Social psychologist and professor emeritus of psychology at Fresno State Dr. Robert V. Levine will give a lecture titled “The Voices in Our Heads.”
His talk is scheduled for March 22 from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Alice Peters Auditorium and will revolve around the inner workings of the human mind and the voices within it.
Levine’s latest book, “Stranger in the Mirror: The Scientific Search for the Self,” is the basis for the lecture. He also wrote “A Geography of Time” (1998) and “The Power of Persuasion: How We’re Bought and Sold” (2006). His writing has been featured in The New York Times, American Scientist and Discover.
“The voices can be frightening, as in the uncontrollable hallucinations sometimes experienced during mental illness,” Levine said. “But inner voices aren’t confined to the mentally ill. They are as normal as thinking, for better and for worse and in a symphony of forms. They may be experienced as silent or aloud, as friend or foe, sometimes helpful and other times annoying.”
Levine has won a number of awards for his research, teaching and writing. He received the Excellence in Teaching Award from Fresno State in 2007.
The lecture is part of the spring programming for Fresno State’s Center for Creativity and the Arts and ties into the programming’s theme of “Voice and Silence.”
“Dr. Levine’s ‘Voices in Our Heads’ is a provocative exploration of the idea of expression through the stories and narratives we create internally,” said Dr. Cindy Urrutia, director of the center.