Introduction

Originally published in 1985, the proceedings in this volume followed a different format from the usual symposium. Participants were asked to share their lives and thoughts about the future of the discipline; to share insights which come only from looking upon long, productive, and innovative careers.

Symposium Focus

The initial symposium focused upon animal and human research in the area of physiological-experimental psychology. The participants were asked to address two general issues.

Autobiographical Issue

One autobiographical in nature, concerned the factors which led to their interest in the study of behaviour, and in particular to the research directions they followed.

Future of Psychology

The second issue concerned the future of psychology, that is, their thoughts concerning fruitful avenues of present and future research; in other words, what they thought research psychologists would be doing – or ought to be doing – in a decade’s time.