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Robert N. Kraft Ph.D.

About

Robert N. Kraft, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at Otterbein University. After receiving his doctorate at the University of Minnesota, Kraft worked as a decision analyst in Washington D.C. and then taught at Grinnell College and Otterbein, conducting research on the psychology of film, autobiographical memory, oral testimony, collective violence, and the self. His first book, Memory Perceived (Praeger/Greenwood), documents patterns of deeply traumatic memory in Holocaust survivors. Kraft’s second book, Violent Accounts (NYU Press), analyzes how ordinary people commit extraordinary acts of violence and how perpetrators and victims manage in the aftermath. He is currently writing a book about the interplay between memory and self.

Books by Robert N. Kraft Ph.D.
Recent Posts
Our Versatile Self
Six kinds of self-knowledge influence each other and combine to create different versions of the self, sometimes in surprising ways.
Why We Need to Be Wild
We live our modern lives in a starkly different environment from the one Homo sapiens adapted to for 300,000 years. How can we resolve this troublesome evolutionary mismatch?
Why You Can't Remember Your Early Childhood

When we were two years old, we were walking, talking, climbing, and socializing. Yet, only a few years later, we are unable to remember what happened to us at that age.

When we were two years old, we were walking, talking, climbing, and socializing. Yet, only a few years later, we are unable to remember what happened to us at that age.

Radically Restructuring Our Understanding of Life

The awe and wonder astronauts feel can be applied to our own earthly lives, encouraging new insights about our relationships with other people and our place in the natural world.

The awe and wonder astronauts feel can be applied to our own earthly lives, encouraging new insights about our relationships with other people and our place in the natural world.

How to Overcome Underappreciation

We feel connected to other people when we receive appreciation, and unsupported when we don’t. How can we comfortably fulfill our natural need for appreciation?

We feel connected to other people when we receive appreciation, and unsupported when we don’t. How can we comfortably fulfill our natural need for appreciation?

The Benefits of Not Talking

What do we learn about ourselves—and others—when we stop talking?

What do we learn about ourselves—and others—when we stop talking?

The Hottest Days Ever Recorded

Given the unprecedented heat of 2023, how are we thinking about climate change?

Given the unprecedented heat of 2023, how are we thinking about climate change?