Update: Conference on Meaning

The International Network on Personal Meaning (INPM) is pleased to announce the 7th Biennial International Meaning Conference to be held July 26-29, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. The conference theme is: A Positive Global Vision of Healing and Flourishing through Meaning.

This is the only international conference that emphasizes both positive psychology & humanistic/existential psychology; it is also the home for logotherapy & existential positive psychotherapy. The conference will highlight the role of meaning in well-being, flourishing, character strengths, resilience, post-traumatic growth, spirituality, psychotherapy, healing, recovery, and positive organizations. It will emphasize both cutting edge research and the application of research findings to meaningful living. Keynote speakers include Christopher Peterson, Laura King, Robert Neimeyer, Jordan Peterson, Mark Kingwell, Todd Kashdan, Salvatore Maddi, Emmy van Deurzen, Stanley Krippner, George Bonanno, Alan Waterman, Richard Ryan, & Paul T.P. Wong.

More information can be found at the Conference Website. Dr. Paul Wong serves as the contact person.

Update: Proposals are being accepted until June 1st

Conference: Bioethics & Entheogens

From Tom Roberts comes this message: April 26-27, 2012, near Madison, Wisconsin Treat your intellect. Next Thursday and Friday the bioethics conference (below) will feature people and programs who are described in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine article on using psychedelics to prepare for death (online yesterday, hardcopy forthcoming tomorrow). Among them:
Stanislav Grof. In my estimation, Grof will eventually hold a place in the study of the mind parallel to Galileo's in astronomy.
William Richards is the head session monitor for the Johns Hopkins psilocybin studies. His professional experience goes back to the Good Friday Experiment, 50 years ago yesterday.
Jeff Guss is co-director with Stephen Ross of the Bellevue-NYU Medical School study.
Charlie Grob, who is featured in the article, spoke last year, will probably be there this year too. Enjoyable to chat with.
The conference is hosted in the quite comfortable grounds of Promega Corp. just south of Madison in Fitchburg. The Quality Inn is the nearest overnight accommodation; mention the conference for lower group rates.
Register at the Bioethics Forum Website

Conference: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis

From Thomas Plante:

This is a just a friendly FYI about our upcoming national conference entitled, Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis (2002-2012) scheduled for Friday May 11, 2012 at Santa Clara University (northern California). Please feel free to share with others if you wish.

The conference brings to campus a remarkable group of interdisciplinary leading professionals who recently contributed to a book project on this topic edited by Kathleen McChesney, Ph.D. (former FBI and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office of Child Protection executive) and I that was recently published [If interested, details about the book can be found at http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?isbn=9780313393877]. Keynotes addresses will be presented by Thomas Reese, SJ (from Georgetown University and former editor of America magazine) and Karen Terry, PhD (from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who was the lead author for both the 2004 and 2011 John Jay Studies on clergy abuse).

The conference is co-sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of San Jose as well as SCU's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Ignatian Center, Spirituality & Health Institute, College of Arts and Science, Psychology Department, Religious Studies Department, and the Jesuit Community. The conference is hosted by SCU's Center for Professional Development.

Details about the event are available at http://www.scu.edu/cpd/clergyconference/

A list of speakers can be found at http://www.scu.edu/ecppm/cpd/clergyconference/panelists/

Conference in Sri Lanka

The International Conference on Psychology and Allied Professions will be held in Sri Lanka, December 5-8, 2011. The agenda and materials for this conference are too lengthy to summarize adequately on this blog. I have made them available to you at this link. I hope that someone will be able to attend, and tell me about the experience. It sounds like a tremendous opportunity to exchange ideas about psychology and spirituality in a fascinating context. In addition to the academic sessions, the President of Sri Lanka will speak to attendees, and the conference will include ceremonial dance, and blessings by religious dignitaries.

SRCD Religion Pre-Conference

This announcement comes from Chris Boyatzis. Please contact him for more information or for the registration form, email: boyatzis (at) bucknell.edu

I am pleased to invite you to the 6th Biennial Soc. for Research in Child Development Pre-Conference on Religious & Spiritual Development.

