Psychologist to Discuss Links Between Impulsive Anger, Depression in 2009 Basowitz Lecture at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Charles S. Caver, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Miami, will speak on “Two Layers of the Mind: Serotonergic Function, and What Impulsive Aggression and Depression Have in Common” at The University of Alabama’s Harold Basowitz Lecture.

The lecture, sponsored by UA’s psychology department, will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, in room 208 of Gordon Palmer Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Carver received his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in personality psychology. His work spans the areas of personality psychology, social psychology, health psychology and, more recently, experimental psychopathology.

His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. He has been honored by Division 8 and 38 of the American Psychological Association for his career contributions to the areas of health and social psychology.

For the past six years, he has served as editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology’s section on “Personality Processes and Individual Differences.”

The Harold Basowitz Memorial Lecture is sponsored by the UA department of psychology in memory of Basowitz, who came to UA in 1940 and remained until called into military service. Basowitz returned to Tuscaloosa in 1946 and received his undergraduate degree from UA in 1947. He then went on to complete his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Princeton in 1951.

Basowitz’s distinguished career included administrative roles at the National Institute of Mental Health and professor of psychology for many years at New York University. Basowitz’s lifelong friend, professor Irving Alexander, is the donor of the Basowitz endowment.

The psychology department is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.