Psychology and the Other 2011
posted by Michael Szul in psychology (conferences) on
As student member of the American Psychological Association, you get the opportunity to join various divisions that pertain to different interests and ideas. Coming from a religion and philosophy background, one of the first divisions that drew my attention was the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. This division called to my inner philosopher almost immediately, and I was ecstatic to discover through their mailing list that Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts was hosting a conference entitled: Psychology and the Other.
Psychology and the Other represents a conference for discussing the divorce of psychology from the realm of the spiritual and the philosophical, while entertaining ideas that seek to either understand the connection between these disciplines or find ways to once again indulge in an amalgamation of them.
The conference was held on the 1st-3rd of October, but unfortunately due to prior obligations the Friday before the official start of the conference and work the following week, I was only able to attend Saturday. Furthermore, because of the late time of my Friday obligation, I didn’t actually get to leave for Cambridge until 5:00am Saturday morning. By the time I arrived 10 1/2 hours later, I was physically and mentally exhausted.
As a result of my limited stay, I was only present for the poster presentations (one of which was mine), but I can say that the campus was charming, while the volunteers were extremely helpful and friendly. The poster presentation session itself was highly interactive – more so than most poster presentations I’ve attended. I received a great deal of feedback and compliments on my work, and additionally, received contact information from professors and students alike who wished to know more when I completed my paper.
By the time the poster presentation session was over, it was back on the road for me with another 5 1/2 hour drive to New Jersey (where I was staying while spending a few days on-site at work). Despite this limited time, the Psychology and the Other conference quickly became my favorite, and I’m very much looking forward to attending the next time it is held.