This preconference is on Wednesday, March 30, 1 - 5 p.m., in Montreal, the day prior to the formal start of the SRCD biennial conference. Our event continues a tradition begun at SRCD in 2001, and each time we have had a superb set of speakers and discussions. Attendees find intellectual excitement in sharing their ideas and meeting new colleagues interested in this important and burgeoning field--religious and spiritual development of children and youth.

Please find the registration form attached. Complete it and return it by March 1.
Space is limited, so if you are genuinely interested in the preconference be sure to submit your form and registration fee soon.

The agenda will continue the past tradition of superb keynote speakers, stimulating round-table discussions, and the finest in light food and beverage.

Our keynote speakers will include:

Dr. Bekah Richert (UC Riverside), on development of religious concepts in children;
Dr. Annette Mahoney (Bowling Green State University), on the role of religion and spirituality in pregnancy and parenting; and
Dr. Amy Syvertsen (Search Institute), on the Search Inst. international study of adolescent spirituality with 5,000 subjects in 8 countries on 4 continents.
(An additional speaker may be added.)

We will also have roundtable discussions on various topics and to foster new collaborations and networking.

In the past, additional scholars have presented their work in poster format. Unfortunately, our preconference facility cannot accommodate posters, so this preconference will have a new feature--"snap talks," or very brief oral presentations of research. This format is increasingly popular at some conferences (especially in natural sciences) and allow more scholars to share their work. If you are interested in doing a snap talk (with data or a conceptual or methodological focus), please let me know!

Additional information will be sent to those who register.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, and forward this email announcement to any colleagues or students who may be interested!

See you in Montreal,

Chris Boyatzis
Preconference Convener and Host

2011 Tehran Congress on Psychology, Religion & Culture

The deadline has been extended for the 2011 International Congress on Psychology, Religion & Culture in Tehran. There is more information at this link. The meeting will be held May 14-16, 2011. I have not had the pleasure of attending, but have heard high compliments from two people who have. If you are considering it, please contact Dr. Shiva Khalili at shivakhalili /at/ yahoo.com
(Substitute the @ symbol in place of /at/)

SPSP - Psych of Religion Pre-Conference Events

2011 SPSP Pre-conference on Psychology of Religion-Spirituality

8am-4:30pm, Thursday, January 27, 2011, Room 213 Concourse Level, San Antonio Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Final Call for Posters: We have space for only about 15 more posters that present psychology of religion research, preferably from a social-personality perspective. The next 15 reasonable submissions will likely be accepted. Decisions will be made on a rolling basis. To submit a poster for consideration, please send a pdf file containing title, 250 word abstract, author(s), affiliation(s), and email address of presenter to Kevin L. Ladd (kladd@iusb.edu). Data must be collected and analyzed before submission; we will not consider abstracts for incomplete studies. If the first or sole author is a student, please indicate whether or not you would like to be considered for the student poster award.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM (presenter order may change) (updated September 15, 2010)

8:00 - 8:55: Continental breakfast (coffee, juice, fruit, pastries)
9:00 – 9:30: Ian Hansen (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY)
9:30 – 10:00: Eric Hill (Arizona State University)
10:00 - 10:30: Michael Inzlicht (University of Toronto-Scarborough)
10:30 - 11:00: Break with snack/drinks
11:00 - 11:30: Larisa Heiphetz (Harvard University)
11:30 – 12:00: Margaret Evans (University of Michigan)
12:00 – 2:00: Box lunch and poster session
1:00 – 2:00: Assigned SPSP check-in time
2:00 – 2:30: Ariel Malka (Yeshiva University)
2:30 – 3:00: Karina Schumann (University of Waterloo)
3:00 – 3:30: David Rosmarin (McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School)
3:30 – 4:00: Christopher Ellison (University of Texas - San Antonio, Sociology)
4:00 - 4:30: Edward Slingerland (University of British Columbia, Asian Studies)

Limits of Understanding

If, like me, you are unable to attend the World Science Festival in New York City now underway, you can still enjoy some of the session by viewing the webcast they are providing. Click http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/live-intro to enjoy the sessions online. I am particularly interested in the session Friday evening, on The Limits of Understanding. Included on the panel will be Marvin Minsky, whose work I remember enjoying in grad school. It should be a fascinating session.

