Neil R. Carlson
I did my undergraduate work at the University of Illinois. Initially, I had planned to study nuclear physics, but when I discovered in an introductory psychology course that psychology was really a science, I decided that was what I wanted to do. Before formally changing my major, I talked with several professors in their laboratories, and when I saw what physiological psychologists do, I knew that I had found my niche. I stayed on at Illinois and received my Ph.D., working with Garth Thomas. Then, after a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa, I came to the University of Massachusetts, and I've been there ever since.

I wrote my first textbook, Physiology of Behaviour, while on sabbatical leave at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia. That established a family tradition of spending time in beautiful and interesting places, and we subsequently lived in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, in the heart of Paris, and in an eighteenth-century stone farmhouse deep in the Ardeche region of France. I was the first Allyn and Bacon author to submit a book manuscript on a computer disc. Since that time, technology has changed enormously. Now, my publisher requires that manuscripts be submitted that way. I assembled my first computer from a kit, but now my wife and I each have portable notebook computers that are ideal for writing while away from home.

A few years ago, I began collaborating with Jay Alexander, an artist who also works as a lab technician here at UMass. Jay and I now prepare all the artwork for my books. As I learned more about computer graphics, I began work on animations, and I prepared a computerized version of the study guide that my wife and I wrote to accompany Psychology: The Science of Behaviour. My favourite hobbies are computers and traveling to interesting places—but I already said that, didn't I? I enjoy water skiing and cross-country skiing (which I can do out my back door), and recently my daughter has introduced me to the pleasure (and pain) of downhill skiing. She has also introduced me to the pleasures of doting on a grandson, born last May.
 

William Buskist
Bill Buskist received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Brigham Young University in 1981. As a graduate student, he taught courses in introductory psychology, research methods, learning, motivation, and sociobiology to undergraduates at the BYU main campus and to military personnel at Dugway Proving Grounds in western Utah. His first full-time teaching position was at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado where he taught courses in introductory psychology, research methods, abnormal psychology, memory and cognition, personality, and learning. Bill is currently professor of psychology at Auburn University, where he has taught introductory psychology for nearly every term over the past 14 years. He also teaches courses in learning, preparing for graduate study in psychology, and the teaching of psychology.

Bill's most recent research has focused on teaching and teaching methods. In particular, he has been investigating the variables central to the development of student-teacher rapport and how they influence both student interest in course content and student learning. From this work, Bill intends to develop specific exercises that will enhance student-teacher rapport and student learning. Bill has also been investigating student assessment of specific personal qualities of teachers that contribute to high quality teaching.

Outside of work, Bill spends most of his time with his family. He and his wife, Connie, an elementary school teacher, enjoy travelling and visiting national parks with their five children: Tara, 19; Colin, 17; Caden 15; and Kyle and Cale, 11. On weekends, most members of the Buskist family can usually be found white water kayaking on nearby rivers and creeks. Bill also enjoys training for and competing in triathlons.
 

C. Donald Heth
Psychology first started to interest me when I was in high school. I read a short but interesting book called Exploring Behaviour. I was intrigued by the way important questions about the brain could be answered by observation and experiment. The science teachers at my high school encouraged my interests and, when I started college, I was pretty sure that psychology was what I wanted to do.

I studied at, what was then a private college, New College in Sarasota, Florida. New College is now part of the University of South Florida, but both then and now it stressed concentrated and individualistic instruction. I remember one afternoon having coffee with James Watson, the co-discoverer of DNA's structure; it brought home to me the way scientific discovery was tied to individual vision and commitment.

I met my future wife when we both found ourselves on a summer study trip to India. Partly because she lived in New York at the time, I became familiar with the universities in the northeastern United States. So, when I considered graduate school, I was familiar with Yale University. I was accepted into their program and was especially fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Robert Rescorla (whose work you will find not just in this textbook, but in any textbook that describes the process of learning). Bob was especially open to new ideas and, on one memorable occasion, helped me transport about fifty very noisy chicks in the back of his wife's car.

I had grown up in Seattle and, more so than most Americans, knew something about Canada. I even worked one summer for Air Canada, and I can still recite the airport codes for western Canadian cities. When I was invited to work at the University of Alberta, I accepted it gladly. (Well, okay, I wasn't too sure about the winters, but you must remember that I had lived for many years in Florida.) I've been at the U of A for 25 years now and feel privileged to have had such fine colleagues in the Canadian psychological community.

I think it's due to the fact that I've had such fine teachers and professors that I've found myself always challenged and energized by the scientific process. Although my original work was with animal behaviour, I've been involved with research projects involving many other areas of experimental psychology. My most recent work concerns the way both children and adults use information about space to navigate. In particular, I and the people I work with have been looking at lost person behaviour, with the ultimate objective of developing expert systems that could help the RCMP locate people who are lost in the wilderness.

Working with police service agencies has been particularly gratifying. Not only has it shown me ways that psychology can help in vital ways to solve urgent problems of our community, but I have also met some of the fine men and women involved in Canada's search and rescue community. I've also developed, through one of our associates, a real interest in dog-sledding. So, I guess I've come full circle again to trying to understand animal behaviour.
 

Michael E. Enzle
My first exposure to the formal discipline of psychology happened when I was 16 years old. I remember the specific event very well. It was a pivotal point in my life. My family was shopping for sparklers at a bargain store. I looked in a bin of books on sale for 15 cents each. Sigmund Freud looked back at me. I picked up the book, thumbed though it, and found my own fireworks. It was a slim volume, and I read the entire book during the ride home. I was so impressed that I approached one of my science teachers to see if he knew anything about psychology, and whether I might be able to fashion a science project around the topic. Amazingly, he not only knew something, he was taking a psychology course at a nearby college. Under his guidance and the help of two other brilliant teachers, I made a 180 degree turn and ended up doing a project on learning in invertebrates—worms!

I was certain then that I wanted to be an academic psychologist, a teacher and a researcher. I majored in psychology at Miami University in Ohio where in my first year I moved up to rats. During my second year my good fortune at finding wonderful teachers repeated itself when I took a course in social psychology. The professor studied both lower animals (principally falcons) and humans. He infused his lectures with real examples and personal anecdotes that made the material live. The theories made sense to me, and I enjoyed reading the research. I started working with this professor as an assistant in his research program, and eventually began conducting experiments of my own design.

I arrived at graduate school at the University of Connecticut ready to become a social psychologist. My love of psychology deepened, and my interests expanded. I began a career-long interest in motivation and social relations. Shortly before I defended my dissertation, at the height of looking for a job, my supervisor handed me a notice about a job at the University of Alberta. I had two offers in hand from other universities, but I was intrigued by a large psychology department so far north. I applied, and was invited for an interview. I resonated with the people, the university and the city. I was overjoyed when I was offered the job.

I continue to do social psychological research. I teach introductory psychology every year in addition to advanced courses. I've also become, as many academics do, an administrator. About half of my time is involved in overseeing human research protections at the university for the Vice-President responsible for research. And over the past few years, I've had another dream come true, that of authoring an introductory psychology text.

My personal life centres around my wonderful family and friends. My wife and I are avid travellers. As I write this, we have just acquired a camperized van and are preparing to leave on a big road trip. It's a great life.