David Bakan (April 23, 1921 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
– October 18, 2004 in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
) was an American psychologist.
Career
David Bakan was a major influence in how the field of
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
implemented the use of
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...
in research, particularly the
statistical test of significance. Bakan was one of the earliest psychologists to promote the use of
Bayesian statistics as an alternative to conventional statistical approaches, first publishing on the topic in 1953. He was one of the founders of the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
's Division 26, the
History of Psychology, and served as the president of the division in 1970–71.
After attending
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
from 1942 Bakan studied psychology at
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
. He received his PhD in 1948 at the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
, under the direction of
Floyd Carlton Dockeray, in aviation psychology, a field of application of industrial psychology. Bakan held several university positions from 1961, teaching at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, Ohio State,
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
in Toronto, Canada. Bakan wrote on a wide range of topics including
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
,
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
, philosophy, and
research methodology
In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...
, as well as
child abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...
. In his book "Sigmund Freud and the Jewish Mystical Tradition" (1958) he attempted to trace the roots of early
psychoanalytic concepts and methods in the
Kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
, the Zohar, and talmudic interpretations. His "Duality of Human Existence: An Essay on Psychology and Religion" (1966) made important contributions to the history of psychology, especially in relation to the problem of introspection, research methodology, and the psychology of religion. In this essay he also coined the psychological use of the terms "Communion" and "Agency". Other books by Bakan include "On Method: Toward a Reconstruction of Psychological Investigation" (1967); "Disease, Pain, and Sacrifice: Toward a Psychology of Suffering" (1968); "Slaughter of the Innocents: A Study of the Battered Child Phenomenon (1971)"; "And They Took Themselves Wives: The Emergence of Patriarchy in Western Civilization" (1979); and "
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
on Prophecy" (1991).
Bakan retired in 1991 and served as professor emeritus in York University's Department of Psychology until his death in 2004.
Personal life
David married Mildred ("Millie") Blynn, who became a professor of philosophy at
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
, in 1948 and they had six children: Joseph, Deborah,
Abigail
Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married ...
, Jonathan, Daniel and Jacob. He retired in 1991, and died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto at the age of 83.
See also
*
Unmitigated communion
In psychology, unmitigated communion is focusing on others while excluding an individual's self. It is opposed to unmitigated agency, which is focusing on self while excluding others. Unmitigated communion is portrayed as a way of being concerned w ...
, first introduced by Bakan in 1966
References
York University: Professor Emeritus David BakanAPA PsycNET: Obituary: David Bakan (1921-2004)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakan, David
1921 births
2004 deaths
20th-century American psychologists
Brooklyn College alumni
American expatriates in Canada
Indiana University Bloomington alumni
Ohio State University alumni