The Birth of Psychology

Catalog description

Psychology is one of the most popular fields of study in universities today, captivating our curiosity about the human mind. But how did psychology become a key discipline in defining what it means to be human? This course traces the rise of scientific psychology from the 1880s to the 1970s, exploring major psychological systems such as functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and cognitive psychology. As part of this exploration, you will engage in hands-on learning by replicating foundational experiments. For example, we will recreate Ebbinghaus’s memory experiments to study the forgetting curve and Skinner’s conditioning experiments to observe real-time behavior changes. By engaging with these classical experiments, you will gain experiential insights into how psychological concepts emerged from practical research, while also exploring their development within broader historical, intellectual, and socio-political contexts. Prerequisite: Perspectives on Humanities or any HIST-SHU course OR any HUMN-SHU course OR any PHIL-SHU course OR any LIT-SHU Fulfillment: CORE STS; Humanities Advanced Interdisciplinary course; Social Science Focus Psychology 200 level.