Gualala Arts Lecture Series presents:
Why We Love (and Hate) to be Fooled:
The Gift of Magic!

with Marty Covington

Monday, January 8, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
$5 donation requested

In this presentation, Marty combines his life-long interest in the history and art of magic with recent psychological research regarding the potential dangers as well as the powerful benefits of magical thinking to one's well-being.

He will explore the question of how it can be - even when people know they are being tricked, that the experience of magic can nonetheless be entertaining, informative, even enlightening. Yet, at other times, being fooled can lead people to feel betrayed, angry, and outraged. Finally, Marty will explore the possibility that a magical experience can be so personally powerful that the question of being tricked or not becomes largely irrelevant, completely overshadowed by the feelings of wonder, surprise and awe that people typically associate with miracles. Is this the true gift of magic?

Marty cautions that this is not a magic show for the entertainment of children. No rabbits will be produced from hats, but a few magic demonstrations will be presented to illustrate the main points of the presentation.

A little more about Mr. Covington

Martin Covington is Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, and holds the prestigious Berkeley Presidential Chair in Undergraduate Education. He is also Senior Research Psychologist at the Institute for Personality and Social Psychology. He is author of some 8 books and numerous research articles and papers concerned with his various research interests including human motivation, creativity, problem solving and thinking, the fear of failure, and self-esteem dynamics. He is Past President of the International Society for Test Anxiety Research.

His teaching honors include: (1) Recipient of the Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award; (2) The Berkeley Distinguished Award for the Mentoring of Graduate Student Instructors, and (3) The Phi Beta Kappa Award: Outstanding University Instructor of the Year.

Marty joined the Berkeley family as a first-year graduate student in 1975, and on January 1, 1958 witnessed Cal's last appearance in the Rose Bowl (Hope springs eternal!). Following his PhD. in Educational Psychology from Berkeley, he joined the Department of Psychology. He has taught continuously at Berkeley for the past 49 years. Marty and his wife, Bette, have had a home on the Sea Ranch since 1975.

A $5 donation is requested.

Located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, the Gualala Arts Center is open weekdays 9 am to 4 pm, and weekends from noon to 4 pm. Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information.