Robert E. Ornstein
| Robert Evan Ornstein | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1942 Brooklyn, New York[1] |
| Pen name | Robert E. Ornstein, Robert Ornstein |
| Occupation | Psychologist, researcher and author |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BA in psychology, City University of New York's Queens College; PhD, Stanford University |
| Alma mater | Queens College, City University of New York, USA |
| Genre | Psychology |
| Subject | Scientific research into the mind, consciousness, split-brain; wisdom traditions such as Sufism |
Robert Evan Ornstein (born 1942)[2] is an American psychologist, researcher and author.
He has taught at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute, based at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, and been professor at Stanford University[3] and chairman of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK).
Life
Early life and education
Robert Evan Ornstein was born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and grew up in the city. He was twice high school math champion in a city-wide contest, and "wavered between physics and poetry before compromising on psychology" at the City University of New York's Queens College.[1]
In 1964 he was awarded a bachelor's degree in psychology at Queens College, and went on to gain a PhD at Stanford University, California in 1968.[1] His doctoral thesis was On the Experience of Time.[1]
Psychology career
Ornstein has been involved in reconciling the scientific understanding of mind and consciousness with other scientific and cultural traditions. His work has been featured in a 1974 Time magazine article entitled Hemispheric Thinker.[1]
He has written on the brain's role in health in The Healing Brain with David Sobel of Kaiser Permanente; the way in which human consciousness is unable to understand the fast paced modern world in New World New Mind: Moving Toward Conscious Evolution with Paul Ehrlich; and the way in which our current consciousness has developed in The Axemaker’s Gift, with James Burke. He worked to reconcile the wisdom traditions of the east and science in The Psychology of Consciousness and is interested in promoting the modern Sufism of Idries Shah.[4] Shah and Ornstein met in the 1960s.[4] Realizing that Ornstein could be an ideal partner in propagating his teachings, translating them into the idiom of psychotherapy, Shah made him his deputy in the United States.[4] Ornstein's The Psychology of Consciousness (1972)[5][6] was enthusiastically received by the academic psychology community, as it coincided with new interests in the field, such as the study of biofeedback and other techniques designed to achieve shifts in mood and awareness.[4] Ornstein's book The Right Mind[7][8] deals with split-brain studies and other experiments or clinical evidence revealing the abilities of the right cerebral hemisphere.
Partial bibliography
Books written
- On the Experience of Time (Penguin Books, 1969)
- The Psychology of Consciousness (Harcourt Brace, 1972). ISBN 0670581984[5][6]
- 4th rev. ed. (Penguin Books, 1986)
- On the Psychology of Meditation, coauthor to Claudio Naranjo (Allen & Unwin, 1973)
- The Mind Field (Viking Press, 1976)[3]
- paperback (Malor Books, 1996)
- The Amazing Brain, with Richard F. Thompson (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984)
- Multimind (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986)
- The Healing Brain, with David Sobel (Simon & Schuster, 1987). ISBN 0671619454
- New World, New Mind: Moving Towards Conscious Evolution, co-authored with Paul R. Ehrlich (Methuen, 1989)
- The Evolution of Consciousness, illustrated by Ted Dewan (Prentice-Hall US, 1991)
- The Roots of the Self, illustrated by Ted Dewan (HarperCollins US, 1993)
- The Axemaker’s Gift, with James Burke, illustrated by Ted Dewan (G. P. Putnam's Sons US, 1995)
- The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres (Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997)[7][8]
- MindReal: How the Mind Creates its Own Virtual Reality illustrated by Ted Dewan (Malor Books, 2008)
- Humanity on a Tightrope: Thoughts on Empathy, Family, and Big Changes for a Viable Future co-author Paul R. Ehrlich (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010))
Books edited
- Ornstein, Robert E., ed. (4 March 1974). The Nature of Human Consciousness (A Book of Readings). New York, USA: Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-50480-7. (Hardcover)
- Ornstein, Robert E.; Swencionis, Charles, eds. (15 March 1991). The Healing Brain: A Scientific Reader. New York, USA: The Guilford Press. ISBN 0-89862-463-0. (Paperback)
Academic monographs
- Physiological Studies of Consciousness (Institute for Cultural Research, 1973)[9]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Staff (8 July 1974). "Behavior: Hemispherical Thinker". Time. Retrieved 2010-02-08. On page 2, the Time article gives the place of birth as Brooklyn, New York.
- ↑ Staff. "Ornstein, Robert E. (Robert Evan) (1942–)". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved 2010-02-08. The web page gives the birth year as 1942.
- 1 2 Lingeman, Richard R. (10 November 1976). "Psychologist Sheds a Mystical Light on Technology". The Dispatch. Lexington, North Carolina, USA. p. 10. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- 1 2 3 4 Westerlund, David (ed.) (2004). Sufism in Europe and North America. New York, NY: RoutledgeCurzon. p. 53. ISBN 0-415-32591-9.
- 1 2 W. G. (June 1973). "Review: The Psychology of Consciousness by R. E. Ornstein". The Review of Metaphysics. Philosophy Education Society Inc. 26 (4): 761. JSTOR 20126325.
- 1 2 Lex, Barbara W. (June 1976). "Review: The Psychology of Consciousness by Robert E. Ornstein". American Anthropologist. American Anthropological Association. 78 (2): 395–396. doi:10.1525/aa.1976.78.2.02a00680. JSTOR 675298. New Series. Published by Blackwell Publishing for the AAA.
- 1 2 Golden, Frederic (10 October 1997). "Second Thoughts About Brain Hemispheres / Psychologist revises theories about left-side right-side functions". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- 1 2 Burne, Jerome (28 August 1998). "Science: Two brains are better than one". The Independent. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- ↑ Robert E. Ornstein, Physiological studies of consciousness, ICR Monograph Series No. 11, Institute for Cultural Research, 1973, ISBN 0-904674-00-2.