Contact: Maridith Geuder
A psychologist widely recognized for his criticism of parapsychology speaks Thursday [March 25] at two Mississippi State University events.
Ray Hyman will present a public lecture on the topic "How We Are Fooled." The 3 p.m. program in Mitchell Memorial Library auditorium is sponsored by the campus chapter of Sigma Xi scientific research society.
Widely published in the areas of information theory, perception, pattern recognition, and problem solving, he has written more than 200 research papers critical of parapsychology, the branch of psychology dealing with psychic phenomena.
Recently, the Oregon State University psychology professor chaired a national panel that evaluated the U.S. government's psychic spying program. As a member of the National Research Council's Committee for the Enhancement of Human Performance, he also chaired subcommittees on paranormal phenomena and the detection of deceptions.
An OSU faculty member since 1961, Hyman has served as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bologna, Italy, and held the Thomas Wellington Stanford Chair for Psychical Research at Stanford University. He is a charter fellow of the American Psychological Society.
Also on Thursday, he will serve as Distinguished Sigma Xi Lecturer for the organization's annual awards banquet at the Starkville Ramada Inn (formerly Holiday Inn). "How Smart People Go Wrong" will be the title of his evening presentation.
For more information about the afternoon lecture, contact Frank Howell at (601) 325-2014. For more information about the awards banquet, contact David Monts at (601) 325-2931.