Inside Psychology
By Karen Newell Young
Gerald Davison is an avuncular man with an easy laugh. He is chair of
psychology and not above bragging about his department. He sums it up
in one word: interdisciplinary.
“Psychology is interdisciplinary because it straddles so many knowledge
domains,” he says. “It’s a natural reach across the sciences of biology
and chemistry into sociology and philosophy. It crosses so many
boundaries. Besides, who isn’t interested in human behavior?”
Davison was head of the psychology department from 1984 to 1990 and
came back as chair in 2001. He says one of his biggest contributions to
the department was to strengthen ties to neuroscience researchers in
the mid-1980s, linking psychologists with brain researchers and other
scientists in an interdisciplinary neuroscience program in USC College.
“The upshot for our department was an increase in faculty and doctoral
students interested in the complexities of mind-brain interactions,”
says Davison. “I saw it as an important direction for our department to
go.”
The department’s 32 behavioral scientists study a wide range of
subjects, from learning and memory to aging and disease. Researchers
are examining criminal behavior and substance abuse, happiness and
sadness. In short, most of life itself. Richard Thompson, the William
M. Keck Professor of Psychology, uses psychological and genetic
approaches to track the minute changes that take place in the brain as
learning occurs and memories are coded, stored and retrieved. Irving
Biederman, the Harold W. Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, theorizes
on the brain’s pleasure cells.
Technology is revealing new frontiers yet to be explored. A new
Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center will help scientists like Adrian
Raine, the Robert Grandford Wright Professor, Biederman and Professor
of Psychology Frank Manis probe deeper into the mysteries of the human
brain and foster collaborative research across University Park and the
Health Sciences Campus.
The department’s clinical research includes such fields as depression,
family violence, alcohol abuse, juvenile delinquency and cognitive
factors in anxiety, hate crimes and anger. Professor Beth Meyerowitz
studies the psychosocial aspects of cancer and how family members and
individuals cope with illness.
The clinical program is the second largest of five graduate programs
(clinical, life-span development, quantitative, social, brain and
cognitive sciences) in the department, which also manages the Human
Relations Center, a community training clinic at University Park.
Davison says the clinical program ranks within the top 10 nationally
for preparing clinical psychology faculty members. In 2001, the
clinical program ranked 14th in the U.S. News and World Report rankings
of best graduate programs.
To Davison, teaching is right up there with research as top priorities.
“Excellence in teaching is a given here and we are constantly
re-examining our methods and evaluating ourselves as instructors,” he
says. “High-quality teaching has made psychology offerings increasingly
popular with undergraduates and is integral to the excellence of the
department."
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