News Release
August 29, 2005
For Immediate Release
Northwestern's Medin Elected to APS Board of Directors
Douglas Medin has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Society, an international organization dedicated to the advancement of scientific psychology.
APS is the only association solely dedicated to supporting researchers, applied and clinical scientists, academics, and teachers in the fields of psychology. The Society is a powerful voice in promoting psychology as a science-based discipline and advancing behavioral science research on Capitol Hill.
"APS is an important component in fostering a community of scholars," said Medin, who is a professor and chair of the psychology department at Northwestern University, as well as the Director of Program in Culture, Language, and Cognition.
Medin, an APS Fellow, first became interested in the scientific investigation of behavioral phenomena when he wanted to understand, "why my friends, who were so inquisitive and insightful outside of school, were getting poor grades in school." This initial question has led Medin to focus his research on topics such as understanding cultural processes associated with nature and science learning, categorization and reasoning, and morally motivated decision making.
Among the challenges facing today's psychological researchers is the ability for the field, "to be relevant to real world problems without claiming more than our current scientific knowledge can support," said Medin.
Medin is the winner of the 2005 APA's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, a significant portion of Medin's research includes cross-cultural comparison, which has involved studying categorization of different biological types within different populations in Guatemala and Mexico.
Currently serving on the executive committee for the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Devine also serves as editor for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition.
Also elected to the APS Board of Directors is Patricia Devine, University of Wisconsin, Madison and APS President-elect Morton Ann Gernsbacher, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Each will serve a three-year term.
For more information about APS, go to www.psychologicalscience.org.