Hello, and welcome to my web site! My name is Sheldon W. Helms, and I am a professor of psychology at Ohlone College in Fremont, CA. I am also Vice President of the Bay Area Skeptics, a regular contributor to the James Randi Educational Foundation, and founder of the Ohlone Psychology Club Speaker Series. In my free time, I am an activist and advocate for science and critical thinking, and give public science talks on a variety of topics related to those interests. I host a popular weekly science and skepticism podcast called ShelShocked (see link above).
As a psychology professor, I have a vested interest in encouraging people to think more critically about the world around them. This is particularly true in regard to human interaction. Many of us spend our lives floundering about, trying to figure out what makes people tick (and what makes us tick), doing only a mediocre job at it. Only by studying the social sciences do we have even the slightest chance of acquiring such knowledge.
The purpose of this website is to help visitors achieve that goal, and to give them a glimpse into my world as I attempt to do the same. It is a world filled with science, and as such, it also contains amazing people, incredible insights, useful research findings, and a lot of fun and interesting information.
Please use the links at the top of this page to navigate through different areas on the site. I have separated the information provided into different categories so that it is easier to find. If there is an area of interest to you from science, critical thinking, skepticism, or a related field that is not represented there, feel free to send me an email and let me know what you'd like me to add. I'm always open to new ideas.
Thank you for visiting!
-- Sheldon