Richard Halverson

I regularly teach four courses at Luther. General Psychology is probably my favorite as it gives me the privilege to introduce what I think is the most fascinating but also sometimes the most frustrating of disciplines, psychology, which seeks to understand human action, thought, and feeling. I also teach Research Methods. This course is designed to acquaint students with the specific methods used in psychology to understand behavior.

At a more applied level I teach a course called Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology. I/O Psychology is the application of the principles and methods of psychology to the work place focusing on increasing both worker productivity and job satisfaction. The final course is entitled Personality and Individual Differences which is concerned with understanding those forces (biological, social, and psychological) which make each of us the unique person we are.

I was born and raised in the Boston area and am proud to be a first generation American, my father being Canadian and my mother English. Not surprising given this background, students can still occasionally detect a somewhat weird accent when I lecture. I have been happily married for 32 years which, as my wife is fond of saying, is not bad out of a total of 41, reading (especially the history of polar exploration and British “drawing room” mysteries), collecting English pottery (especially Royal Doulton),  taking long drives in the car with my wife listening to books on tape, and dreaming about the trips to both the arctic and Antarctic I plan to take upon retirement.