My Approach
I’ve Spent More Than 40 Years Trying to Understand Why We Do What We Do.
I’m still fascinated by the question.
I’m Howard J. Rankin, Ph.D.
I’m a psychologist by training, but that description no longer comes close to describing the territory my career has covered.
Psychology. Addiction. Neuroscience. Behavior change. Communication. Writing. Coaching. Prediction. Artificial intelligence. Spirituality.
They may sound like different subjects.
To me, they’ve always been different ways of approaching the same mystery:
Why do human beings behave as they do—and what allows us to change?
Early in my career I thought that if we understood behavior well enough, changing it should be relatively straightforward.
Human beings quickly disabused me of that idea.
What I Believe Now
People make sense when you understand what they adapted to.
Awareness is necessary for change, but awareness alone isn’t enough.
A behavior can once have saved you and now be limiting you.
We shouldn’t destroy our adaptations; we should learn when we need them.
Science should remain humble about what it doesn’t yet understand.
Human beings need agency more than they need another label.
The Longer I’ve Studied People, the Less Interested I’ve Become in Labels
Diagnosis has its place.
Personality classifications have their place.
Psychometrics have their place.
But increasingly I’ve become interested in something more dynamic:
What is happening to this particular person, in this particular situation, at this particular moment?.
Beyond Psychology
Today my work revolves around several connected projects:
Private Coaching
Helping individuals recognize and change recurring patterns.
Programmed Persona Theory
Developing a new framework for understanding adaptive patterns and conscious choice.
Writing & Broadcasting
Books, Psychology Today, Substack, radio and other media.
IntualityAI
Exploring behavioral prediction and the intersection between human intelligence and artificial intelligence.