Darryl Neill: Professor Darryl Neill describes how Emory psychologists interact with scientists from other areas to integrate knowledge, thus helping to address major health issues. Neill studies the neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of brain mechanisms for mood, motivation, and reward, particularly brain mechanisms that support drug abuse.
The Department of Psychology provides undergraduates with a broad understanding of issues and problems in contemporary psychology, while at the same time offering specialization in particular areas of research for faculty and graduate students: Clinical Psychology, Cognition and Development, and Neuroscience and Animal Behavior. The clinical program is ranked in the top 20 nationally by U.S. News and World Report.
In addition to classroom and laboratory research, Emory psychologists serve needs in the Atlanta community through the following programs:
Psychological Center (established in 1965),
directed by Cynthia Messina,
serves children, adolescents and adults, while providing training for advanced doctoral candidates.
Infant and Child Lab, led by Philippe Rochat, focuses on issues of early social cognition, and early emotional and moral development.
Language and Learning Lab, headed by Laura Namy, studies how typically developing children learn, particularly how they learn language, use other forms of communication such as gestures, and learn categories.
Spatial Cognition Laboratory, led by Stella Lourenco, focuses on the development of spatial perception and reasoning, as well as developing interventions that can maximize spatial and numerical competence in children and adults.
Family Narratives Project, led by Robyn Fivush, investigates how children and adults remember and create meaningful accounts of their past experiences through examining personal and family narratives.
With the addition of a Brain Imaging Center, Emory scholars and students will be able to make great strides in research involving mind-brain initiatives.
Fast Facts
Faculty size: 32 tenure-track and five lecture-track faculty, including eight endowed-chair professors and four recipients of the Emory Williams Award for outstanding undergraduate teaching in the social sciences (Professors Duke, Edwards, Nowicki and Neill).
Majors: Faculty provide instruction in two of the College’s largest undergraduate majors: Psychology (344 students) and Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology (233 students)
Faculty connections: Yerkes National Primate Center, Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life (MARIAL), Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN)
Recent faculty awards/achievements
Larry Barsalou, Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society and Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology.
Frans de Waal, National Academy of Sciences member and featured in 2007 special issue of TIME magazine’s Top 100: The People Who Shape Our World.
David Edwards, Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Lecture Education.
Eugene Emory, National Institute of Mental Health grant.
Sherryl Goodman, Co-editor of Women and Depression: A Handbook for the Social, Behavioral, and Biomedical Sciences, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Donna Maney, National Science Foundation Faculty and Career Development Award winner.
Steve Nowicki, Pearl S. Rieger Humanitarian Award (Rush Neurobehavior Center, Chicago) and 2007 Outstanding Mentor Award from the Southeastern Psychological Association.
Elaine Walker, Co-editor of Adolescent Psycho-pathology and the Developing Brain: Integrating Brain and Prevention Science,” Oxford University Press, 2007.
Drew Westen, Author of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.
