James Dillon

Professor

Phone: 678-839-0607 | Fax: | jdillon@westga.edu

• View My Vitae

Biography

Jim received his B.A. in psychology from the College of the Holy Cross, his M.A. and Ph.D. in developmental Psychology from Clark University. His educational background is in Cognitive Development, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Literature, and Aesthetics. His principal interest lies in the examination and development of human symbolic capacities, specifically, those processes by which we endow experience with meaning, value, and purpose. He is particularly interested in how young children make meaning in their lives and the relationship between these early symbolic capacities and adult development. He does research on children's drawing and artwork, adult symbolism under special conditions, and the effectiveness of various teaching techniques including seminar discussions for children and adults.

Courses Taught

• PSYC-1101 (Intro to General Psychology) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-1040 (Career/Job Search Strategies) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-2000 (Humanistic Psychology) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-3010 (Human Growth and Development) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-4070 (Psychology of Myth and Symbol) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-4884 (Integrative Seminar) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-6000 (Foundations Humanistic Psych) [ View Syllabus ]
• PSYC-6010 (Human Growth and Potential) [ View Syllabus ]

Selected Publications

• Dillon, J. (in press). Benjamin Franklin’s wonder-based approach to learning and education: Lessons for today. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice. [ View Publication ]
• Dillon, J. (2006). The tears of Priam: Reflections on Troy and teaching of ancient texts. Humanitas, 19(1&2): 126-131. [ View Publication ]
• Dillon, J. (2008). Reclaiming humanistic psychology from modernity: Problems and solutions. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48(2), 221-242.
• Dillon, J., Sagarin, J., & Bibace, R. (2008). Change in reasoning about the body Through psychological distancing activities. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(4), 254-258.
• Dillon, J. (2006). Irving Babbitt’s “New Humanism” and Its Potential Value to Humanistic Psychology. The Humanistic Psychologist, 34(1), 59-73.
• Dillon, J. (2003). Bringing counseling to the classroom and the residence hall: The university learning community. Journal of Humanistic Counseling Education and Development, 42, 194-208.
• Dillon, J. (2002). The role of the child in adult development. The Journal of Adult Development, 9(4), 267-275.

Influential Works

Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Sigmund Freud); Book of Psalms (King David); Jesus: A New Vision (Marcus Borg); Magister Ludi (Hermann Hesse); The Doors of Perception (Aldous Huxley); The Culture of Narcissism (Christopher Lasch); The Earthsea Trilogy (Ursula K. LeGuin); Toward a Psychology of Being (Abraham H. Maslow); The Equilibration of Cognitive Structures (Jean Piaget); Oration on the Dignity of Man (Pico della Mirandola); Lost in the Cosmos (Walker Percy); Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle); Republic (Plato); The Denial of Death (Ernest Becker); I and Thou (Martin Buber); An Essay on Man (Ernst Cassirer); The Interpretation of Dreams (Sigmund Freud); The Way of a Pilgrim (Anonymous); Timaeus (Plato); Symbol Formation (Heinz Werner & Bernard Kaplan)