The Collected Works of John R. Suler, PhD

This site and its documents are designed for viewing on computers and laptops. Some website links may no longer work.

John Suler is a researcher, writer, photographer, and psychology professor, specializing in interdisciplinary approaches to personal growth in the age of technology. As a Woodburn Fellow, he received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and completed his internship in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. During his 38 years on the faculty of the Psychology Department in the Science and Technology Center of Rider University, his work focussed on the four topic areas indicated below. The documents collected here are organized according to these topics. The websites originally were published on the Rider University server and later versions at True Center Publishing. Suler's research was funded by grants from Rider University. His vita and bio are online.

	The Psychology of Cyberspace was the first textbook about the psychology of online behavior. Created in 1996 by John Suler, a founder of the field of cyberpsychology, it was revised and expanded over the next ten years to cover a wide range of topics, including individuals, groups, psychotherapy, and research in cyberspace. It also contains the first in-depth discussion of the well-know "online disinhibition effect." This comprehensive anthology is a glimpse into the first stage of internet psychology and its foundational principles. It can be accessed in a website format and a pdf book edition (8 mb). Some of its articles were revised for journal publication as listed in the references below.
	Psychology of the Digital Age: Humans Become Electric, published by Cambridge University Press, builds on The Psychology of Cyberspace and from Suler's two decades of participant-observation field research in diverse online environments. It explores enhancing wellbeing in the digital age, communication via text and photographs, conflicting attitudes toward social media, artificial intelligence, media transitions and overload, an expanded version of the online disinhibition effect, and a new conceptual framework – the Eight Dimensions of Cyberpsychology Architecture – which serves as a valuable tool for understanding different digital realms. The focus is on the individual, shedding light on our conscious as well as subconscious reactions to online experiences, and on our intrinsic human need to self-actualize. Sample chapters are provided below in the reference list below. Also available on Amazon.
	The Birth of Cyberpsychology is a video presenting concepts and illustrative images that portray the origins of cyberpsychology and the wide range of topics essential to that discipline, all to the tune of Strauss's Blue Danube and with echoes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is intended as a captivating, and at times humorous, overview of this new area of psychology.
	Images about Science and Technology is a collection of images that portray a variety of issues concerning the psychology of social media, the internet, and technology. Some of the images are humorous, some illustrate concepts from Psychology of the Digital Age: Humans Become Electric by John Suler. They have served well in teaching courses related to cyberpsychology. They are also examples of how to use visual elements to portray psychological concepts.

	Perception and Imaging: Photography as a Way of Seeing addresses critical questions about the psychology of photography. When you look at an image, what do you see, think, and feel? How do you want your audience to react when they view your work? John Suler and Richard Zakia present their insights into the principles of perception, memory, color, time, space, shapes, illusion, subliminals, rhetoric, personality style, photo critique, and photography in the age of the internet. Unlike any other work, this textbook provides an extensive understanding of how photography relates to art, design, advertising, psychology, and philosophy, as well as what makes photography unique among the image-making disciplines. Photography is not simply a mastering of technique and composition, but as a way of truly seeing. This book was published by Routledge. Also available on Amazon.
	The Exercise Manual for Perception and Imaging: Photography as a Way of Seeing contains activities about perceiving and creating images that correspond to each of the chapters in the book, including such exercises as detecting subliminal features of commercial ads, experimenting with camera angles, tests of visual memory, perceiving symbolism, designing a conceptual photograph, creating movement in an image, taking a decisive moment photo, using color for emotional effect, identifying microexpressions, and breaking rules. This manual is in pdf format (95 mb).
	Photographic Psychology: Image and Psyche is a psychological exploration into how people create, share, and react to images in the age of the internet and digital photography. The major sections of the book are devoted to the role of sensation and perception in photography, the psychology of composition, creative captures and post-processing, sharing images online and in-person, and constructing images that portray concepts in human psychology. This book is available in a website format.
	Suler's lecture at the International Center of Photography focussed on what is often considered the most critical concept in photography: The Decisive Moment. He describes how his research has identified the essential ingredients of this type of photograph, including the capture of a unique fleeting moment, the sensing of visual coalescence, the anticipation of closure, losing and creating oneself, and the portrayal of “little human moments” that point to the universal struggles and triumphs of the human condition. The ppt slide show that accompanied his lecture can be downloaded (13 mb). His article on this topic appears in Photographic Psychology.
	Suler's exhibition Photographic Psychology: Forces that Shape the Psyche at the Rider University Art Gallery addressed a fundamental question about human nature: What forces, both inside and outside of us, shape our sense of identity and self? The photographs in the exhibition portrayed a variety of these forces. Attenders were encouraged to think about how the forces illustrated by these images might apply to their own lives. Suler also used the exhibition as an opportunity to conduct research on photographic psychology.

	Teaching Clinical Psychology is a comprehensive collection of resources for teaching courses in psychology, especially on topics related to mental health, psychotherapy, and personal insight and growth. This website includes course outlines, in-class exercises, educational projects, suggested readings, and essays on teaching.
	Madman: Strange Adventures of a Psychology Intern is a novel designed for use in teaching courses about psychotherapy and abnormal psychology. Based on real life experiences, Madman immerses the reader into the world of a psychology intern working on the psychiatric unit of a modern teaching hospital. Reviews, sample chapters, and a free instructor packet are provided for the book. Madman is availabe on Amazon.
	eQuest is a semester-long educational program in which students conduct online research and participate in a variety of online actitivities in order to understand and perhaps resolve some issue that is perosnally important to them in their lives. Students at Rider University undertook eQuest as independent study projects.
	The slide shows with audio narration for Psychology of the Digital Age are powerpoints for each of the chapters in the book. John Suler narrates. These slides are in a compressed file for download (254 mb).
	Manuals for instructors and students: Working and Playing with Dreams (also in pdf) Instructor Manual for Psychology of the Digital Age (pdf) Qualitative Research Methodology for Photographic Psychology (pdf) Group Dynamics Manual Graduate School and Careers in Psychology Manual for eQuest projects