Themes and Issues in Psychology

1. What is ‘Psychology’? (What do you think psychology is? What do you want from psychology, or want it to be?)

2. Overview: History of psychology Psychology as ‘science’? Internal & external causes of behaviour Traits and situations. Hereditary & environment? Attribution. Free-will vs. determinism. Attachment. Psychological research methods and perspectives Ideographic or nomothetic approaches to the study of experience. Concepts of normality or abnormality. Nature & characteristics of consciousness. Challenging existing theories and approaches Overview of primary theoretical approaches

9. What is ‘Psychology’?

10. Exploring many aspects of being ‘human’?

11. (Pictures? Books, films etc)

12. Summary: Focus : Mind and behaviour Method: Scientific approach Way of thinking : Critically. Multi-disciplinary: Integrating different ways of exploring experience. Motivation: Experiences of being human. Your motivation?

18. Psychology as a ‘hub’ of knowledge? Psychology as the science of mind and behaviour Sociology Computer Science (Information processing models.) Medicine Biology Anthropology (Passer ‘et al’ 2009: p6).

19. Psychology as a ‘hub’ of knowledge ? Psychology as the science of mind and behaviour Humanistic (Self-actualisation and the positive in us all.) Cognitive (Thinking processes and the brain.) Socio-cultural (The human being embedded in the social context.) Psychodynamic: (Unconscious forces within) Behavioural: (Power or influence of the environment) (Passer ‘et al’ 2009: p11 - 19).

30. ‘ I ‘ Interior individual ‘ IT ’ Exterior Individual ‘ We ’ Collective Cultural ‘ ITS ’ Social system Environment (Adapted and developed from different writing of Ken Wilber.)

31. ‘ I ‘ Interior individual ‘ IT ’ Exterior Individual ‘ We ’ Collective Cultural ‘ ITS ’ Social system Environment (Adapted and developed from different writing of Ken Wilber.) Psychodynamics. Instincts. Ego. Id. Intrapersonal. Phenomenology. Self-actualization. Experimental psychology. Cognitive psychology. ‘ Brain’. ‘Organism’. Behaviourism. Interpersonal. Relationships. ‘ Object relations’ theory Group psychology? Family ‘system’. ‘Super ego’? Humanistic psychology. Cross-cultural psychology. ‘ Generalized’ psychology. Organisational psychology. Source of the ‘super ego’?

33. Summary: Focus : Mind and behaviour Method: Scientific approach Way of thinking : Critically. Multi-disciplinary: Integrating different ways of exploring experience. Motivation: Experiences of being human. Your motivation?