James Dillon, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology
Department of Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology College of Arts, Culture, and Scientific Inquiry

678-839-0607
jdillon@wes68WMyNtga.edu

Melson Hall - Room 116
Office Hours
By appointment

Download curriculum vitae for James Dillon, Ph.D. in PDF
James Dillon, Ph.D.

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. He is also a certified public elementary school teacher in Georgia. His educational background is in Philosophy, Cognitive Development, Education, Decision-Making, and Guidance Counseling. He does research on self-realization, human growth, parenting, spiritual discernment, and decision-making. He has conducted hundreds of interviews with children, adults, counselors, and teachers on what helps people to learn and grow. He has written several books on human flourishing including Partnerships in Research, Clinical, and Educational Settings (Praeger Press, 2000); Teaching Psychology and the Socratic Method (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2016); Inside Today’s Elementary Schools (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2019), the forthcoming Joy of Duty: Ethical Obligation and Human Happiness (Ethics International), as well as many professional research articles in journals such as Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice; Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology; Journal of Humanistic Counseling Education and Development; The Journal of Humanistic Psychology; and The Humanistic Psychologist.

Fall 2023 Sections

Summer 2023 Sections

Spring 2023 Sections

Fall 2022 Sections

Summer 2022 Sections

Spring 2022 Sections

Fall 2021 Sections

Summer 2021 Sections

Spring 2021 Sections

Fall 2020 Sections

Summer 2020 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: E01
  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: E01

Spring 2020 Sections

  • PSYC-1101 (Intro to General Psyc) Section: 12
  • PSYC-4160 (Psychology of Love) Section: 01
  • PSYC-9087 (Teaching Practicum) Section: 01

Fall 2019 Sections

  • PSYC-3010 (Human Growth and Development) Section: E05
  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: E01
  • PSYC-9999 (Dissertation) Section: E01

Summer 2019 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: E01
  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: E01

Spring 2019 Sections

  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: E01
  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: E02

Fall 2018 Sections

  • XIDS-2002 (WDYKA Making Decisions) Section: 08
  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: E02
  • PSYC-3010 (Human Growth and Development) Section: E01
  • PSYC-6899 (Yogic Pedagogy) Section: 01
  • PSYC-7810D (Jungian Journal Writing) Section: 02
  • PSYC-9999 (Dissertation) Section: E01

Summer 2018 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: E01
  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: E01
  • PSYC-5270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: E01

Spring 2018 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: E01
  • PSYC-3010 (Human Growth and Development) Section: E01
  • PSYC-6881 (Re-Discovery of the Sacred) Section: 08
  • PSYC-6899 (Thesis Rediscovering the Sacre) Section: 03
  • PSYC-6899 (Thesis) Section: 04
  • PSYC-6899 (Spirituality & Education) Section: 06
  • PSYC-8584 (Archetypes & Alchemy) Section: 03

Fall 2017 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: E01
  • PSYC-3010 (Human Growth and Development) Section: E01
  • PSYC-3010 (Human Growth and Development) Section: E02
  • PSYC-6899 (A Rediscovery of the Sacred) Section: 01

Summer 2017 Sections

  • PSYC-4070 (Psychology of Myth and Symbol) Section: 01
  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: 01
  • PSYC-5070 (Psychology of Myth and Symbol) Section: 01
  • PSYC-5270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: 01

Spring 2017 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: 01
  • PSYC-4887 (Practicum:Exper in Human Servc) Section: 01
  • PSYC-6785 (ADVANCED HORIZON SEMINAR Jung) Section: 01

Fall 2016 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: 01
  • PSYC-4085 (Horiz Sem-SOCRATES & Psyc) Section: 01
  • PSYC-4884 (Integrative Seminar) Section: 01

Summer 2016 Sections

  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: 01
  • PSYC-5270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: 01

Spring 2016 Sections

  • PSYC-4085 (Erich Fromm) Section: 03
  • PSYC-4884 (Integrative Seminar) Section: 01
  • PSYC-4887 (Practicum:Exper in Human Servc) Section: 01
  • PSYC-5085 (Erich Fromm) Section: 03

Fall 2015 Sections

  • PSYC-4884 (Integrative Seminar) Section: 02
  • PSYC-4887 (Practicum:Exper in Human Servc) Section: 02
  • PSYC-6010 (Human Growth and Potential) Section: 01

Summer 2015 Sections

  • PSYC-4070 (Psychology of Myth and Symbol) Section: 01
  • PSYC-4270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: 01
  • PSYC-5070 (Psychology of Myth and Symbol) Section: 01
  • PSYC-5270 (Psychology of Childhood) Section: 01

Spring 2015 Sections

  • PSYC-2010 (Psychology as a Human Science) Section: 01
  • PSYC-4884 (Integrative Seminar) Section: 02
  • PSYC-4887 (Practicum:Exper in Human Servc) Section: 01

Dillon, J. (2022). The joy of duty: Human happiness and ethical obligation. Ethics International.

Swogger, B., & Dillon, J. (2022). Historical foundations of affectivity and learning research: C.G. Jung’s word-association experiments. In P. Fossa & C. Cortés-Rivera (Eds.), Affectivity and learning: Bridging the gap between neurosciences, cultural an

Dillon, J. (2021). Occluding the obligational realm: How psychology misconstrues happiness. The Catholic Social Science Review, 26, 235-245.

Dillon, J. (2021). Reassembling the real person: A Jungian and mythical-dramatistic approach to human development. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 61(5), 786-805. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167819853072

Dillon, J. (2020). Humanistic psychology and the good: A forgotten link. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48(3), 244-256.

Dillon, J. (2019). Inside today's elementary schools: A psychologist's perspective. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Dillon, J. (2018). A letter to a new faculty member: How to stay sane in the academy. TheHumanistic Psychologist, 46(2), 147-158.

Dillon, J. (2016). Teaching psychology and the Socratic Method: Real knowledge in a virtualage. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [View Publication External Resource]

Dillon, J. (2013). Using Socrates to teach psychology: A humanistic approach to Psychology101. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 53(3), 362-385.

Dillon, J. (2011). Psychology and spiritual life writing. The Humanistic Psychologist, 39(2):137-153.

Dillon, J. (2010). Primal vision: The psychological effects of creation myth. The Journal ofHumanistic Psychology, 50(4), 495-513.

Dillon, J. (2009). Benjamin Franklin's wonder-based approach to learning and education:Lessons for today. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice. [View Publication (PDF)]

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 bodyThrough psychological distancing activities. Journal of AppliedDevelopmental 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. (2006). The tears of Priam: Reflections on Troy and teaching of ancienttexts. Humanitas, 19(1&2): 126-131. [View Publication (PDF)]

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)