Eugene Gilden, professor of psychology, will be giving his last lecture about what he hopes the most important thing students learned from his classes was at 7 p.m. May 2 in T.J. Day Hall room 219.

The lecture will be partially autobiographical, as Gilden discusses how his interests started while he was an undergraduate student, how those interests influenced him and how different events contributed to those topics.

Gilden will also be focusing on social psychology and its affects on everyday life.

“The major thing that I’m interested in, and I think that I have explored some, is the way that very subtle kinds of influence turn out to be quite powerful in our lives,” Gilden said. “While human beings do have agency [and] some level of free will, we are a lot more influenced by things that we’re unaware of.”

Gilden has given numerous lectures before, but he finds it “nerve-wracking” to give this final lecture because it is a different type of audience, he said.

He won’t have time to establish a relationship with the audience, which he thinks is important when giving a lecture.

When asked to do the lecture, he was given wide latitude to talk about anything he wanted to, Gilden said.

Because of this, he has no idea if the audience will enjoy his final lecture, but he is still excited to see how students and faculty respond.

“Now all I have to do is execute it,” Gilden said.

Samantha Sigler/News editor

Samanthar Sigler can be reached at [email protected].