John J Furedy - Furedy Research and Advising

Research
Interests

Home

DANIEL BERLYNE
(1924-76):
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

Daniel Berlyne was a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto from 1962-76. He was part of the "Young Turk" movement that transformed a department oriented to clincial and applied psychology into a research-oriented, internationally-renowned instituition. Unlike most of the other "young Turks", he was a maverick, regarded as "too cognitive" at the beginning of his career, and not enough at the end. He began, in the 1950s. by proposing that curiosity be added as a drive to the Hullian biological drives, and near the end of his short life, he began to establish experimental aesthetics as a new area of investigation that he wished to study in terms of Hullian principles. The papers in this section represent biographical work on Berlyne. The source material for most of these papers were in my lab at the University of Toronto from the late seventies to 2005. After I left for Australia in October 2005, this material remained in a room from my lab that the department generously had me retain. Because the department's recent need for research space, the material was moved, in June, 2006, to the laboratory of Professor Chris Green (christo@yorku.ca) of York University's History and Theory in Psychology, whose student, Ms. Marissa Barnes (marisbar@yorku.ca) is currently doing an M.A. with Prof Green). We hope to continue our transcontinental, electronic collaboration that explores the significance of Berlyne for various areas of psychology. These areas include experimental aesthetics (a field that he founded in the early seventies), where, almost 30 years after his death, he is still the most frequently cited individual. Scholars interested in collaborating in this project are invited to contact Professor Green, who now holds the relevant physical source material.