CRITICAL ISSUES FOR CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY

Undergraduate

This course focuses on some of the fundamental assumptions and questions in contemporary psychology. It begins with a discussion of psychological methods as forms of social practice, and the resulting product/knowledge of these practices as situated within a socio-historical context. We then discuss the importance of metaphor, and language in general, for psychological description and explanation, and the historicity this language displays. These issues lead to a review of the most foundational challenge to contemporary psychology: its reception of and reaction to postmodernism. This includes readings and discussion on social constructionist thought, feminist epistemologies, critical psychology, hermeneutics, and qualitative (vs. quantitative) research. The last portion of the course is devoted to student seminars, where students select a topic from class discussion and develop a presentation. PREREQUISITES: PSY 1010, 1020, PSY 3020 is strongly recommended; AND, for Psychology Majors, EITHER all three of PSY 2700, 2730, 2750 OR PSY 2780 and 2790; AND, for non-majors, PSY 2510 Three hours a week