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth ages 14 to 25 to collaborate on peace projects, discuss current events in their countries and explore cultural differences. Spielberg, who lived in Israel in the 1970s and 80s, will examine how these conferences change young people's attitudes about peace and conflict. His research will be funded by a grant that he received from the New School at Social Research, where he teaches psychology. His study will help Peace Now target areas where programming can be improved. Peace Now sponsors 15 or 16 one- to three-day youth conferences each year, with as few as 10 and as many as 100 teen-agers attending each conference. At these retreats, participants learn about the history of Israel and Palestine and explore cultural differences by playing games and attending music and dance performances that characterize both cultures, says Spielberg. Mental health professionals and youth leaders direct problem-solving exercises, such as asking participants to plan a division of Jerusalem that would give Palestine some presence in the city, and prompt discussion about ways to promote peace between their countries. "We encourage them to look at history a different way," says Spielberg, who has facilitated the group exercises. "History and their views of the conflict are mental images that have become ingrained." "These dialogues open up the possibility of psychological processes that allow for a change in perspective," he says, "and that can lead to more tolerance and understanding." Spielberg will also examine whether the program changes how Israeli and Palestinian youth feel about each other and whether they share peace strategies with their friends and family. The conferences have already had some positive results. Last year, after a stall in the peace talks, a group of Palestinian and Israeli teen-agers involved with Peace Now organized a peace demonstration. They marched backwards from Old Jerusalem to the Prime Minister's headquarters to symbolize that the peace process was moving in reverse, Spielberg says. "These are kids who will be in power one day, " says Spielberg. "They are future soldiers and children of major political players. This program has great potential." For more information about Peace Now, contact its national office at 114 W. 26th St., Suite 1000, New York, NY 10001, (212) 645-6262. For information about the dialogue program contact Warren Spielberg at wspielberg@aol.com.
In an effort to promote peace, Warren Speilberg (second from left) helps Israeli and Palestinian youth gain insight into each other's cultures.
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