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Jack Bauer, PhD
Department of Psychology
University of Dayton
Dayton, OH 45469
(937) 229-2617

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Psychology Department

College of Arts
and Sciences

PSY 450C:
History of Psychology

Taught at Northern Arizona University

Spring 2006
TTh 12:45 - 2:00 a.m. in du Bois 029
Office Hours: TTh 2:15 - 3:30 & by appt.

Syllabus
Required Texts
Course Objectives
Grading & Requirements
Miscellaneous
Schedule

Required Text
Hergenhahn, B. R. (2005). An Introduction to the History of Psychology, Fifth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

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Course Objectives

Welcome to the History of Psychology. This course is designed to look at the big picture of the field of psychology. By now you have taken most of your psychology courses. Just about each of them has focused on a specific discipline within psychology. This course aims to penetrate and integrate many of the central ideas of those disciplines in a way that helps you (1) make sense of the field of psychology as a whole and (2) apply psychology in a practical way to your everyday life.

We will not study the history of psychology for the sake of nostalgia. We'll study the history of psychology in order to lift the veil of what we think psychology and humanity are all about. If you're paying attention, studying the history of psychology is a humbling experience—and one that clears a space for deeper understandings of psychology and of yourself.

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Course Grading & Requirements

Exams. Three exams will cover the content of the class lectures and text. Therefore you are expected to attend class, take notes, and read the text as the course progresses. The exams will require you to integrate information, not just memorize it. The final exam is not cumulative. If you miss an exam, you must have a legitimate reason (by university standards) for taking a make-up exam in order to earn points for that exam. In such a case you must make every attempt to notify me in advance. Each exam is worth 100 points.

Film paper. For this project you are to pick a film you like and analyze it in terms of one of the great concerns of the sciences and humanities: Determinism. Determinism is the idea that things have causes—that things are determined by something else. In the social sciences and humanities, one of the great debates on determinism is that of free will v. determinism: Is everything determined, or do we have free will? This debate—in various forms—can be found as a central question or theme in countless movies. This debate has numerous related questions, any of which you may use to analyze the film. Related questions include:

• What is the role of fate? What is the role of choice?
• To what degree are we governed by conformity?
• What is creativity?
• For what or whom, and to what or whom, are we responsible? What is responsibility?
• Are we mostly rational or irrational?
• Are there universal truths, or is everything relative (to each other, to one’s perspective)?

Besides the debate on free will v. determinism, a perennial question about determinism is: Given some degree of determinism, what causes human activity?

• Physical (materialism) or psychological (idealism) determinism? Does the body or the mind drive human behavior?
• If ideas (& knowledge & emotions & values & ideologies & the self & social institutions & cultures etc.) are socially constructed, what is real? What is reality?
• What’s a more important cause of behavior, objective or subjective reality?
• Nature v. nurture? Are we a product of our genes or our upbringing? As for nurture, what aspect of the environment influences us most—parents, peers, authority figures, culture (think gender, think social values, think history, etc.), politics, economics, geology, etc?

Pick a film you like that focuses on something psychological. (If none comes to mind, try a Google search for “psychology” and “film” or “movie.”) Then identify how one or more of the questions/debates above plays out in the film. Then think about it a lot and organize a clear, coherent analysis of how the film addresses the issue(s). Then write the paper. Do not turn in a stream-of-consciousness rough draft of half-baked ideas. If you have any questions about choosing a movie, or how to organize the paper, send me an email, ask in class (others might have the same question), or stop by my office. The paper should be 3-4 pages (double-spaced) and is due Tuesday, March 7. The paper is worth 50 points.

Self paper. This project is designed for you to reflect on the field of psychology and on yourself. Describe how what you’ve learned from the field of psychology can be of important use in your life. You might want to divide your life into areas, such as love (i.e., relationships) and work—and/or areas such as play/leisure, spirituality, self/identity/personality, personal health, or civic involvement. Think about what you want most out of life—your major life goals or maybe your dreams or ideal plans. Think about how psychology could help you attain your desires in those areas. You might address how psychology as a whole has helped you. Or you might address how a single principle or finding changed how you look at things in a major way. Or you might address something in between those two. Give these concerns a lot of thought, then organize those thoughts well. Then write the paper. If you have any questions—again—ask. The paper should be 3-4 pages (double-spaced) and is due Tuesday, May 2. The paper is worth 50 points.

Reading. We’ll cover 1-2 chapters per week, which will add up quickly if you don’t keep up, which of course is especially easy to do in your last semester of college.

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Miscellaneous

Assistance: Please let me know if you would like any form of help in this class. Feel free to call or email me for an individual appointment, or stop by during my office hours.

Attendance: While there is no attendance policy in the overt sense, there is one in the subtle sense. First, part of your final grade is participation, and you can’t participate if you’re not there. Second, students find it very difficult to do well on my exams if they miss more than a couple classes, since my exams are based not on the memorization of facts but on the ability to integrate information—a skill we develop in class.

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Tentative Course Schedule