Module manager: Dr Mike Finn
Email: m.finn@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
This module is approved as a discovery module
- Can there be a science of the mind? - If so, what should it look like? Since the nineteenth century, the most extraordinary range of answers has been given to these questions. The phrenologists, for instance, turned psychology into the study of bumps on the skull, on the view that your particular set of bumps would reveal your unique talents and character. The psychoanalysts turned psychology into the study of the unconscious, where, they said, your mind locks away wishes and impulses too shameful to be acted upon. The behaviourists turned psychology into the study of reactions to stimuli, attempting to show that your environment made you who you are and, if changed, could remake you. - How did these different understandings of what psychology is come into being? - Why did each have its moment of popularity, only to be overtaken by a new answer? - Where does the truth lie? In this module we will be looking not just at a remarkable set of ideas about what psychology is, but at the people behind the ideas, from Darwin to Freud to Chomsky and beyond. Anyone curious to know more about the mind and its study will enjoy this module. There are no prerequisites.
To provide an overview of the historical development of psychology as a scientific discipline.
The establishment of psychology as an experimental science, the historical context of the revolt against behaviourism and the subsequent cognitive revolution.
The relations of psychology to physiology, philosophy, education, and biology.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Tutorial | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Private study hours | 84 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 16 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 100 | ||
Reading & tutorial preparation: 44 hours
Developing literature review: 15 hours
Writing essay: 25 hours
Students will have the option to submit a 500 word literature review on readings connected to their essay question. Students will also receive feedback informally through tutorial discussion and office hours.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1,500 words | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated.
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 4/29/2024
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team