International Meaning Conference

The 6th Biennial International Meaning Conference will be held in Vancouver, BC, August 5-8, 2010. The conference theme will be "Creating a Psychologically Healthy Workplace: Meaning, Engagement, & Spirituality". The conference is organized by The International Network on Personal Meaning. Abstracts must be submitted by June 15; early registration discounts are available until June 15. Of special interest to psychologists interested in religion is a focus on the role of spirituality in in the workplace and the mental health of workers. Click for more information.

Paloutzian Introduces Kirkpatrick

Ray Paloutzian gave a one-of-a-kind introduction of Lee Kirkpatrick at the 2010 SPSP 2010 preconference on religion and spirituality. Fortunately for us, what happened in Vegas needn't stay in Vegas!


For the lyrics, click on this link, and then click the "More Info" link in the upper-right corner, under the name "Boofshavik". Yes, it sounds like a lot of steps but it is worth it to read the many different ways that Kirkpatrick has contributed to the field. Social psychology, attachment, evolutionary psychology... and fortunately for us, Kirkpatrick isn't done yet!

IACSR Call for Proposals

An announcement from IACSR:

Call for Proposals for Presentations at the 2010 meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR) in conjunction with the XXth Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association of the History of Religions (IAHR)

August 15-21, 2010 in Toronto

http://www.religion.utoronto.ca/resources/iahr


The IACSR, which seeks to advance the naturalistic study of religion, invites interested scholars to submit proposals for presentations (lasting no more than 25 minutes) for possible inclusion on the program at its upcoming meeting for 2010 in Toronto. Submissions are welcome on any topic in the cognitive science of religion. The IACSR recognizes that the cognitive sciences encompass a wide array of disciplines and methods, including, among others, experimental research in psychology and neuroscience, computational modeling, ethnographic, historical, archaeological, and comparative studies of religious cognition, and the survey techniques of the social sciences. Presentations advancing new cognitive theories of diverse religious phenomena are also welcome.

Proposals should consist of two pages. The cover page should include the following items ONLY:

1. presentation title

2. word count of the proposal

3. all authors’ names

4. all authors’ email addresses (papers with multiple authors should explicitly indicate which of the addresses should serve as the one to which all subsequent communications about this submission should be sent)

On a subsequent page, the substantive section of the proposal should, again, include the title of the presentation, should not exceed 500 words, and should not contain either footnotes or endnotes or the author’s name(s). The author’s name(s) should only appear on the cover page.

Proposals should be attached as an MS Word file in emails with “IACSR submission” in their subject lines to be sent to Armin W. Geertz at awg@teo.au.dk. The deadline for submission is February 15, 2010.
President Luther H. Martin

President Elect Robert N. McCauley

Secretary General Armin W. Geertz

SIPR News

The new edition of the SIPR News is now available. If you speak a language other than Italian, you can use Google Translator to view it in a language you probably do speak. The google translator will show about half of the newsletter in English; the latter half remains in Italian but you can copy & paste the remaining text into the translator to see it with a little more effort. There may be other online translation tools that work better, but when I tried Yahoo's "Babelfish" it was not able to translate the .pdf file. At any rate, the SIPR News is well worth reading for the summary of the recent IAPR conference summary it provides, including abstracts of presentations from the Italian scholars who attended.

IAPR Highlights

Do you wonder what you missed at the recent IAPR meeting? Satisfy your curiosity by viewing abstracts and photos from the IAPR meeting, kindly hosted by SIPR.

APA Division 36 2010 Midyear Conference

Division 36 of APA will hold its midyear conference March 26-27, 2010. This is a very affordable way to connect with others who study the psychology of religion. If you need continuing education certificates, you should consider attending the March 25th pre-conference meeting as well. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 8.

