While teaching and doing research at Harvard, the University of Chicago, the University of California at Berkeley, and other institutions, Schutz focused on psychology but also studied philosophy—in particular, the scientific method, the philosophy of science, logical empiricism, and research design (with both
Hans Reichenbach and
Abraham Kaplan). He also worked with
Paul Lazarsfeld, the well-known sociologist and methodologist and
Elvin Semrad, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and clinical director in charge of psychiatric residency training at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. For Schutz, Semrad was a key figure, "a brilliant, earthy psychoanalyst who became my main mentor about groups." An avid student, Schutz also learned
T-group methodology ("T" for training) at the
National Training Laboratories (NTL) at Bethel, Maine, psychosynthesis, a spiritually oriented technique involving imagery, devised by an Italian contemporary of Freud named
Roberto Assagioli, psychodrama with
Hannah Weiner,
bioenergetics with
Alexander Lowen and
John Pierrakos,
Rolfing with
Ida Rolf, and
Gestalt Therapy with
Paul Goodman. In his own words, "I tried everything physical, psychological, and spiritual—all diets, all therapies, all body methods, jogging, meditating, visiting a guru in India, and fasting for thirty-four days on water. These experiences counterbalanced my twenty years in science and left me with a strong desire to integrate the scientific with the
experiential." ==Writings==