Faculty of Critical Psychology, Undergraduate ProgramsInstruction
Sebastienne Grant
P.h D
Accolades
Academic Statement
Sebastienne is personally and professionally concerned with understanding and supporting the conditions of individual, societal, and global wellbeing. Her psychological orientation is grounded in critical, humanistic, existential, Buddhist, and transpersonal perspectives. She is particularly interested in social tensions (including discrimination, prejudice, and intolerance), compassion and altruism, values and morals, self and subjectivity, death attitudes, and bio/techno-ethics.
As an educator, Sebastienne strives to facilitate collaborative and transformative learning through connecting course material to fundamental questions of human existence, raising (critical) consciousness around social, historical, and structural forces, and inviting students to engage in critical reflexivity. She views the classroom as a valuable space for practicing skills such as critical and creative thinking, respectful and productive dialogue, tolerance, compassion, humor, and the understanding/appreciation of diversity.
Education
B.A. Psychology, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC, 2006
M.A. Humanistic Psychology (counseling track), University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA, 2011
Ph.D. Psychology: Consciousness and Society, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA, 2018
Publications
Grant, A. S. (2018). “What exactly are we trying to accomplish? The role of desire in transhuman visions.” In C. Mercer & T. J. Trothen (Eds.), Religion and Human Enhancement: Death, Values, and Morality, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Grant, A. S. (2019). Will human potential carry us beyond human? A humanistic inquiry into transhumanism. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167819832385
Morris, B., O'Gwin, C., Grant, S., and McDonald, S. (2020). Subjectivity in Psychology in the Era of Social Justice, New York, NY: Routlage.
Research
I believe that the knowledge and wisdom produced from within academia should be used to address real-world challenges and serve individual and societal wellbeing. My research seeks to identify underlying existential struggles contributing to social tensions and to investigate factors and approaches which effectively reduce these existential tensions while facilitating prosocial (rather than antisocial) behaviors. These aims emerged from a desire to understand the roots of social strife and intolerance and the challenges we face within ourselves in building more peaceful and inclusive societies.
My theoretical projects have included explorations into the psychology of progress, consumerism, desire, and transhuman technologies. My empirical work falls largely under the social psychological sub-field of experimental existential psychology and incorporates Buddhist and transpersonal perspectives on existential and social struggles. Previous projects have examined the relationships between self-construal, death anxiety, and social issues (including prejudice and discrimination and moral disengagement, as well as techno-ethics and attitudes towards transhuman/posthuman technologies).
Future research will likely include investigations into the potential benefits of compassion practices in reducing existential anxieties and facilitating prosocial behaviors. Additionally, I am interested in conducting a series of discourse analysis studies examining critical and existential themes in current science/speculative fiction film and literature.
I would be excited to involve students in my work and to support students in their own research endeavors.
Presentations
Theory and Praxis in Diverse Institutional and Sociocultural Contexts (Panel Chair), APA Division 24 Midwinter Conference, 2020
Calling out Classroom Call-Outs (Presentation and Guided Discussion), APA Division 24 Midwinter Conference, 2020
Addressing the Empty Self: Toward Socially-Just Subjectivities (Paper), APA Division 24 Midwinter Conference, 2019
Desire Be Our Guide: A Buddhist Critique of Desire and Aversion in the Transhuman Movement (Paper), APA Division 36 Midyear Conference, 2017
On Progress: A Psychological Inquiry into the Making of the Future (Poster), APA Annual Convention, Division 32, 2016
Spiritual, Religious, and Psychological Implications of Transhuman Technologies (Directed Discussion), APA Annual Convention: Division 36 Hospitality Suite, 2016
Will Human Potential Carry Us Beyond Being Human? A Humanistic Inquiry into Transhuman Pursuits (Paper), Duquesne/University of West Georgia Human Science Symposium, 2016
Self as Worldview: A Buddhist Perspective on the Problem of Terror Management (Poster), APA Division 36 Midyear Conference, 2016
Trying Not to Die – An Existential Exploration of Radical Life Extension Technologies (Paper), University of West Georgia Student Psychology Annual Research Conference, 2015
The Science of Consumption: Modern Implications of an Ancient Reward System (Paper), University of West Georgia Student Psychology Annual Research Conference, 2011.
Awards, Grants & Honors
Humanistic Psychology Award, 2011, University of West Georgia