Modern day psychology can perhaps be defined as the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. This simple definition incorporates a number of features. First, psychology is a science, and uses similar scientific methods as other scientific disciplines such as chemistry, physics and biology. In other words, psychologists carry out experiments, formulate hypotheses and test theories. Psychological experiments can be carried out in a variety of settings. Some take place under controlled laboratory conditions, others are carried out 'in the field' in everyday settings.
In its relatively short history as an academic discipline psychology has changed direction, focus and approach several times. During the 1930s, for example, mainstream psychology excluded the ‘the mind’ from consideration and focused only on behaviour. The first half of the course takes a largely historical stance focusses on some of the ‘big ideas’ that have shaped mainstream psychology since the late 1800s. This will include several of the early ‘mind’ theorists such as Wilhelm Wundt and Sigmund Freud and the major perspectives that followed from them; Behaviourism, social psychology, cognitive psychology and developmental psychology.
The second half of the course will focus on notions of the ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. Despite attitude changes over the years the topics of mental illness and psychiatric disorder retain a curious quality. People simultaneously demonstrate a fascination with what happens when minds are different/’abnormal’ but also an absence of deeper understanding and even fear.
This part of the course will provide a general introduction to the area clinical psychology in terms of conception, diagnosis and treatment through a consideration of several clinical conditions and personality models; depression, anxiety, the autism spectrum, schizophrenia and the Dark Triad. A recurrent theme will be the idea that psychiatric conditions are not abnormal per se, but rather should be seen as extensions of everyday processes but to an abnormal degree. In other words, that the features making up such conditions exist on continua that extend into the general population.
