Introduction to Learning and Behavior

Dr. Russell Powell earned his Ph.D. in psychology under the late Frank Epling and David Pierce at the University of Alberta. Now serving as Chair of Psychology and Sociology at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Dr. Powell was the first instructor to develop and offer university-level courses via computer-managed learning--a nontraditional, alternative delivery format. He has taught and published across a diverse range of areas, including social psychology, experimental psychology, operant conditioning, sleep paralysis nightmares and Freud criticism. Recently, Dr. Powell has become involved in the controversy over the nature and causes of dissociative identity disorder, coauthoring…  More articles promoting a social learning perspective that have appeared in the CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY (Powell and Gee, 1999) and PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN (Lilienfeld et al., 1999).  Less

Diane G. Symbaluk received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Alberta and is currently a faculty member in the Department of Social Sciences at MacEwan University. Her research background includes the investigation of self-control and impulsiveness in sex offenders, activity anorexia in male athletes, and the effect of social modeling and self efficacy on pain perception and tolerance. Dr. Symnaluk is author of various teaching and study aids, as well as of various articles, two of which appeared in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Symbaluk et al., 1997), and Teaching of Psychology (Symbaluk and Cameron, 1998).

Lynne Honey--a self-described "evolutionary behaviorist"--completed a Ph.D. in experimental psychology in Jeff Galef's lab at McMaster University, studying the role of social learning on alcohol consumption in rats. She has published a number of papers on this topic and considers social learning to be one of the most powerful adaptations available to our species and others. Dr. Honey joined the Department of Psychology at MacEwan University in 2003 because of its focus on teaching and student engagement. She currently conducts research on human social behavior in an evolutionary context, including studies of dominance, attraction, and cooperation.