History of Psychology
One of my favorite courses to teach is History of Psychology. Recently, I have begun to explore how to turn that interest into scholarship. While historical research will not replace my main focus area of traffic psychology (more generally, behavioral community/public health psychology), it is an area I want to expand. Furthermore, I am interested in mentoring students in the area if such opportunities arise.
My first piece of scholarship in the area was an exploration of when and why a meeting occurred during which John B.Watson, a founder of the behaviorist movement, and Clarence Darrow, famed attorney best known for the Leopold and Loeb, and Scopes Monkey trials, were photographed together. The research began with this picture, and Dr. Charles
Brewer of Furman University (recently deceased, 2018) asking me if I knew anything about it. His question led to our collaboration to find answers. The search resulted not only in the picture being documented fully, but a previously unknown, transcribed speech given by Darrow at the meeting that Watson attended along with many others. That speech made clear the two men knew of each other’s work. My colleague, Dr. Charles Brewer of Furman University (recently deceased, 2018) and I produced a poster for the International Congress of Applied Psychology in Montreal in 2018 that was first to present the overall findings. A manuscript providing more details and documentation is under preparation.
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