Faculty Profile: Allan Combs

Allan Combs

School: Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry

Bio:
Allan Combs is a consciousness researcher, neuropsychologist, and systems theorist. He holds appointments at the Saybrook Graduate School, The California Institute of Integral Studies where he is Director of the Consciousness Studies Center, and is the Director of the Conscious Evolution master's degree program at the Graduate Institute of Connecticut. He is also Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. Allan is author of over 200 articles, chapters, and books. His books include:

CONSCIOUSNESS EXPLAINED BETTER. "The finest book on consciousness in modern times" - Ken Wilber.

THE RADIANCE OF BEING. Winner of the best-book award of the Scientific and Medical Network of the UK, with a foreword by Ken Wilber.

SYNCHRONICITY: THROUGH THE EYES OF SCIENCE, MYTH, AND THE TRICKSTER. With Mark Holland.

Professor Combs is co-founder of The Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences, a member of The General Evolution Research Group, and the one-hundred member Club of Budapest. He is Co-Editor of The Journal of Conscious Evolution, and Associate Editor of Dynamical Psychology, and the serves on the Editorial Boards of numerous journals.

Allan was the winner of the 2002-2003 National Teaching Award of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs, and in the same year the held the UNCA Honorary Ruth and Leon Feldman Professorship.

Allan Combs, Ph.D.

Allan Combs
2308 Lakeview Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95405

Allan@SourceIntegralis.org
http://www.sourceintegralis.org/"

Curriculum Vitae

Upcoming Presentations and Public Addresses

Help; I am an introvert!

Degrees, Discipline, Year, Institution

Ph.D. 1977 University of Georgia; Biopsychology
M.S. 1969 University of Georgia; Psychology
M.R.C. 1967 University of Florida; Counseling
B.S. 1964 Ohio State University; Psychology

Current Projects and Professional Activities

I am interested in the nature of consciousness, and its relationship to the brain. Currently I am reviewing James’ writings on consciousness and considering them in the context of today’s chaos theory approach to fluid processes. I am also interested in sleep, dreaming, altered states of consciousness, and the history of art. I have published on all of these.

Current Publications

Combs, A. (2002). The Radiance of being: Understanding the grand integral vision; Living the integral life. St Paul, MN: Paragon House.

Combs, A., & Holland, M. (1990/2001). Synchronicity: Science, myth and the trickster. New York: Paragon House. (Second edition with forward by Ervin Laszlo; 1995. Third edition with foreword by Robin Robertson; 2001.)

Combs, A., Germine, M, & Goertzel, B. (Eds.). (in press). Mind in time: The dynamics of thought, reality, and consciousness. Hampton, Cresskill, NJ.

Combs, A. (2003). Inner and outer realities: Jean Gebser in a cultural/historical perspective. Integrative Explorations: Journal of Culture and Consciousness. 7&8, 22-34.

Significant Publications

Combs, A. (2002). The Radiance of being: Understanding the grand integral vision; Living the integral life. St Paul, MN: Paragon House.

Combs, A., Germine, M, & Goertzel, B. (in press). (2003). Mind in time: The dynamics of thought, reality, and consciousness. Hampton, Cresskill, NJ

Combs, A., & Krippner, S. (in press). Process, Structure, and Form: An Evolutionary Transpersonal Psychology of Consciousness. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies.

Important Conference Presentations

Arcari, A., & Combs, A. (1999, August). The colors of consciousness. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Systems Sciences, Asilomar, California.

Combs, A. (2000, October). Jean Gebser: Inner and outer realities. Plenary talk given at The Jean Gebser Symposium 2000 , Dresden, Germany.

Combs, A. (2001, Oct.). Autopoietic processes in consciousness, the brain, and development. Paper presented at the HDP Dynamic Development Research Group, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Combs, A. (2001, May). An evolutionary view of human consciousness as seen through art and history. Paper presented at the Semi-annual Thematic Conference of The Standing Conference on Educational Research: New England Section, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Combs, A., & Brier, S. (2001, July). Consciousness, information, and the brain: A Peircian semiotic paradigm; An FIS contribution. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Systems Sciences, Asilomar, California.

Research Interests

As a faculty member and teacher I am interested in a wide range of topics dealing with human nature and the nature of mind and consciousness as well as their relationship to the brain and body. Personally I am currently interested in the history of consciousness in art and literature, and in the nature of the stream of consciousness as seen in James’ writing and in modern chaos theory.

Research Expertise

I have a wide range of interests and experience. I have supervised over a hundred student research projects in a wide range of areas. I have a good working knowledge of basic research design and of statistical methods up through the analyses of variance, and have supervised a number of studies using qualitative methods as well. I am not an expert on phenomenology or advanced multivariate statistical analyses, or the interview method, though I have worked with students in these areas.

Expertise Working with Saybrook Students

I have been most helpful, perhaps, in helping students design research projects such as dissertations, and helping them explore interests in the areas related to consciousness and the brain.

Research Expertise

Research Expertise Rating Guide:

studied in a class or have read intensively on my own
special training in the form of a workshop or equivalent
taught a class in, or supervised research using this method (research practicum, on a dissertation or master's committee
used in research myself
published or presented at conferences my research using this method

Methods Traditionally Considered As Quantitative (But Need Not Be)

Laboratory Research
Field Experiments
Randomized Controlled Clinical
Quasi-experimental methods
Correlational Methods

Methods That Could Use Quantitative Or Qualitative Methods

Action Research
Survey Research
Interview Research
Observational Research
Epidemiological Research
Ethnography
Focus Groups
Self-Observational Methods
Narrative Methods
Feminist Methods
Content Analysis
Discovery-Oriented (psychotherapy)
Events paradigm (psychotherapy)
Archival Research
Case History Methods
Appreciative Inquiry
Multiple Case Depth Research
Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design
Longitudinal research
Cross-sectional research

Methods Primarily Associated With Qualitative Research (But May Also Use Quantitative)

Ethnoautobiographical research
Hermeneutics
Grounded Theory
Phenomenology
Heuristic Research

Types of Analysis

Simple Parametric Statistics (t-test, etc.)
Confidence intervals
Analysis of Variance (including MANOVA)
Analysis of Covariance
Regression (including multiple regression)
Discriminant Function Analysis
Structural Equation Modeling/Path Analysis
Causal Modeling
Cluster Analysis
Survival Analysis
Nonparametrics
Bayesian Analysis
Meta-analysis and effect sizes
Factor Analysis
Time series analysis
Multidimensional scaling

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