Intro to Psychology Lit

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course approaches literary and cultural analysis through the study of human behavior. Building on the fields of psychoanalysis and psychology, the class investigates how literary interpretation informs our understanding of such topics as: mind, selfhood, difference, social norms, social values, and the critique of all these. The course surveys a range of literary and cultural materials, viewed through such key psychological concepts as repression, the unconscious, the mirror stage, sexuality, the male gaze, the father-child / mother-infant relationships, madness, hysteria, depression, anxiety, addiction, altruism, personality, language, memory, emotion, and intelligence. Students will consider the lives of writers and their works and observe how literature and culture represent conflicting states of emotion such as anger, fear, jealousy, love, hatred, lust, greed, hope, and despair, and place these into social and historical contexts. Please see section description for specific details about this term’s offering.