Dalbir Bindra

Last updated
Dalbir Bindra

Born(1922-06-11)June 11, 1922
DiedDecember 31, 1980(1980-12-31) (aged 58)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Alma mater
Known forTheories of motivation
Awards Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Scientific career
Fields Psychology
Institutions McGill University
Doctoral advisor J.C.R. Licklider
Doctoral students

Dalbir Bindra FRSC (June 11, 1922 - December 31, 1980) was a Canadian neuropsychologist and a professor in the psychology department at McGill University (1949-1980). [1] He is known for his contributions to the neurobiological study of motivation and behaviour and his two books on these topics; Motivation: A Systematic Reinterpretation (1959), and A Theory of Intelligent Behaviour (1976). He also served as chair of the McGill University Psychology Department (1975 - 1980). [2]

Contents

Early life

Dalbir Bindra was born in Rawalpindi, British India (now Pakistan). [1] He had three brothers, all of whom found success in military careers: two became generals and one became an admiral.

Dalbir Bindra, known as D.B. to his close friends and students, developed an interest in experimental psychology early on while completing his B.A. at Punjab University in Lahore. [3] He continued his studies at Harvard University, completing his M.A. in 1946 and his Ph.D. in 1948, both under the supervision of J.C.R. Licklider. [2] At Harvard, Bindra took classes under J.G. Beebe-Center, and was influenced by other members of the faculty including Edwin Boring, Gordon Allport, and Stanley Smith Stevens. His fellow students included Virginia Sanders, Mark Rosenzweig, Jim Egan, Davis Howes, George Miller, and Leo Postman. Bindra's Ph.D. thesis research and first publications examined motivation and hoarding behaviour in rats. [3]

Career

Bindra taught for two years at American University in Washington, D.C., before joining the Psychology Department at McGill University in 1949, when Donald O. Hebb was the Department Chair of Psychology. At McGill, the core of Bindra's research examined the neurophysiology of fear and motivation and the role of the former in the latter.

Bindra's research interests included the human threshold of pain, psychopharmacology, and neuropsychology, with a specific focus on the neural correlates of intelligent behaviour. He published his second book, A Theory of Intelligent Behaviour, in 1976, describing the integration of neural processes underlying motivation and sensory-motor coordination to produce intelligent behaviour.

Bindra's Ph.D. students include Lynn Nadel, psychologist and co-author of the widely cited book, The Hippocampus As a Cognitive Map (Nadel & O'Keefe, 1978), and Roy A. Wise, emeritus scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse who focuses on brain mechanisms of motivation and addiction, including the role of dopamine. [4]

Bindra was elected president of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1958. His presidential address described the relationship between experimental psychology and behaviour disorders. Bindra also served as chair of the Associate Committee on Experimental Psychology of the National Research Council of Canada from 1962 to 1968. In 1975, he was appointed the chair of the psychology department of McGill, a position he held for five years until his death on December 31, 1980, from a heart attack [1]

Research

Motivation

Bindra applied research in pharmacology and neurology to human executive functioning. He defined motivation as a dynamic interaction between biological, social, internal, and external factors. Internal factors included physiological and driving cues, and external factors included environmental stimuli. Bindra strongly felt that motivation, as a topic in psychology, could unify diverse psychological subfields that typically held conflicting ideas. Bindra was a forerunner in integrating methods and findings from both sides of the nature vs. nurture debate to support his research in motivation.[ citation needed ]

His research combined a diverse set of theories and topics, including goal direction, sensory cues, arousal, blood chemistry, and reinforcement. This work culminated in the publication of his first book in 1959, Motivation: A Systematic Reinterpretation, which attempted to systematize the contemporary motivation literature within a new framework. Based on evidence from human experimental data and animal paradigms, the book explored the underlying explanations for goal-directed motivation in humans. [5]

Methods in neuropsychology

In the late 1950s, Bindra developed novel pharmacological and neuropsychological experimental techniques for use in rats. [2] He applied these methods to study a range of topics including intelligence, learning, exploratory behaviour, emotion, disinhibition, and habituation. These methods varied from Pavlovian conditioning paradigms to drug injections of methylphenidate and chlorpromazine in rat models. [6] For example, one of his experiments [7] examined the differing effects methylphenidate, chlorpromazine, and imipramine had on freezing and immobility in rats. Bindra found that these drugs decreased and altered the pattern of this response in rats, indicating a type of induced avoidance behaviour.

