Volume 18: No. 5, May 2004

Cognition to Primate Genetics:
What to Expect in Honolulu
by Jeanie Kelleher, Special Programs Associate

Each year, five distinguished scientists are selected by the Board of Scientific Affairs (BSA) to give Master Lectures at the APA Convention. This year’s speakers will present the best of psychological science on a range of topics from methodological innovation to learning and inhibition to biases and prejudice to psychopathology to primate behavior. The Master Lecture program is designed to present talks on cutting edge topics across ten broad areas, half of which are highlighted each year. Speakers, selected by BSA, and their topics are listed below.

Leona S. Aiken and Stephen G. West (methodology) will present a joint lecture on “Extending Multiple Regression Analysis to Novel Forms of Psychological Data.” Leona S. Aiken is Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and chairs the PhD Concentration in Quantitative Methods in Psychology. Her research interests are in the development of models of health protective behavior and the implementation and evaluation of theory-based interventions in health promotion, with particular application to women’s health. She has been recognized for her teaching of quantitative methods with the 2001 Jacob Cohen Distinguished Teaching and Mentoring Award from APA’s Division 5 and the 2000 Arizona State University Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award. Aiken is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.

Stephen G. West is Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. His primary research interests are in the design and statistical analysis of field research, personality research, and the development and evaluation of theory-based preventive interventions. West received the 2000 Henry A. Murray award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for "distinguished contributions to the study of lives". He also received the 1997 outstanding graduate faculty mentor of the year award from Arizona State University. West is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Mark E. Bouton (learning, behavior, and action) will discuss “Learning, Extinction, and Emotion in the Context of Time.” Bouton is Professor of Psychology at the University of Vermont. His research investigates the relationships between context, conditioning, and memory, with a special emphasis on inhibitory processes (e.g., extinction). Some of his recent writing has focused on the connections between modern learning theory, neuroscience, and issues in cognitive behavioral therapy. Bouton is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a James McKeen Cattell Scholar, a University Scholar at the University of Vermont, and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford University).

Susan T. Fiske (social and cultural psychology) will speak on “The Perils of Prejudice: Emotional Biases in the Brain, Mind and Behavior.” Fiske is Professor of Psychology at Princeton University. Her federally funded social cognition research has focused on how people choose between category-based and individuating impressions of other people. Her current research shows that social structure predicts distinct kinds of bias against different groups in society, focusing on disrespecting versus disliking. Fiske won the American Psychological Association’s 1991 Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest. In 1995, she and Peter Glick won the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Fiske is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.

Ian H. Gotlib (psychopathology and treatment) will present a lecture on “Interpersonal, Cognitive, and Biological Aspects of Depression: Toward an Integration.” Gotlib is Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and is also the Director of the Stanford Mood and Anxiety Disorders Laboratory. His research examines psychological and biological factors that place individuals at increased risk for depression, as well as processes that are involved in recovery from this disorder. Gotlib is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Psychopathological Association, and is the President of the Society for Research in Psychopathology.

Stephen J. Suomi (developmental psychology) will speak on “How Specific Gene-Environment Interactions Can Shape Biobehavioral Development in Primates.” Suomi is Chief of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Suomi has received international recognition for his extensive research on biobehavioral development in rhesus monkeys. His present research focuses on three (3) general issues: the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in shaping individual developmental trajectories, the issue of continuity vs. change and the relative stability of individual differences throughout development, and the degree to which findings from monkeys studied in captivity generalize not only to monkeys living in the wild but also to humans living in different cultures. Suomi is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.