Back to Results
Cover image of Curt Richter
Cover image of Curt Richter
Share this Title:

Curt Richter

A Life in the Laboratory

Jay Schulkin
foreword by Paul Rozin

Publication Date
Binding Type

In the first half of the twentieth century, psychology was a discipline in search of scientific legitimacy. Debates raged over how much of human and animal behavior is instinctive and how much is learned, and how behavior could be quantified accurately. At the Johns Hopkins University's new Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Curt P. Richter stood aside from these heated theoretical arguments, choosing instead to apply his data-collection methods, innovative measurement techniques, playful sense of exploration, and consummate surgical skill to laboratory examinations of the biological basis of behavior...

In the first half of the twentieth century, psychology was a discipline in search of scientific legitimacy. Debates raged over how much of human and animal behavior is instinctive and how much is learned, and how behavior could be quantified accurately. At the Johns Hopkins University's new Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Curt P. Richter stood aside from these heated theoretical arguments, choosing instead to apply his data-collection methods, innovative measurement techniques, playful sense of exploration, and consummate surgical skill to laboratory examinations of the biological basis of behavior.

From identifying the biological clocks that govern behavior and physiology to observing the self-regulation of nutrient levels by the body, the cyclical nature of some mental illnesses, and the causes of hopelessness, Richter's wide-ranging discoveries not only influenced the burgeoning field of psychobiology and paved the way for later researchers but also often had implications for the treatment of patients in the clinic.

At the time of his death in 1988, Richter left behind a massive collection of laboratory data. For this book, Jay Schulkin mined six decades of Richter's archived research data, personal documents, and interviews to flesh out an engaging portrait of a "laboratory artisan" in the context of his work.

Reviews

Reviews

This is a book for students of all ages and many disciplines... Every scientific library should have it.

A detailed and very useful survey of Richter's intellectual biography.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
208
ISBN
9780801880735
Illustration Description
21 halftones, 3 line drawings
Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Origins and Orientations
Chapter 2. Biological Clocks and Spontaneous Behaviors
Chapter 3. Ingestive Behaviors and the Internal Milieu
Chapter 4. A Psychobiological

Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Origins and Orientations
Chapter 2. Biological Clocks and Spontaneous Behaviors
Chapter 3. Ingestive Behaviors and the Internal Milieu
Chapter 4. A Psychobiological Perspective on the Domesticated and the Wild
Chapter 5. Neurobiological Investigations and Clinical Applications: Lessons Learned in Panama
Chapter 6. An Artisan in the Laboratory
Conclusion
Epilogue
Notes
References
The Works of Curt Richter
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Jay Schulkin, Ph.D.

Jay Schulkin is a research professor of physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University and research associate at the Clinical Neuroendocrinology Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. He is also the director of research at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.