Silverside Church 2024 Speaker Series

How do we decide what we believe and what we don’t believe? Drawing on philosophical psychological and legal resources – and avoiding partisan politics – this talk outlines a few of the unconscious factors that influence the way humans reach conclusions and make decisions.

Joan DelFattore holds a Ph.D. in English and an M.S. in clinical psychology from Penn State University. She’s professor emerita of English and legal studies at the University of Delaware where she taught for more than thirty years. Her work on freedom of expression including three books with Yale University Press and dozens of articles has won awards from the American Library Association the American Educational Research Association and the Spencer Foundation among others. In addition to giving talks all over the country she’s appeared on dozens of talk shows notably 20/20 Radio Times Fresh Air Talk of the Nation and the Diane Rehm Show.

In 2014 she established a Writing as Healing program at the Christiana Care Health System in Delaware teaching research-based techniques for using writing to reduce stress and improve the quality of life. The program has served more than 600 patients caregivers and staff and sessions for physicians began in 2017.

Host or Publisher Silverside Church