Methods For The Study Of Anomalies, Beliefs and Extended Communication (P00607)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : PPL-P-MSABECPSY

This course is designed to introduce students to the methodological issues involved in the investigation of unusual or anomalous psychological phenomena. Included would be several modules:
1). Conceptual and theoretical issues in the study of such events, including the philosophy and psychology of scientific investigation, multi-disciplinary approaches, the role of description, the nature of theory construction and the social context of research.
2). Qualitative and quantitative issues, including the problems of dealing with sensitive areas, ethical issues, research in other cultures, statistical issues in the treatment of unusual data sets, exploratory versus confirmatory approaches, the interactions among different methodological perspectives and the strategies for developing and evaluating new methodologies.
3). Specific strategies for researching anomalies. This would include the psychology of anomalous experiences, framing of anomalous experiences, a systems approach to investigating anomalies, cross cultural approaches, detailed methods for investigating anomalies, evaluating specific claims about anomalies, and clinical approaches.
4). The study of beliefs and their development. This would include the psychology of belief formation and maintenance, framing and beliefs, historical and performance studies perspectives, beliefs and religion, beliefs about human capabilities, and extreme beliefs.
5). The study of extended communication. This would include the concept of communication, the psychology of performance magic and deception, applying systems approaches, parapsychological phenomena as communication, intra-sensory information (information through sensory channels in unusual ways such as perception without awareness), quasi-sensory information (information through perturbations of sensory pathways such as magnetic field effects) and apparent extra-sensory communication.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Psychology, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 20 minutes per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	14:00	15:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students should have learned about the subject matter of the study of psychological anomalies, beliefs about them and the current state of research into extended communication beyond those routinely considered in psychology texts. Students will have been challenged to think for themselves about the nature of psychological inquiry and how new methodologies evolve and are themselves evaluated. They will understand how to think about the clinical relevance of unusual experiences; about the contribution of culture to experience; about the evaluation of claims for exceptional abilities and techniques for training them; about the role of belief formation and maintenance in our evaluation of our experiences, our observations and our behaviour; and about the future role psychology can play in contributing to society's understanding of its anomalies. They should be able then to integrate this with their own professional activities in a variety of areas within psychology in particular and the natural and social sciences in general. They should be able to think more critically about published research and associated claims in general and in the above areas in particular and should be in a position to initiate research themselves. Finally, they should be able to design and implement effective research into the above areas.