Join me Tuesday, October 11th, for a live and interactive
FutureofEducation.com webinar with Timothy D. Wilson on his new book,
Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change. The book is not only a fascinating look at the inner workings of personal change (often with regard to self-perceptions in an academic environment), but it is also a clarion call to actually test and measure the results of social change programs--programs which often receive significant financial and cultural support while not actually producing the results they promise, and sometimes even making things worse. We'll talk with Professor Wilson about his book, his experiences in education, and what the implications of his work might be as we think about the current education reform movements.
Date: Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (
international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at
http://futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit
the support and configuration page. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Recordings: The full Blackboard Collaborate recording and a portable .mp3 audio recording will be available the day after the interview.
From Wikipedia: "
Timothy D. Wilson is the Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia and a researcher of self-knowledge and affective forecasting.
"Wilson has published a trade book,
Strangers to Ourselves and co-authored Social Psychology an introductory textbook on social psychology. The textbook has been translated into Italian, Polish, Chinese, German, Russian, and Serbian, and
Strangers to Ourselves has been translated into Dutch and Japanese, with Chinese and German editions forthcoming.
"Wilson is best known for his research on self-knowledge, including affective forecasting. Along with Richard Nisbett, Wilson authored one of Psychology's most cited papers 'Telling more than we can know - Verbal reports on mental processes' that demonstrated the difficulty humans have in introspecting on their own mental processes (Psychological Review, 1977, cited 2731 times as of May 22, 2007 according to ISI Web of Knowledge). His longtime collaborator is Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University.
"His research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation. In 2001 he received an All-University Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Virginia. In 2009, he was named as a fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
"He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife, Deirdre Smith. He has two children, Christopher and Leigh."
Publisher Description: "What if there were a magic pill that could make you happier, turn you into a better parent, solve a number of your teenager's behavior problems, reduce racial prejudice, and close the achievement gap in education? Well, there is no such magic pill-but there is a new scientifically based approach called story editing that can accomplish all of this. It works by redirecting the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us, with subtle prompts, in ways that lead to lasting change. In Redirect, world-renowned psychologist Timothy Wilson shows how story-editing works and how you can use it in your everyday life.
"The other surprising news is that many existing approaches-from the multi-billion dollar self-help industry to programs that discourage drug use and drinking-don't work at all. In fact, some even have the opposite effect. Most programs are not adequately tested, many do not work, and some even do harm. For example, there are programs that have inadvertently made people unhappy, raised the crime rate, increased teen pregnancy, and even hastened people's deaths-in part by failing to redirect people's stories in healthy ways.
"In short, Wilson shows us what works, what doesn't, and why. Fascinating, groundbreaking, and practical, Redirect demonstrates the remarkable power small changes can have on the ways we see ourselves and the world around us, and how we can use this in our everyday lives. In the words of David G. Myers, 'With wit and wisdom, Wilson shows us how to spare ourselves worthless (or worse) interventions, think smarter, and live well.'"
