Off to SWPA

Ed's off to the annual SWPA meeting. SWPA, the Southwestern Psychological Association, is one of the regional psychological associations we discuss in chapter 12 (p. 384).

SWPA's meeting features talks by several prominent researchers:

Through the Labyrinth: How Women Have Both Advantage and Disadvantage as Leaders: Alice Eagly, this year's Saul Sells' lecturer who is Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department and the James Padilla Chair of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. The winner of numerous awards and honors, Professor Eagly has two main speciality areas: attitudes and gender.


The Positive Psychology of Disability: Christopher B. Keys, who isProfessor and Chair of the Psychology Department at DePaul University. A former President of the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of APA). Professor Keys has been conducting studies concerning the empowerment and strengths of people with disabilities and their families for 20 years. He helped edit the award-winning Encyclopedia of Disability and has been invited to present his research in Asia, Australia, Latin America and Europe.


Offensive Defensiveness: Why People Promote Zeal After Self-threats: Ian McGregor of York University, Toronto, Canada, has been referred to "as one of the truly bright stars in a new generation of research psychologists." He will speak on his cutting-edge laboratory work on the root causes of zealous ideological conviction and extremism.


Seeds of Hope: Effective Interventions for Relationship-Disturbed Children: David Cross is the director of the Developmental Research Lab, and Associate Director of the Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University. For the past ten years he has been working with Dr. Karyn Purvis (Director, Institute of Child Development at TCU) to develop research-based interventions for at-risk adopted children and their families.


Different Strokes for Different Folks: the Genetic Basis of Individual Differences: SAMR invited speaker is Howard K. Gershenfeld, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Internal Medicine - Clinical Geneticist , Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Southwestern Medical School.


Dr. William Buskist of Auburn University will present his 2005 Harry Kirke Wolfe lecture which he originally presented at the APA convention in New Orleans. This presentation is a part of a lecturer program for regional psychological associations sponsored by the APA.

I'm looking forward to an exciting few days in Ft. Worth.