Stanley Coren

Background

Coren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1942 and attended undergraduate classes at the University of Pennsylvania before earning his doctorate at Stanford University. He went on to teach in The Graduate Faculty of The New School for Social Research in New York, New York before moving to the University of British Columbia in 1973, where he was a psychology professor and the Director of the Human Neuropsychology and Perception Laboratory until 2007. He continues to teach and do research as a professor emeritus and also serves as an adjunct professor in the graduate program at Bergin University of Canine Studies.

Outside of the classroom, Coren is an aficionado of dogs, and has made a long career of research into dog behaviour that has led him to national television and into international media. He is an instructor with the Vancouver Dog Obedience Training Club, and has participated in numerous obedience trials and competitions across Canada. In the process his dogs have earned numerous obedience titles.

Research

In his career, Coren has produced research papers and published items in a wide range of psychological areas including sensory processes (vision and hearing), neuropsychology (handedness, sleep, birth stress effects and behavior genetics) and cognition (information processing and intelligence). He has published more than 400 papers and articles in journals like Science, Nature[5], The New England Journal of Medicine and many more. His research has been recognized with numerous awards over the years, including being named as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. One of his publications, Sensation and Perception, (co-authored with Lawrence Ward and James T. Enns) has been listed as required reading for university coursework and went through six editions before his retirement in 2007. Coren's research which has been most influential in psychology can be divided into four distinct areas.

Sensory processes

Coren began his research career studying vision and visual processes. Much of his early work dealt with various visual illusions, and was done in collaboration with Joan. S. Girgus. They are credited with reopening the interest of psychologists in these visual phenomena, and pointing out how they shed light on basic visual processing. He is also credited with several breakthroughs in the study of what is known as subjective contours or illusory contours Later Coren and A. Ralph Hakstian developed methods for screening vision and hearing without the use of technical equipment, using behaviorally validated questionnaires. These allow group or survey testing for sensory deficits specifically for color blindness, color discrimination ability, visual acuity, binocular vision and steropsis and hearing sensitivity or absolute threshold of hearing. These tests have been widely disseminated and can be found reprinted in various psychological and sensory textbooks.

Handedness

A body of research that caught the public interest to a great extent, was Coren's work on left-handedness. With his co-researchers, Diane F. Halpern, Clare Porac, and Alan Searleman he studied the causes and consequences of left-handedness. Specifically his research led him to believe that left-handedness could be a marker for various psychological and physical problems. The media became interested in this work when findings began to emerge indicating that left-handedness was often associated with difficult or stressful births. Research showing that left-handers were much more susceptible to accident-related injuries because the constructed world and most machinery and tools are designed for the safety and convenience of right-handers evoked a great deal of interest and press coverage. However the work that caused the largest stir and the most controversy was a series of studies in collaboration with Diane F. Halpern which showed that left-handers have shorter life spans, often dying younger because of accidents or problems associated with a compromised immune system (possibly a long-term consequence of birth stress related trauma). Although originally the source of much controversy, with confirming data coming from a number of other laboratories, these conclusions have become well enough accepted to appear in basic psychological textbooks. The discovery of a possible genetic basis of left-handedness suggests that there may be two types of left-handers, natural left-handers and a separate group who arrive at their left-handedness because of birth stress and are more susceptible to immune system related problems.

The issue of handedness and physical and mental health continues to be an actively researched topic. For example, recent results confirm relationships between various birth stresses and the appearance of left-handedness, Furthermore, handedness and mental status continues to be explored with reports of associations between left-handedness and reduced cognitive performance, psychological problems such as depression, and negative emotional states, However recently researchers are beginning to suggest that one should be talking about non-right-handedness (deviations from consistent right-handedness which includes not only left-handedness but mixed- or inconsistent-handedness) as being a more significant marker for problems than left-handedness itself. Coren has suggested that in addition to genetics and birth stress other mechanisms might also contribute to the appearance of left-handedness, such as hormonal factors as in the Geschwind–Galaburda hypothesis, although these are not as certain since clinical studies have emerged that dispute the excessive prenatal testosterone theory of handedness.

