Durganand Sinha Author

Durganand Sinha (Born: 23 September 1922; Died: 23 March 1998) did his B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy (with specialization in Psychology) from Patna University. Subsequently, he went to Cambridge University where he was awarded the M.Sc. degree. On his return to India in 1949, Professor Sinha joined as the faculty of Psychology at Patna University. His research article ‘Behavior in a catastrophic situation: A psychological study of reports and rumors’ published in the British Journal of Psychology showed his scientific creativity and responsiveness to the problems of his immediate surroundings. He left Patna in 1958 and joined the newly established Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.Professor Sinha came to Allahabad University in 1961 as a professor to chair the newly created Department of Psychology. In the mid-1980s, he also served as the Director of the A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna. The present status of the Department of Psychology at Allahabad as a Centre of Advanced Study owes much to his vision and dedication. In a career spanning half a century, Professor Sinha made significant contributions as a researcher in diverse areas. It encompassed the role of socio-cultural factors in perception and cognition; changes in the Indian family and the implications for the socialization process; larger applied social psychological issues such as motivation and rural development, deprivation and poverty; and social change. His books (listed in the section ‘Complete Works of Durganand Sinha’ in this volume) have left his name permanently in the field of psychology of social sciences. In India, he was a central figure of the psychological profession. He served as the President of the Indian Psychological Association, the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology and Psychology Section of the Indian Science Congress. Girishwar Misra is Professor of Psychology and currently Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha. Some of his recent publications are: Psychological Perspectives on Stress and Health (2000), Rethinking Intelligence (with A.K. Srivastava, 2007), Psychology and Societal Development, Foundations of Indian Psychology (with Matthijs R. Cornellison and S. Varma, 2011), Psychology in India: Advances in Research, Handbook of Psychology in India (2011), New Directions in Health Psychology (Ajit Dalal, 2012) and Psychology and Psychoanalysis (2013). He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Psychological Studies. He is currently coordinating the Sixth ICSSR Survey of Psychological Research in India as its Chief Editor. Ajit K Dalal is currently Writer-in Residence at the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, Maharashtra. He has recently retired as a professor of psychology from the University of Allahabad. He was the Head of Psychology Department (2011–2012) and had held several other academic positions at the university. He was the editor of an international journal, Psychology and Developing Societies (2001–2011). He is also on editorial boards of several other journals. Professor Dalal received the Fulbright Senior Fellowship in 1982. He worked at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is also a recipient of the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Career Award (1990–1993), Rockefeller Foundation Award (1992) and the Senior Research Fellowship (1998 and 2012) from Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). He was an adjunct professor at Queen’s University, Canada (1992–1998) and was a visiting faculty at several institutions, including National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi; Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and University of Calcutta, Kolkata. Professor Dalal has published his work in the areas such as causal attribution, health beliefs and healing traditions of India and Indian psychology. He has published about 95 research articles and book chapters. He has also published several books; prominent among them are: Attribution Theory and Research (1988), New Directions in Indian Psychology (Vol. 1) (with G. Misra, 2002), Social Dimensions of Health (with S. Ray, 2005), Handbook of Indian Psychology (with K. R. Rao and A. C. Paranjpe, 2008), New Directions in Health Psychology (with G. Misra, 2011), Qualitative Research on Well-Being and Self-Growth: Contemporary Indian Perspectives (with R. Priya, 2014) and Health Beliefs and Coping with Chronic Diseases (2015).