Lonner Lecture Series: A Brief History

Prof. Walter J. Lonner

Emeritus Professor of Psychology

Western Washington University

May 5, 2026


This series of invited lectures began in 2006. When inaugurated, it became a fixture in the biennial congresses of the IACCP. its inauguration was made possible when Sage Publications bought the copyright to the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology ( JCCP) from Western Washington University. The JCCP was founded in 1970 and was the main activity of Western’s Center of Cross-Cultural Research, which was founded in 1969. It became an active unit in Western’s Department of Psychology. Walt Lonner was co-founder of the Center as well as Fouding Editor of JCCP. For the first three years all /facets of the journal were handled at Western and a Bellingham printIng store. In 1972 John Dawson, head of the Psychology Department at the University of Hong Kong, was starting the IACCP and suggested to Lonner that the fledgling JCCP would be a natural addition to effort in which he was engaged. Thus, 54 years ago JCCP became the flagship journal of the IACP as well as the first periodical in psychology to focus exclusively on culture. Many historical details about the IACCP and other developments can be found In a JCCP article by Berry, Lonner and Best (February, 2022).


The sale of the JCCP copyright, mentioned above, took place in Western’s president’s office on May 4, 2003. Sage thus added JCCP to its large number of journals. It was agreed that Sage would handle all of the fincial and subscription details. A separate agreement stipulated that the IACCP would retain all editorial matter that essentially all professional journals routinely do. In this case, however, royalties were involved. Annual royalties werevset at 14%, with both Western and the IACCP to receive 7%. For the latter, that was a very large sum — far more than it ever expected since it’s its inauguration. It gave the Association opportunities it had never experienced. This transaction was quite beneficial to the Association. 


In 2004, at the 17th IACCP Congress in Xian, China, the Executive Council announced the creation of the Distinguished Lonner Lecture. That honor essentiqlly continued the essence of the Distinguiished Invitited Lecture Series that Lonner began years ago when he was Director of the CCCR at Western. The first invitees for this IACCP-funded series was the late Gustav Jahoda of Scotland. A psychologist, he was an honorific choice because of his early contributions to cross-cultural psychology. He was the first full-time (two-year) IACCP president. 


Selecting and inviting scholars for the Lonner Lecture is the responsibility of the IACCP, in particular the organizer of the next main congress. The most important factor has been, from the beginning, the bredth of scope of those who have been nominated. As stated from the outset, there is a preference to select scholars outside the guild of cross-cultural psychogy. Over more than ‘two decades the chosen speakers have represented Anthropology, Biological sciences, linguistics and of course various areas of Psychology that may not feature culture to a large extent. The list below testifies to the breadth of of coverage, both by field and country of speakers.


Although one name is assocuted with this series —Lonner —its intent goes much further than this small accolade. It is just one story among hundreds that many devoted IACCP members could tell. 


Future scholars who deliver lectures in IACCP conferences will no doubt follow the reasons why this series began in 2006. Perhaps future scholars who are invited to give these lectures will benefit from this brief historical account of the beginning and intent. 

   

The List of Lonner Lectures

  •  2026 — Leuven, Belgium. Teresa LaFromboise, Graduate School of Education, Development and Psychological Sciences, Stanford University. Bicultural Lives, Indigenous Futures: Identity, Language, and the Science of Well-Being
  • 2024 — Bali, Indonesia. Russel Gray. A New Zealand evolutionary biologist and psychologist working at Max Planck Insitute in a Leipzig. Title of talk unavailable.
  •  2022 — Online. Pippa Norris, UK. Harvard Kennedy College, Harvard University, specializing in Geopolitics
  •  2020 — (in 2021) Ara Norenzayan, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada. Religious diversity and global cultural variation.
  •  2018 — Guelph, Ontario, Canada Sandra Jovchelovltch. London School of Economics and Political Science. Human development in the conc\text of adversity: Role and resources of culture
  •  2016 — Nagoya, Japan Laurence Kirmayer, Department of Social and Cultural Psychiatry. McGill University, Montreal, Canada. “Embodiment and enactment in culture-situated practice”
  •  2014 — Reims, France Daniel Everett, Professor of Cognitive Science, Bentley University, Waltham , Massachusetts. “ On the roll of culture in the aversions of language”
  •  2012— Stellenbosch, South Africa Scott Atran.Centre National de la Recherche Scietififique - Institut Jean Nicod University of Michigan
  •  2010 — Melbourne, Australia Lawrence Harrison (1932-1915). Tufts University. Author of “Culture Matters”
  •  2008 — Bremen, Germany Michael Tomasello “The human adaptation for culture”
  • 2006 — Spetses, Greece. Gustav Jahoda (1920-2016). There may not have been a title of his lecture because he mainly talked abut aspects of his career.

 

Note: Nine of the eleven lectures were in-person presentations. COVID forced other means of presentation, usually on line