Johnson, Joel | Obituaries | postregister.com

Joel Ted Johnson was born on December 7, 1944 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Theodore Irvin Johnson and Fern Adell Johnson, on the couple’s third anniversary. Although he was an only child, he was raised with a family. His paternal grandfather had helped colonize Idaho Falls when it was still known as Eagle Rock. Joel grew up at a time when children were routinely dropped from school to help with the potato harvest. However, he took school seriously, was smart and motivated, and became a seasoned debater. After graduating from Idaho Falls High School, he made his way to Stanford University. During the summer months he made college money by working at Idaho National Laboratory – a nuclear reactor research facility 40 miles west in the desert – but later that year he studied creative writing with Wallace Stegner, where people like Ken Kesey would crash his classes. After graduating in 1967, he attended Harvard Law School and received his law degree in 1971. Joel returned to California and practiced as a lawyer with Ware & Freidenrich in Palo Alto. Drawn to the science and allure of open research, he returned to Harvard University in 1978 to begin studying social psychology. There he met Lorrie Irish know and married her. Their union lasted 40 years, was nurtured with wit, humor, insight, and kindness, and produced two children: Geoff and Jessica. Joel received her PhD. in social psychology in 1981. Two hours after official copies of his doctorate. After the thesis was submitted, Joel and Lorrie began their trek west to Davis, where he had been hired to teach at the University of California. For 31 years he researched social cognition, focusing on behaviors seen as diagnosing the authentic self, inferential differences between oneself and others, perceived causality, and causal reasoning in a legal context. He fostered a love of social psychology among both undergraduate and graduate students and supervised future graduate students who later spoke of both his insight and his kindness. He blended seamlessly into Davis’s cycling culture, cycling to work almost every day and walking his beloved dogs on the city’s many winding trails. His hobbies included a love of beer, trivial pursuit, politics, science fiction and literature, which was inherited from his two children. Although his struggles with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis hampered his physical activity in his later years, his keen understanding of state and national politics continued undiminished, and family members were impressed by his observations until almost the hour of his death. Joel is survived by his wife Lorrie, son Geoff, and partner Sierra, and daughter Jessica and husband Chanse. He is also survived by several cousins ​​- including Marcine Silver, who was like a sister of Joel, several nieces and nephews, and the many close friends he kept from both elementary and high school in Idaho Falls – whose connections and support were graciously continued throughout his life. The family would like to thank the kind hearted staff at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital in Woodland who looked after Joel prior to the 2020 pandemic closing, and would like to acknowledge the exceptional care he has received at Chaparral House in Berkeley over the past few months . Joel was buried with private services in Davis Cemetery. No further services are currently planned. Donations in memory of Joel can be made to support the Psychology Graduate Fellowship Fund at UC Davis, which provides financial assistance to graduate students pursuing a degree in psychology. Make checks payable to UC Davis, and the note line says RE Psychology Graduate Fellowship Fund. Email UC Davis Advancement Services, 202 Cousteau Place, Suite 185, Davis, CA 95618. To donate online, go to https://give.ucdavis.edu/Go/JoelJohnson. Joel 12/7/1944 – 02/14/2021 Ted Johnson

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