Undergraduate Course: History and Theory of Psychology (PSYL10163)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will cover key conceptual and historical issues in Psychology. It will provide a historical and theoretical perspective that will encourage greater critical thinking about the nature of psychological knowledge. |
| Course description |
This course will cover key conceptual and historical issues in Psychology, and explain why a historical and theoretical perspective is needed to understand the nature of psychological knowledge. It will consider what it means to define Psychology as scientific, describe the various forms that scientific Psychology has taken in practice, and explain how these have related to other kinds of psychological knowledge claims (such as 'pseudoscience' and 'popular psychology'). It will consider why we have asked particular psychological questions, and why we have chosen to answer them in particular ways. It will examine how we have defined psychological objects (emotions, attitudes, personality, etc.), and what, when we have made claims about these things, we have meant. In doing so, it will consider various controversies in the history of Psychology (such as those relating to phrenology, psychical research and psychoanalysis), which reveal some of the hidden aims and assumptions behind psychological knowledge claims, and discuss their implications for understanding more conventional claims. In doing so, it will encourage greater critical thinking about the nature of psychological knowledge.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- describe various forms that scientific Psychology has taken at different times
- explain how and why the objects of psychological knowledge have changed over time
- demonstrate the ability to think critically about the basis of psychological knowledge claims
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Peter Lamont
Tel: (0131 6)50 3372
Email: peter.lamont@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Stephanie Fong
Tel: (0131 6)51 3733
Email: S.Fong@ed.ac.uk |
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