Leslie Richard Pringle is an American psychologist and professor. Pringle holds the Henry S. Dulaney Professorship of Psychology and is affiliated with the peace studies program at Goucher College. He researches the psychology of community service and relational psychology in line with relational cultural theory.

Early life and education

Pringle was raised in

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

family in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He was a first-generation college student and had intended to study physics before shifting to psychology after taking a class with a charismatic professor. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972 from Eckerd College, then called Florida Presbyterian College. He completed an undergraduate thesis entitled ''The Novels Of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: A Study Of Belief''. In 1977, Pringle completed a Master's of Science degree at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

. He wrote a Master's Thesis under advisor Thaddeus M. Cowan entitled ''Mental Transformations Of Possible And Impossible 4-Cornered Tori''. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy at Kansas State University in 1979 under the same advisor. His dissertation was entitled ''Perceived Number Equivalence By Adults And Children: A Normalization Model Of Size-Density Coordination''. While completing his graduate degrees, Pringle subscribed to a scientific and quantitative version of psychology.

Career

Pringle joined Goucher College in 1979 as an assistant professor where he taught courses using quantitative frameworks including statistics and research methods. His original view of psychology, which considered "healthiness to be rooted in autonomy" began to shift due to the introduction of feminist theory to the field in the 1970s and 80s. Regarding his new take on psychology, Pringle cites the influence of feminist critiques introduced by his students and researchers including

Carol Gilligan Carol Gilligan (; born November 28, 1936) is an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist, best known for her work on ethical community and ethical relationships. Gilligan is a professor of Humanities and Applied Psychology at New York Unive ...

and Jean Baker Miller. He later continued to assess his philosophy on psychology and came to agree with relational cultural theory. In 1990, he was an associate professor and chairman of the faculty. In 1996, Carol Gilligan did a residency at Goucher and Pringle discussed his thoughts on the importance of relationships in the classroom, to which Gilligan suggested he call it relational psychology. As of 2018, Pringle holds the Henry S. Dulaney Professor of Psychology and is affiliated with the peaces studies program at Goucher College.

Research

Pringle researches relational psychology. He has studied the psychology of community service and mentoring since 1985. In 2015, Pringle conducted a study with psychology professor and associate dean Janet Shope on the Goucher College community's feelings towards sexual assaults.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Richard 20th-century American educators 21st-century American educators 21st-century American scientists 20th-century American psychologists Eckerd College alumni Goucher College faculty and staff Kansas State University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American psychologists Scientists from Florida Peace and conflict scholars