About Lewis Barker
Professor Emeritus

Dr. Barker retired from his faculty position in May 2017. Dr. Barker received the honor of College Professor of the Year 2016 from the Honors College. 

Lewis Barker received his BA in psychology from Occidental College in Los Angeles and an MA and Ph.D. from Florida State University. He taught for 28 years at Baylor University in Texas where he was Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience. He chaired the Department of Psychology at Auburn from 2000-02 where he is currently Professor of Psychology.

Over his career he has taught 18 different undergraduate courses, 9 graduate courses, and 5 labs. Introduction to Biopsychology, first taught in 1974, was among the earliest freshman-level course offering in evolutionary and physiological psychology in the U.S. He has numerous publications and book chapters, two edited books in the general area of human and animal learning, a textbook in learning, a textbook in general psychology, one unpublished screenplay, and one unpublished novel. Barker is married, has three adult daughters and two grandchildren.

Representative Publications

• Barker, L. (2016). Evolutionary echoes in sports (and war). In D. Svyantek (Ed.) Sports and Understanding Organizations (in press). 
• Barker, L. (2013). Darwin’s legacy in psychology. In J. Bradley and J. Lamar (Eds), Charles Darwin: A Celebration of His Life and Work. Montgomery, Al:  Newsouth Books (pp. 118-135)
• Smith, D. L., & Barker, L. (2008). Using yes-no recognition tests to assess student memory for course content. Teaching of Psychology, 35, 319-326.
• Barker, L. (2007).  Biological psychology. In 21^st century psychology, A reference handbook; S. F. Davis and W. Buskist (Eds.) Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
• Barker, L. (2006). Teaching evolutionary psychology: An interview with David M. Buss. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 69-76.
• Barker, L. (2006). Evolutionary psychology. In Handbook of the Teaching of Psychology, W. Buskist and S. F. Davis (Eds.) New York: Blackwell Publishers.
• Barker, L. (2004). Learning and Behavior: Biological, Psychological, and Sociocultural Perspectives. (3rd Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Custom Publishing
• Barker, L. (2004). Psychology (2nd Ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Custom Publishing.
• Barker, L. (2003) The chair's role in hiring good teachers. In Essays from E-xcellence in Teaching, Vol III. Hevern, V., Saville, B., & Zinn, T. (Eds.) Society for the Teaching of Psychology, (e-book), http://teachpsych.lemoyne.edu/teachpsych/div/divindex.html.
• Barker, L. (2002). Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Barker, L. (2002). Teaching the learning course: Philosophy and methods. In S. F. Davis & W. Buskist, (Eds.) The Teaching of Psychology: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Barker, L. & Katz, J. S. (2002). Animal learning and animal cognition. In S. F. Davis, (Ed.) The Handbook of Research Methods in Experimental Psychology. New York: Blackwell Publishers.