Other aspects of research

In his second book, 'A Theory of Intelligent Behaviour' (1976), Bindra defined intelligence as a set of adaptive, directed, anticipative, and creative behaviours intended to bring about desired outcomes. This book highlighted the many neural connections enabling cognitive knowledge, motivational arousal, and sensory motor coordination. Bindra argued that together, their interactions produced intelligence.

In a similar vein, Bindra had radical ideas regarding human learning: he rejected the typical operant conditioning theory of response-reinforcement. Instead, he argued that learning was produced by our cognitive representations of our external environments; these schemas could be influenced by context, incentive, and motivation.

Towards the end of his career, Bindra expanded his research to include psychological disorders manifesting in behavioural problems. He published papers about human weeping and language in apes in 1972 and 1981, respectively.

Honours and awards

Bindra's contribution to the field of psychology has been recognized through the conferral of several honours. Elected president of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) from 1958 to 1959, [2] Bindra was also a Fellow of both the CPA and the American Psychological Association. [2] He was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967, [2] and in 1973 [2] was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, [2] a rare honour for a psychologist.

In recognition of his teaching and research contributions to McGill's Department of Psychology, the Dalbir Bindra Fellowship was established, valued at $10,000. The Fellowship is awarded to a student in a program at the graduate level, with preference for students from developing countries [8]

Related Research Articles

Differential psychology studies the ways in which individuals differ in their behavior and the processes that underlie it. This is a discipline that develops classifications (taxonomies) of psychological individual differences. This is distinguished from other aspects of psychology in that although psychology is ostensibly a study of individuals, modern psychologists often study groups, or attempt to discover general psychological processes that apply to all individuals. This particular area of psychology was first named and still retains the name of "differential psychology" by William Stern in his book (1900).

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilhelm Wundt</span> German founder of psychology (1832–1920)

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology, was the first person ever to call himself a psychologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald O. Hebb</span> Canadian neuropsychologist

Donald Olding Hebb was a Canadian psychologist who was influential in the area of neuropsychology, where he sought to understand how the function of neurons contributed to psychological processes such as learning. He is best known for his theory of Hebbian learning, which he introduced in his classic 1949 work The Organization of Behavior. He has been described as the father of neuropsychology and neural networks. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Hebb as the 19th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. His views on learning described behavior and thought in terms of brain function, explaining cognitive processes in terms of connections between neuron assemblies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward C. Tolman</span>

Edward Chace Tolman was an American psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Through Tolman's theories and works, he founded what is now a branch of psychology known as purposive behaviorism. Tolman also promoted the concept known as latent learning first coined by Blodgett (1929). A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Tolman as the 45th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Robert Bolesław Zajonc was a Polish-born American social psychologist who is known for his decades of work on a wide range of social and cognitive processes. One of his most important contributions to social psychology is the mere-exposure effect. Zajonc also conducted research in the areas of social facilitation, and theories of emotion, such as the affective neuroscience hypothesis.

Psychology is defined as "the scientific study of behavior and mental processes". Philosophical interest in the human mind and behavior dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Persia, Greece, China, and India.

Quantitative psychology is a field of scientific study that focuses on the mathematical modeling, research design and methodology, and statistical analysis of psychological processes. It includes tests and other devices for measuring cognitive abilities. Quantitative psychologists develop and analyze a wide variety of research methods, including those of psychometrics, a field concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement.

Joseph McVicker Hunt was a prominent American educational psychologist and author. He promoted and researched concepts related to the malleable nature of child intelligence. That work eventually led to the theory of learning centered on the concept of the information processing system.

Egon Brunswik Edler von Korompa was a psychologist who made contributions to functionalism and the history of psychology.

The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) is the primary organization representing psychologists throughout Canada. It was organized in 1939 and incorporated under the Canada Corporations Act, Part II, in May 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John William Atkinson</span> American psychologist

John William Atkinson, also known as Jack Atkinson, was an American psychologist who pioneered the scientific study of human motivation, achievement and behavior. He was a World War II veteran, teacher, scholar, and long term member of the University of Michigan community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William N. Schoenfeld</span> American psychologist (1915–1996)

William N. Schoenfeld was an American psychologist and author.