Sleep

The third area of neuropsychology where Coren contributed significant research has to do with his conclusion that as a society we are chronically suffering from sleep deprivation and that this is contributing to accidents, psychological disturbances, and increased susceptibility to illness. This line of reasoning eventually led to the series of studies which demonstrated that simply losing one hour of sleep due to the shift to daylight saving time can cause an increase in traffic accidents and other accident related fatalities on the Monday following the time change

Dog behavior and the human–canine bond

Later in his career, Coren shifted to the study of canine behavior and the relationship that people have with their dogs. This shift away from neuropsychological research also marked a shift in his publishing strategy, away from single study publications in research journals, to publication of his new data as part of material presented in book form. Many of his books on dogs do contain hithertofore unpublished empirical data. For example, his book "The Intelligence of Dogs" is based on a survey sent to all of the dog obedience judges in the United States and Canada, and resulted in the ranking of 110 dog breeds by intelligence. This ranking caused a rather large media stir. His book "Why we love the dogs we do" looks at the personality of people and how the owner's personality predicts their relationship with various dog breeds. It is based on a survey of more than 6000 people who took a personality test and reported on their experiences with the various dogs that they have owned. This book proved to be very popular and Coren's personality test is now used by some dog shelters to determine whether prospective owners are suitable for a particular breed of dog. Similarly, his book "Why does my dog act that way?" uses data from approximately a thousand dogs to determine features of the personality of various dog breeds. However other books that he has written on dog behavior have provided less formal data presentation and in these his creative contribution is based on the organization and interpretation of the research of others, as is the case in "How to speak dog". These books have also been well accepted and have been proven to be very popular. Overall, it is probably true that for scientific audiences Coren is best known for his neuropsychological contributions while for the general public he is best known for his writing and research concerning dogs, dog behavior, and the relationship between dogs and people.

Books

Coren's first widely recognized book outside of professional psychology circles was 1993's The Left-Hander Syndrome: the causes and consequences of left-handedness, which presented data on the significant challenges faced by left-handed people in society. His research was discussed widely, and has been printed and discussed in a number of professional journals such as Psychiatric Times. His next book was Sleep Thieves, the result of his studies into sleep and the lack of it. The book examined how the reduction of sleeping time in modern society has created problems of sleep deprivation for many people.

Arguably, however, it was the 1994 publication of The Intelligence of Dogs that brought Coren to the public eye. A combination of Coren's background in psychology and his long-lasting love of dogs, the book became an international hit, and has gone through 16 printings to this point.

Since then, Coren has gone on to pen a number of other books on dog intelligence, dog learning and thinking ability, the human canine bond and its implications for people in modern society that have continued to make him a favorite among dog lovers.

Coren's books about dogs have garnered him a number of awards. His books have also been well received internationally. For example, The Intelligence of Dogs has been translated into 26 different languages.

A list of his best-known books (listing the most recent editions of each) includes:

Other publications

Coren is also a regular contributor to a number of dog and pet related magazines including Modern Dog, AnimalSense, and Pets Magazine. In addition he was both on the editorial board and a regular contributor to Pets: Part of the Family and Puppy and Dog Basics Magazine. He also does the Canine Corner informational blog on the Psychology Today Website which was awarded a Medal of Excellence for the best educational blog series from the Dog Writers Association of America for 2014,.

Television

With the success of "The Intelligence Of Dogs," Coren received substantial media coverage, appearing on shows throughout Canada and the United States, as well as being cited by major newspapers throughout North America. His success led to the creation of the television show Good Dog!, appearing on the Life Network in Canada and syndicated in Australia and New Zealand. The show is focused on training for the family dog, including how to read body language and how to test his intelligence. He is also one of the human stars of The Animal Attraction, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation program. Most recently he is regularly featured on the TV show Pet Central which is broadcast on the Pet Network in Canada.

Coren was also involved in the development of The Dog Companion DVD series aimed at aiding dogs with separation issues, providing video intended to give dogs something they can watch when left alone.

Awards and honors

Coren's psychological research and teaching has been honored many times including being named as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Killam Senior Research Fellow. In recognition of the quality of his work he has been elected to fellowship status by numerous professional societies including, the American Psychological Association, Canadian Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science,. Other honors include a Canadian Psychiatric Association Research Award (1992), the Robert E. Knox Master Teacher Award, and he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Guelph for his scientific and literary contributions.

His writing and his books have also received numerous honors including the Maxwell Medal of Excellence from the Dog Writers Association of America for 2011, and the Animal Behavior Society's Outstanding Children's Book Award for 2007. He was named "Writer of the Year" by the International Positive Dog Training Association. His book “Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses” was named as one of the top 10 Canadian children’s books of 2006 by the Ontario Library Association, and received the Red Cedar Book Award (2009) for best nonfiction children’s book (sponsored by library associations in British Columbia). His Canine Corner informational blog on the Psychology Today Website was awarded a Medal of Excellence as the best educational blog series from the Dog Writers Association of America for 2014,.