A private service was held last weekend for Joseph Lyons, a psychology professor at UC Davis for 20 years, who died on Nov. 2 in Berkeley of pneumonia. He was 82 years old. A research scientist whose expertise was in clinical psychology and experimental social psychology, Dr. Lyons retired from UC Davis in 1987. His eclectic research interests included clinical psychology, humanistic education, language development, phenomenology and prehistoric cave art. He wrote numerous articles in professional journals and several books, including "A Primer of Experimental Psychology," "The Ecology of the Body," "Experience: An Introduction to a Personal Psychology" and "Psychology and the Measure of Man." A graduate of City College of New York, Dr. Lyons received his doctoral degree from the University of Kansas and an honorary doctorate from the Universite de Louvain in Belgium, where he was a Fulbright research fellow. For a number of years, Dr. Lyons worked with Erwin W. Straus at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Lexington, Ky. He was again a Fulbright scholar when he studied in Yugoslavia. In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Lyons served as a radio technician in the Air Force during World War II. Dr. Lyons is survived by his wife, Dorothy Lyons; his daughter, Ricki Bergado of Sacramento; brother, Robert Lyons, and sister, Bayla Cohen, both of Easton, Pa; stepchildren Margy Kirwin of Alameda, Ken Sommer of San Francisco and Ted Sommer of Davis; grandson Kalen Bergado and five step-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be sent to the Alzheimer's Association: Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, 330 Distel Circle, Suite A, Los Altos, CA 94022.