Alexandra Rutherford is a professor of psychology at York University's History and Theory of Psychology Graduate Program and author of Beyond the Box: B. F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s and Pioneers of Psychology.

Alexandra Rutherford
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)professor, author, editor
Academic background
Alma materYork University
ThesisBetween the science of behavior and the art of living: B. F. Skinner and psychology’s public in mid-20th century America (2001)
Academic work
DisciplinePsychology
InstitutionsYork University
Main interestsPsychology and Feminism, history of psychology
Notable worksBeyond the Box: B. F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s
Pioneers of Psychology

Education edit

Rutherford earned her Bachelor of Science with High Distinction in 1993 from Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 1993. She completed her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology at York University in 1995 and her PhD in the History and Theory of Psychology and Clinical Psychology at York University in 2001.[1]

Career edit

Since 2001, Rutherford has been teaching in the psychology department at York University, first as assistant professor, from 2006 as associate professor,[1] and later as full professor.[citation needed]

In 2004, Rutherford founded The Psychology's Feminist Voices project[2] which resulted in the launching of Psychology's Feminist Voices—an online, digital archive of the contributions made by women throughout the history of psychology, including the role of contemporary feminist psychologists in transforming the discipline of psychology.[3]

Research edit

In 2017, her research examined the "influence of feminist-scholar activism on gender-based violence policy in the United States."[4]: 123 

Publications edit

Her 2009 book, an historical critical work on American psychologist and behaviorist, B. F. SkinnerBeyond the Box: B. F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s —was largely based on her doctoral dissertation entitled "Between the science of behavior and the art of living: B. F. Skinner and psychology’s public in mid-20th century America."[1] Beyond the Box was listed as the London Times Higher Education's "Book of the week—July 16-July 23, 2009.[5] A 2018 journal review, described Beyond the Box , as a "much-needed post-revisionist interpretation" of Skinner situating his work within its "social context".[6]

In Pioneers of Psychology, which Rutherford co-authored with Raymond E. Fancher, they examined Sigmund Freud's in-depth interpretation in his book The Interpretation of Dreams, of his own July 23, 1895 dream—Irma's injection.[7][8]: 466–471 

In her 2011 review of Susan Brownmiller's 1975 Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape[9] published in the Psychology of Women Quarterly , Rutherford wrote that prior to Brownmiller's book, most Americans had assumed that "rape, incest and domestic violence rarely happened and that when they did, they were perpetrated by a few sexual deviants."[4]: 104 [10] In the 1970s, American second-wave feminists coined the term "rape culture".[11]

Media edit

Rutherford appeared as an expert on Skinner, on the August 28, 2019 episode, "A History of Persuasion", on WNYC Studios' On the Media hosted by Kai Wright and reported by Amanda Aronczyk.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Alexandra Rutherford". York University. Profile. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  2. ^ "Alexandra Rutherford".
  3. ^ MacArthur, H.J.; Shields, S.A. (2014). "Psychology's Feminist Voices: A critical pedagogical tool". Sex Roles. 70 (9–10): 431–433. doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0349-9. S2CID 141055529.
  4. ^ a b Rutherford, Alexandra (2017). "Surveying rape: Feminist social science and the ontological politics of sexual assault". History of the Human Sciences. 30: 100–123. doi:10.1177/0952695117722715. S2CID 149008010.
  5. ^ "Book of the week: Beyond The Box". Times Higher Education (THE). July 16, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  6. ^ Fraser, Jennifer (September 9, 2013). "Review: Alexandra Rutherford, Beyond the Box: B.F. Skinner's Technology of Behaviour from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s". Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science. 7 (1): 100–102. doi:10.4245/sponge.v7i1.19590. ISSN 1913-0465. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  7. ^ Peter Gay (1988). Freud: A Life for Our Time. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-0-393-31826-5. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  8. ^ Raymond E. Fancher; Alexandra Rutherford (2012). Pioneers of Psychology (4th ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
  9. ^ Susan Brownmiller. ' Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape.
  10. ^ Rutherford, Alexandra (June 2011). "Sexual Violence Against Women: Putting Rape Research in Context". Psychology of Women Quarterly. Review of Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. 35 (2): 342–347. doi:10.1177/0361684311404307. S2CID 145146774.
  11. ^ Smith, Merril D. (2004). Encyclopedia of Rape (1st ed.). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-313-32687-5.
  12. ^ A History of Persuasion. WNYC Studios. On the Media. August 28, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2020.