The Unconscious Mind

Catalog description

"The unconscious mind holds an increasing fascination for human beings as we are more able to study how it may shape our thoughts, emotional state and conduct in everyday life. While we like to think of ourselves as in conscious control of what we do, the questions remain as to who controls the controller, and how come that one thought popped into our conscious mind rather than another? Indeed, the unconscious mind has fascinated human beings not only in the arts and humanities but also increasingly in the scientific disciplines. We shall explore the relationship between unconscious memories and our sense of self. We will consider how philosophical and scientific ideas have led to contemporary understanding of the mind and how they challenge our assumptions about the nature of unconscious memories and an irrational unconscious. To this end, students will be given the opportunity to conduct hand-on scientific experiments to explore aspects of the unconscious mind. This will include designing and conducting experiments and analyzing the data using thematic and basic statistical analysis."