The 43rd Symposium
on Family Systems Theory and Family Psychotherapy

Distinguished Guest Lecturer: Christine Johnson, PhD

Humans routinely participate in socially complex interactions like triangles, coalitions, and alliances. The evolutionary history of this complexity is being researched in primates. Dr. Christine Johnson of the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California (San Diego) researches social tool use in the bonobos, looking specifically at how visual gaze co-constructs cognition in triadic interactions. Focusing on triadic interactions rather than specific individual traits is a systems approach that significantly departs from traditional research methods. By studying those complex interactions in our close genetic relatives, we may learn more about the influence of emotional systems on human cognitive development.

Dr. Johnson earned a B.A. in Psychobiology from the University of California Santa Cruz, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Cornell University. Raised in a family of biologists, she learned from an early age to revere the natural world and to take great pleasure in its contemplation. She was fortunate enough to begin her career with the inimitable Dr. Kenneth Norris as her mentor, studying social behavior in Hawaiian Spinner dolphins. Her other field work includes observing Indian Ocean Bottlenose behavior in Australia, and Bahamian Spotted dolphins with the intrepid Dr. Denise Herzing. She has also studied behavior, communication, and cognition in a variety of captive marine mammals. Her primary motivations are the fascination the animals themselves engender, and an avid interest in issues on the evolution of the mind. In particular, her comparative work has come to focus on the cognitive demands and adaptations that emerge within the social domain. Her current research on social cognition in bonobos at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park continues this enterprise.