Fergus Ian Muirden Craik FRS is a cognitive psychologist known for his research on levels of processing in memory. This work was done in collaboration with Robert Lockhart at the University of Toronto in 1972 and continued with another collaborative effort with Endel Tulving in 1975. Craik has received numerous awards and is considered a leader in the area of memory, attention and cognitive aging. Moreover, his work over the years can be seen in developmental psychology, aging and memory, and the neuropsychology of memory.

Richard Shiffrin is an American psychologist, professor of cognitive science in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. Shiffrin has contributed a number of theories of attention and memory to the field of psychology. He co-authored the Atkinson–Shiffrin model of memory in 1968 with Richard Atkinson, who was his academic adviser at the time. In 1977, he published a theory of attention with Walter Schneider. With Jeroen G.W. Raaijmakers in 1980, Shiffrin published the Search of Associative Memory (SAM) model, which has served as the standard model of recall for cognitive psychologists well into the 2000s. He extended the SAM model with the Retrieving Effectively From Memory (REM) model in 1997 with Mark Steyvers.

Kenneth Wartinbee Spence was a prominent American psychologist known for both his theoretical and experimental contributions to learning theory and motivation. As one of the leading theorists of his time, Spence was the most cited psychologist in the 14 most influential psychology journals in the last six years of his life. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Spence as the 62nd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Bregman</span> Canadian psychologist and academic (1936–2023)

Albert Stanley Bregman was a Canadian academic and researcher in experimental psychology, cognitive science, and Gestalt psychology, primarily in the perceptual organization of sound.

Robert O. Pihl is an American psychology researcher, professor and clinician. Since 1966, he has worked at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is also a fellow of the American Psychological Association and Canadian Psychological Association, as well as a member of many other academic organizations.

Bryan Edward Kolb is a Canadian neuroscientist, neuropsychologist, researcher, author and educator. Kolb's research focuses on the organization and functions of the cerebral cortex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor J. Gibson</span> American psychologist & academic

Eleanor Jack Gibson was an American psychologist who focused on reading development and perceptual learning in infants. Gibson began her career at Smith College as an instructor in 1932, publishing her first works on research conducted as an undergraduate student. Gibson was able to circumvent the many obstacles she faced due to the Great Depression and gender discrimination, by finding research opportunities that she could meld with her own interests. Gibson, with her husband James J. Gibson, created the Gibsonian ecological theory of development, which emphasized how important perception was because it allows humans to adapt to their environments. Perhaps her most well-known contribution to psychology was the "visual cliff," which studied depth perception in both human and animal species, leading to a new understanding of perceptual development in infants. Gibson was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1971, the National Academy of Education in 1972, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977. In 1992, she was awarded the National Medal of Science.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hebb, D. O.; Ferguson, George A. (2010). "Dalbir Bindra (1922–1980)". Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 4 (2): 315. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X00009067 .
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Melzack, Ronald (1 January 1982). "Dalbir Bindra: 1922-1980". The American Journal of Psychology. 95 (1): 161–163. JSTOR   1422665.
  3. 1 2 "About D. Bindra: Dalbir Bindra (1922-1980)". McGill University Department of Psychology. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  4. "Roy A. Wise, Ph.D., F.R.S.C". National Institute on Drug Abuse. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  5. Hinde, R. A. (1959). "Review of Motivation: A Systematic Reinterpretation". Canadian Journal of Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie. 13 (4): 289–291. doi:10.1037/h0084006. ISSN   0008-4255.
  6. Bindra, D (1974). "A motivational view of learning, performance, and behavior modification". Psychological Review. 81 (3): 199–213. doi:10.1037/h0036330. PMID   4424766.
  7. Bindra, Dalbir; Baran, Daniel (1901). "Effects of methylphenidylacetate and chlorpromazine on certain components of general activity1". Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. 2 (4): 343–350. doi:10.1901/jeab.1959.2-343. PMC   1403901 . PMID   13800748.
  8. "4 McGill Graduate Fellowships". McGill. Dalbir Bindra Fellowship. Established in recognition of the late Professor Dalbir Bindra's contribution to teaching and research during his thirty years in the Department of Psychology at McGill. Eligibility: Open to students registered in any program of the Graduate Studies, with a preference to those from developing countries. Value: $10,000; renewable once