Western Behavioral Sciences Institute

The Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI) was founded in 1958, in La Jolla, California, as an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to research, education and advanced study in human affairs. Its early studies included research on the leadership of small groups, communication in large organizations, international negotiation, simulation studies of deterrence strategies for defense, building educational games, studies of self-directed therapeutic groups, crime and violence prevention, and policy studies in poverty, race relations, education, and family life.

Founded by psychologist Richard Farson, physicist Paul Lloyd and social psychologist Wayman Crow, the Institute came to embrace all of the other disciplines interested in human relations - sociology, political science, philosophy, economics, anthropology, etc. Its staff has always included outstanding leaders in the social sciences.

WBSI became best known, perhaps, as the place Carl Rogers, considered by many to be the most influential psychologist in American history, developed his theories of group behavior, or the place famed psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote his most important book, Toward a Psychology of Being, or the place that produced the winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Feature, Journey Into Self. In fact, it has broken ground in a number of areas important to the improvement of human affairs.

For example, in 1981, long before there was an Internet, WBSI began a series of programs that pioneered the use of teleconferencing in education, leadership development, policy formation, mental health, and the formation of global communities of scholars, scientists and leaders. The leading example is WBSI's pioneering School of Management and Strategic Studies, first implemented on EIES. It was the very first program to employ online distance education, supplemented by twice-yearly meetings in La Jolla. Faculty and lecturers included leaders and innovators in academia, politics, science, business, and the arts such as Harlan Cleveland, Mary Douglas, Langdon Winner, Stewart Brand, Howard Nemerov, Robert Reich, Walter Orr Roberts, Rusty Schweickart, Nicholas Johnson, and Paul Levinson. Student participants included CEOs of major corporations, high-ranking U.S. Army generals, scientists, renowned writers and other professionals including Paul Funk, Barry McCaffrey, Gloria Feldt, Donald B. Straus, Marlon Brando, Wesley Clark, Michael Crichton, Wayne Peterson and many others.

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