E-Book Overview
Creative scientists often defy the scientific establishment. Such scientists may choose to go their own way with respect to theory, research paradigm, philosophical orientation, or subject matter studied. The risks can be great, and such defiance can result in rejected articles, unfunded grant proposals, and in extreme cases, scientific oblivion. Yet these defiant scientists are often the ones whose works lives on, while the work of those scientists who conform to existing scientific tastes often die with them. Of course, many conforming psychologists have done great and significant work. But the question is can a scientist not conform and still win? Psychologists Defying the Crowd provides honest and often humorous personal histories from eminent psychologists who chose the path of the nonconformist. They share the strategies that helped them manage opposing forces as well as insights on shaping a successful and fulfilling career. This book is filled with advice and wisdom for those who are charting a course in the field of psychology.
E-Book Content
Psychologists Defying the
Crowd Stories of Those
Who Batthd the Establishment and Won
Edited by RobertJ Sternberg American Psychological Association Washington, DC
Contents C O N T R I B U T O R S
ix
P R E F A C E
xi
1 Drifting My Own Way: Following My Nose and My Heart Elliot Aronson
2
2 On Stepping on Land Mines Ellen Berscheid
32
Diet, Obesity, Public Policy, and Defiance Kelly D. Brownell
46
3
4 Psychology Is Not a n Enclave John Garcia
66
5 MY w a y Howard Gardner
78
vi
I Contents 6 An Unwilling Rebel Jerome Kagan
90
7 The Dangers of Memory Elizabeth E Loftus
104
Doing Psychology My Way William J. McGuire
118
Challenging the Traditional Personality Psychology Paradigm Walter Mischel
138
10 Adventures in Cognition: From Cognitive PsychoZogy to The Rising Curve U r i c Neisser
158
11 Moving Forward by Sticking Your Neck Out Robert Perlofs
174
12 Fighting the Fads and Traveling in the Troughs: The Value (as Opposed to Growth) Approach to Inquiry Paul Rozin
190
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Formulation: How I Came to Frame Mental Laws in Abstract Spaces Roger N. Shepard
2 14
13
contents
I
14 It’s Absolutely Impossible? A Longitudinal Study of One Psychologist’s Response to Conventional Naysayers Dean Keith Simonton
238
It All Started With Those Darn IQ Tests: Half a Career Spent Defying the Crowd Robert J. Sternberg
256
What Would Draw a Basic Scientist Into Head Start (and Why Would He Never Leave)? Edward Zigler
272
INDEX
283
ABOUT THE EDITOR
293
15
16
vii
Contributors
Elliot Aronson, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz Ellen Berscheid, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT John Garcia, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Biobehavioral Science, University of California, Los Angeles Howard Gardner, PhD, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, M A Jerome Kagan, PhD, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Elizabeth F. Loftus, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle William J. McGuire, PhD, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT Walter Mischel, PhD, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York Ulric Neisser, PhD, Depa