Non-Religion and Secularity

A new group examining non-religion and secularity is launching their organization's first conference next month at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. A friend an sometimes collaborator of mine, Ryan Cragun at the University of Tampa, is joining Colin Campbell (York) and David Voas (Manchester) as keynote speakers at the conference to be held Friday, December 11th. View their site for details and to join the mailing list.

AAR Science-Religion Reception

At the American Academy of Religion meeting in Montreal next week will be a reception for people interested in science and religion. Sponsored by The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, the Institute for Religion in an Age of Science, and the Zygon Center for Religion and Science, the reception will be held Nov. 7, 2009, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m., in the Le Centre Sheraton.

Towards a Unified Science of Religion: University of Otago

Towards a Unified Science of Religion
A Conference Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy,
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

http://www.otago.ac.nz/philosophy/USR_Home.html

12-14 February 2010.

Abstract

The belief in gods, demons, and other supernatural agents is a persistent
feature of human culture, which cries out for explanation. In the last
twenty-five years explanations of religion have reached a new level of
sophistication. We now have a range of different scientific theories of
religion, in cognitive science, anthropology, and evolutionary psychology,
drawing upon a significant body of empirical data. This conference,
sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Otago, will
bring together researchers from these different disciplines and different
theoretical perspectives, to explore the possibility of a unified science
of religion.

Call for Papers

Participants are invited to submit paper proposals presenting original
research on any topic related to the theme of the conference. The proposal
should take the form of an abstract of no more than 200 words, and should
be submitted electronically (along with contact details) to the conference
secretary: Jonathan Jong (jonathan/at/psy.otago.ac.nz) by 15 December 2009.

Further Information

Further details about registration and accommodation and will be available
on this site soon. The conference programme will be available on this site
in late December.

Conference Organisers: James Maclaurin and Greg Dawes.
Conference Secretary: Jonathan Jong

Conference: New Religious Movements, in Ireland

The conference on new religious movements in Ireland is almost one month away. If you wish to present a poster at the conference, the deadline has been extended to October 23rd. For more information on the conference, visit the NRM Ireland website. Conference organizers also are providing updates on their blog.

APA - Toronto

The APA convention in Toronto is now over. A few thoughts:

- It was a pleasure to serve as program chair for Division 36. I enjoyed being able to organize paper sessions, and I deeply valued the chance to work with the reviewers. They gave me excellent input on the program.

- There were some very interesting papers and posters presented, more than I could possibly have attended.

- I was surprised -- although, given the economy, perhaps I should not have been -- at the number of posters that did not make it to convention.

- For me, the convention got off to a poor start when the fire alarm at my hotel sounded at 2:00 a.m. Walking down 16 flights of stairs, waiting, and then having difficulty getting back to sleep, made me so tired that I missed some sessions that I had hoped to see. In my younger days I might have made it through the convention despite the poor sleep, but I'm not as young as I used to be. Such is life.

- I greatly enjoyed meeting several people whose research I have read and deeply respected. By far, that was a highlight of the convention for me.

- Division 36, FWIW, appears to be one of (if not the) most conservative groups in APA. Like many things in life, whether or not this is a good thing depends on one's perspective.

- Toronto is a remarkably vibrant city. A highlight was visiting The Royal Ontario Museum where I saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as several other fascinating exhibits.


On another topic from APA a few years ago, I see more information about psychologists involved in so-called 'harsh interrogation' is becoming available. When the news broke a few years ago, I nearly left APA. The organization's tepid response to the situation left me very dissatisfied, and I remain ambivalent at best about APA. Years ago, I left APA because it focused on practice and neglected research. I rejoined when it appeared to balance the two interests more effectively. Now, I find that its morals and mine are not quite consonant. There isn't enough of a discrepancy for me to part ways, but I confess to being distinctly unsatisfied. Not that anyone has asked, but this is one of the things that blogs are for, right?

APA in Toronto

If you are headed to Toronto for APA next week, consider visiting the Royal Ontario Museum. Among their exhibits is The Dead Sea Scrolls, which drew 18,000 visitors in its first 9 days. Here is more info about the exhibit. Sure, visit CN Tower and enjoy the rest of the city, but how often will you have a chance to see the famous scrolls?