Thursday, Oct 17

by David Myers

6:45pm Social Gathering – 7:30pm Presentation Begins
Integrated Learning Center, South Haven High School
600 Elkenburg St
South Haven, MI 49090

In a confusing era of alternative facts, fake news and civic leaders imposing fictions on reality, Myers will present lively and engaging insights. He gives examples of popular and potent false beliefs and explains how they develop.

He will also examine possible biases–and successful remedies–within his own field of psychological science.

Myers has researched and written on the subject of “gullibility” and along with other researcher-educators, finds the spread of misinformation troubling. “We feel distressed when public understandings radically diverge from reality-when people believe, contrary to evidence, that crime is rising, that new immigrants are often criminals…and that climate change is a hoax.” He notes that some misinformation is deliberate but that such things as sheer repetition, confirmation bias, statistical illiteracy, and group polarization also feed gullibility.

A long-time Professor of Psychology at Hope College, Myers is a gifted communicator of psychological science for the general public. His articles have appeared in four dozen magazines ranging from Scientific American to Christian Century, and he has authored 17 books including general interest and textbooks. Myers has received fellowships and grants from the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Science Foundation and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology.

He is one of the most important authors of psychology textbooks while his scientific writings, supported by National Science Foundation grants and fellowships, have appeared in three-dozen academic periodicals.

His professional accomplishments have been recognized with several awards including an “Honored Scientist” award from the Federation of Associations in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences, by the Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Personality-Social Psychology, and by three honorary doctorates.

SERIES LOOKS FORWARD TO 2020

Including former Douglas community development director Ryan Kilpatrick and ex-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Ryan Kilpatrick, now executive director at Housing Next of Grand Rapids, will speak on “Affordable Housing” in the SHS Integrated Learning Center April 11.

He worked from 2009 to 2014 in Douglas before becoming a community assistance team member for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. covering Region 4, which includes Allegan and Ottawa counties.

“The Great Lakes Water War” author Peter Annin, director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northwood College, will speak on “Protecting the Great Lakes” in the ILC May 9.

Annin, a former Newsweek reporter, associate director of the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources, and managing director of the University of Notre Dame’s Environmental Change Initiative, continues to report on the Great Lakes water diversion issue, publishing a second edition of “Water Wars” last fall.

After a summer hiatus, the series will resume Sept. 19 with Jennifer Granholm, governor from 2003 to 2011, discussing “Top Trends Affecting Michigan” in the school’s Listiak Auditorium.

She now is a Managing Partner of RIDGE-LANE LP, where she leads the firm’s sustainability practice. Granholm also teaches at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Hope College psychology professor David Myers will cap the series Oct. 17 speaking on “Smart Thinking in the Post-Truth Age” in the ILC.

Myers, the author of 17 books, is a supporter of the positive psychological movement and widely recognized for his research on happiness.