Daryl Bem
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Daryl J. Bem is a social psychologist at Cornell University, and the originator of the self-perception theory of attitude change. He has also carried out research on psi phenomena (a technical term for "E.S.P."), group decision making, handwriting analysis, sexual orientation and personality theory and assessment.
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[edit] Life
[edit] Biography
Bem received a B.A. in physics from Reed College in 1960, and began graduate work in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The civil rights movement had just begun, and he became so intrigued with the changing attitudes toward desegregation in the American South that he decided to switch fields and pursue a career as a social psychologist specializing in attitudes and public opinion. He obtained his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan in 1964, and has since taught at Carnegie-Mellon University, Stanford, Harvard, and Cornell University, where he has been since 1978.
Bem is coauthor of an introductory textbook in psychology and the author of Beliefs, Attitudes, and Human Affairs (1970). He testified before a subcommittee of the United States Senate on the psychological effects of police interrogation, and has served as an expert witness in court cases involving sex discrimination.
[edit] Career
Bem is perhaps best known for his theory of "self-perception", the most oft-cited competitor to Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory. According to the self-perception theory, people infer their attitudes from their own behavior much as an outside observer might. For example, a person asked to give a pro-Fidel Castro speech would consequently view him or herself as more in favor of Castro.
In parapsychology, Bem is known for his defense of the Ganzfeld experiment as empirical evidence of "psi", more commonly known as ESP or psychic phenomena. Bem also supports the idea of a connection between psi and quantum phenomena. More recently, Bem has investigated backward causation.
