MURSTEIN, Bernard I(rving) 1929-

PERSONAL: Born April 29, 1929, in Vilna, Lithuania; immigrated to the United States, 1930; naturalized U.S. citizen; son of Leon (a taxi fleet owner) and Martha (Schalachman) Murstein; married Nelly Kashy (a professor of French and Italian at Connecticut College), August 27, 1954; children: S. Danielle, Colette Anne. Education: City College (now of the City University of New York), B.S.S., 1950; University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, M.S., 1951; University of Texas, Ph.D., 1955. Politics: "Liberal-independent." Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Stock analysis and research.

ADDRESSES: Home—46 Beacon Hill Dr., Waterford, CT 06385-4110. Office—c/o Box 5581, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., New London, CT 06320-4196. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Louisville Child Guidance Center, Louisville, KY, psychotherapy intern, 1953-54; University of Texas, Main University (now University of Texas—Austin), Austin, Hogg Foundation research fellow at M. D. Anderson Hospital, 1955-56; Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, assistant professor of psychology and director of psychology clinic, 1956-58; University of Portland, Portland, OR, associate professor of psychology and coordinator of research, 1958-60; National Institute of Mental Health, Portland, director of research and principal investigator at Interfaith Counseling Center, 1960-62; University of Connecticut, Storrs, associate professor of family relations, 1962-63; Connecticut College, New London, associate professor, 1963-65, professor of psychology, 1965-99, May Buckley Sadowski Professor, 1994-99, professor emeritus, 1999—, department chair, 1976-79, 1990-91. University of Louvain, Fulbright professor, 1968-69. Private practice of psychology, beginning 1979.

MEMBER: International Council of Psychologists, International Society for the Study of Interpersonal Relationships, American Psychological Association (fellow), Society for Personality Assessment (fellow; president, 1973-74), National Council on Family Relations.

AWARDS, HONORS: U.S. Public Health Service fellowship, 1954; grants from National Institute of Mental Health, 1960-63, 1964-68, National Science Foundation, 1970-71, Mellon Foundation, 1978, 1980, and George I. Alden Trust, 1982.

WRITINGS:

Theory and Research in Projective Techniques, Emphasizing the Thematic Apperception Test, Wiley (New York, NY), 1963.

(Editor) Handbook of Projective Techniques, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1965.

Theories of Attraction and Love, Springer Publishing (New York, NY), 1971.

Love, Sex, and Marriage through the Ages, Springer Publishing (New York, NY), 1974.

Who Will Marry Whom: Theories and Research in Marital Choice, Springer Publishing (New York, NY), 1976.

(Editor) Exploring Intimate Life Styles, Springer Publishing (New York, NY), 1978.

Paths to Marriage, Sage Publications (Beverly Hills, CA), 1986.

Getting Psyched for Wall Street: A Rational Approach to an Irrational Market, Cypress Publishing Group, 2002.

Contributor to books, including Contemporary Issues in Thematic Apperceptive Methods, 1961; and Projective Techniques, 1964. Contributor of more than 100 articles to periodicals, including Psychological Reports, Journal of Projective Psychology and Mental Health, International Journal of Psychology, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Associate editor, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1975-80.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Memoirs of a Septuagenerian.

SIDELIGHTS: Bernard I. Murstein once told CA: "Some years ago I made a statement after dealing with the contents of our dull, plodding psychological journals. I jocularly referred to it as Murstein's Law: 'The amount of research devoted to a topic on human behavior is inversely related to its importance and interest to mankind.' My research and writing efforts devoted to investigating attraction, love, marital choice, and marital functioning have attempted to change the veridicality of that statement and to study what I perceive to be the most important factor in most lives—the quantity and quality of our intimate relationships."

More recently, he added: "Around 1980 I discovered the concept of 'inter-spousal deafness,' a condition in which, if one member of a couple is in conversation with a third party, the attempt of the spouse to communicate is useless, because a person's ears shut down selectively as soon as spouse's voice is recognized. The ears open immediately for non-spousal sounds.

"In my old age, my libido has switched its focus from the study of love to that of the psychology of money; hence, my 2002 book."