John Carter, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Brief Bio . . .
John received his BA in Religion from Pomona College in 1993, writing his Senior Thesis on "The Five Gods: or, a five-way cross-cultural classification of gods and goddesses." He then decided to make the switch to psychology, and spent the next several years working at a psychiatric hospital, taking psychology classes, and taking the first steps toward research in schizophrenia.
This led to a Ph.D. program in Counseling Psychology at the University of Southern California. During his stay at USC, John was mentored by Don Polkinghorne in the area of theoretical psychology; Sarnoff Mednick in the area of etiology and developmental course of schizophrenia; Rod Goodyear in the area of clinical supervision; Dallas Willard in the area of phenomenological philosophy; and Josef Parnas (University of Copenhagen) in the area of phenomenology of schizophrenia. He completed his Ph.D. in 2006, writing his Dissertation on "A Phenomenological Topology of Positive Interpersonal Emotions."
John has been working as Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of West Georgia since the Fall of 2007. He still feels like "the new kid on the block," but is enjoying the experience immensely. Courses that he has enjoyed teaching include Humanistic Psychology, Research Methods, Theories of Counseling, Emotion Theory, and Psychology of Myth and Symbol. He is looking forward to developing an Advanced Abnormal Psychology course on the Psychoses for Spring 2009. He is also maintaining an active research program in the areas of emotion, schizophrenia, and supervision. Starting in Fall 2008, he took on the mantle of interim webmaster for the Division of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Division 24).
John is proud to be joined in Georgia by his dynamic wife Anabel and their adorable son Tristan. His hobbies include hiking and music, but he has been somewhat stymied on both fronts since arriving in Georgia: one due to lack of time and inspiration; the other due to abundance of ticks and chiggers!
Favorite Media of All Sorts (Books, Plays, Movies, Recordings, etc.) . . .
The Shining, Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick)
Inland Empire, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, Dune (David Lynch)
Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
The Satanic Verses, Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
The Lord of the Rings (both J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson)
Star Wars I-VI (George Lucas)
The Phenomenology of Perception (Maurice Merleau-Ponty)
The Paradoxes of Delusion (Louis Sass)
The Book of the SubGenius (J.R. "Bob" Dobbs)
Equus, Amadeus (Peter Shaffer)
Long Day's Journey into Night (Eugene O'Neill)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Edward Albee)
Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett)
Nostradamus, Angel of Retribution, Defenders of the Faith, Unleashed in the East (Judas Priest)
Close to the Edge, Fragile (Yes)
Passion Play, Thick as a Brick (Jethro Tull)
Eight/Thirteen, Like the Idea (Think Tree)
Affluenza, Robots Anonymous (Count Zero)
The Downward Spiral, Year Zero (Nine Inch Nails)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Charles Ives, Aaron Copeland
New in Spring 2009: A Classic Text Adventure Game
New in Fall 2009: Clinical Practicum Application for Spring 2010