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“I’m so very fortunate to have the opportunity to teach the very course that changed my own life.”

More About Dr. Carson

SHELLEY H. CARSON, PhD, is a recognized expert in the field of creativity, whose research has been published in both national and international scientific journals. She is a lecturer and researcher at Harvard University, where she teaches courses in Psychological Resilience, Habits and Habit Change, Psychopathology, The Science of Brain Health, and her signature course Creativity: Eccentrics, Geniuses, and Harvard Students.

Dr. Carson is the award-winning author of Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life (Jossey-Bass, publisher) and co-author of the acclaimed Almost Depressed: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Unhappiness a Problem? (Hazelden, publisher). Your Creative Brain has been adopted as a required text in at least four major college courses to date.

As a frequent guest on radio and television, Dr. Carson has been featured on CNN, the Discovery Channel, the BBC, Radio Free Europe, and NPR. She has appeared on such national programs Anderson Cooper’s 360, PBS’s My Generation, and NPR‘s The Health Show. Her expertise has been recognized in outlets as diverse as Glamour, Family Circle, the New York Times, Harvard Magazine, Newsweek, and Scientific American.

A sought-after speaker on the topics of creativity, psychopathology, and resilience, Dr. Carson is equally at home speaking to civic groups and to symposia of neuroscientists. She has been a featured speaker at the Massachusetts Conference for Women, spoken to thousands of participants in the popular One Day University events, and talked before groups such as the Congressional Biomedical Caucus and the National Council on Disabilities.

Although a scientist by training, she is also in her element speaking and writing for a general audience, as evidenced by the popularity of her books (Your Creative Brain has been translated and published in seven different languages), her workshops and talks at venues such as Canyon Ranch, and the large following of her Psychology Today blog “Life as Art.”

Dr. Carson has also worked as a consultant for corporations such as Reebok, General Dynamics, and the Virgin Group, as well as he U.S. Department of Defense, where she helped build an online program to provide resilience training for deployed military members and their families.

Most recently, she has served as Director of Training and Education for the Brain Health Initiative, a nonprofit Florida-based organization dedicated to increasing awareness of the importance of brain health and the prevention of brain illness through lifestyle behavior changes.

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Smiling grandmother with her two grandchildren, a baby and a young girl.

In her spare time, Dr. Carson loves to travel, play golf (badly, she adds), spend time with her four beautiful grandchildren, write, and walk in the nature preserves near her home in Naples, Florida.

Contact Dr. Carson here

Academics

Dr. Carson has been teaching courses at Harvard since receiving her doctorate degree from the Department of Psychology in 2001.  “Teaching is about opening doors and making what is on the other side appealing to learn,” she says. “A major purpose of teaching is to open the student’s eyes to a new topic of study, broadening the student’s cognitive world.” Dr. Carson presents students with opportunities for eureka! Moments. One of the techniques she uses to do this is to introduce material from multiple levels of analysis - biological, psychological, and sociocultural - and she then provides several clues as to how these levels fit together to form a cohesive picture. “Maybe it’s because I am a creativity researcher at heart, but I love seeing the ‘aha’ moments when students put the pieces together themselves rather than having solutions force-fed to them.”

This teaching philosophy has led to multiple teaching awards for Dr. Carson and her courses, including the Petra Shattuck Excellence in Teaching Award and the Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in Teaching. 

Dr. Carson’s Courses at Harvard:

Human creativity is essential to our ability to survive and thrive as a species. In addition, creativity in the arts enriches and adds breadth to our everyday experiences. Creativity in the sciences has extended our lifespan, made living conditions more comfortable, and opened the worlds of outer space and inner space to our scrutiny and amazement. This course provides an overview of the major theories, modern research, and current issues in the field of creativity. We examine creativity from different levels of analysis, including biological, psychological, and social levels. We use three different approaches in our examinations: first, we examine empirical research; second, we employ the case-study approach to learn from the lives of history's most eminent creative achievers; and finally, we use ourselves as subjects to arrive at valuable insights about the creative process.

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Creativity Research:  Eccentric Geniuses and Harvard Students

Psychological resilience is defined as positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity. This course covers the field of resilience research, including an examination of evidence-based cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and self-care skills that have been demonstrated to reduce the risk of major psychological disorders, such as major depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders, in the face of adversity.

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Psychological Resilience

Psychopathology is the study of mental illness and its treatments. By studying abnormal cognition, emotion, and behavior, we can learn more about so-called “normal” human nature and experience. This course focuses on the presentation, as well as causes and evidence-based treatments, of mental illness. The course looks at the genetic, biological, psychological, and environmental aspects of psychopathology.

Sunlight streaming through a dense forest with text Psych E-1240.

Psychopathology

John Dryden is reported to have said, “We first make our habits and then our habits make us.”  Habitual behavior makes up about 45% of our daily actions, so it is crucial that we develop positive and healthy habits. This course examines habits and habit formation at several levels of analysis, including the biological (neurobiological and endocrine), psychological (emotional, cognitive, and behavioral), and socio-cultural levels. The course also looks at different approaches to habit and behavior change that can moderate or overwrite old habits and replace them with more adaptive behaviors. 

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Habits and Habit Change