Music and the Mind Part 1: The Psychology of Music and its Healing Power

David Smith, Ph.D. and Distinguished Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Northwestern University, will speak on the topic, Music and the Mind Part 1: The Psychology of Music and its Healing Power.  What can music tell us about the mind and how does the mind constrain our experience of music?  This discourse will focus on the human experience of music by integrating research and theory from cognitive, social, developmental, and performance psychology.  Special attention will be paid to the positive ways in which music can affect the human condition.

David Smith teaches courses in the psychology of music, decision making, sport psychology, research design and statistics.  He earned a B.A. from Denison University and a Ph. D. from Virginia Commonwealth University, and has held faculty appointments at Middlebury College and the University of Michigan.  He is an amateur musician and music enthusiast who never tires of listening to great music.  He is married with two teen-aged children and lives in Glenview.