Jacques-Louis David was a leading Neoclassical painter of Western Europe, who became unpopular right after his death. Today he is a symbol of French national pride and identity. Cupid was usually depicted as an ideal adolescent, but here David presents him as an ungainly teenager smirking at his sexual conquest.Introduction to the course
Understanding Human Behaviour (UHB) course aims to present a critical (interpretative) view of Psychology today from a Gestalt perspective. After spending a substantial amount of time learning Psychology if you feel that you have not really learned anything significant, you are not alone, since most courses provide students with discrete bits of information, leaving it up to them to connect the dots. Our course uses insights from Gestalt Psychology (pdf) to paint a picture of the human experience.
This course aims to integrate the discrete bits of information scattered in the field of Psychology and attempts to present an integrated view. It also questions the “facts” of psychology and opens them up for discussion. Indeed, many of the facts that are described today have had at some point, alternative explanations that were never conclusively disproved. During this course, participants are encouraged to question the field of Psychology and develop their own version of it. This critical perspective requires one to “take sides”. We use the theoretical perspective of Gestalt Psychology to critically look at existing psychological theories.
(To register, email urvi@thetalkshop.in)
Who would it benefit?
Anyone who is interested in a broad grasp of emerging trends that are shaping the world today.
- People who always been curious about human behaviour but never got an opportunity to pursue it formally
- Professionals whose work needs them to understand human behviour – customers, employees and other stakeholders
- Students who are considering psychology
- Graduate students looking for directions in higher education
- People who have learnt psychology and who are looking for practical career applications of the same
Course Objectives
- To provide participants with an overview of Psychology as the study of human behaviour and to provide the tools with which they can explore subject further on their own.
- To develop the spirit of Critical Enquiry among the participants.
- Help participants create a link between theoretical perspectives and their own lives through extensive experiential discussions
- Facilitate a sensitivity to others with a focus on diversity including ethnic and gender issues.
- To encourage empathetic understanding through challenging one’s own gestalts and assumptions
Learning Method
- The course primarily follows the Socratic Method of question and answer. Participants are given the topic of discussion before hand and are expected to come prepared with interesting questions on the topic.
- Other methods include special talks by interesting people, watching online (public domain) videos together and then having a discussion
- Discussion regarding application of the knowledge to real life situations
- Office Hours (online) where individuals or groups can approach me for further discussion (Optional)
Course Duration: Each contact session is for 60min. This course is divided into 3 modules with each module comprising of 4 contact hours.
Course Fee: for more details and course fee, contact Ms. Urvi urvi@thetalkshop.in
Some Indicative Topics
Given below are some indicative topics. The final topics will be based on the participants’ interests.
- The Human Science
- Explore the philosophical assumptions behind Psychology
- Understand the significance of learning psychology to understanding people.
- Is there a difference between Knowing and Understanding someone?
- Discover how we create the world around us from an extremely limited amount of data that our senses receive
- Cognitive science – intelligence and consciousness, animal intelligence and artificial intelligence
- Research in Psychology
- How to separate fake news from real news
- How to find your own answers to questions related to psychology
- How to continue updating and building on your previous knowledge
- Preparing for Ph.D. what to expect and where to start
- Applications in Psychology
- Counseling – The medical model of mental health and it’s alternatives, setting therapeutic objectives, Gestalt approach towards therapy and inner work, listening skills, intervention strategies.
- Management: Organizational behaviour and consumer behaviour
Parenthood and Education: How can psychology help in preparing tomorrow’s citizens
Some aims of the course
Philosophical foundations of modern Psychology
This course raises the fundamental questions about the philosophy of psychology as a science. It also asks the question that the German philosopher, Wilhelm Dilthey asked… whether the methods of natural sciences are suitable for the study of human beings? Or if a more empirical approach is more suitable? (Naturewissenschaft vs Geistwissenschaft). A critical perspective of the core concepts in Psychology
Applying Psychology
In order to successfully apply Psychology in our day to day lives, one should be able to bridge the gap between academic learning and life experiences. An important objective of this course is to help participants bridge that very gap between academic knowledge and understanding human behaviour through discussion of personal experiences throughout the course. Hence this requires the participants to have a demonstrated knowledge and interest in Psychology.
Learning to Learn
Many of those who spoke during the research phase mentioned that they had a degree in Psychology but have not updated their knowledge since. They had also mentioned that their existing knowledge of the field was more crystalized and that they did not know how to apply what they had learnt in our lives. This course not only helps participants to brush up their core concepts, but also to conduct their own research and become lifelong learners in Psychology. By the end of the course, participants are expected to go beyond popular psychology (often known as pop-psychology) and be familiar with the process of reviewing academic journal articles and be in a position to write articles on their own.
Exploring the frontiers of Psychology
This course introduces participants to unanswered questions at the frontiers of Psychology. On the one hand it introduces the participants to problems that psychologists are working on today. On the other hand it challenges the notion of Psychology as a collection of static facts. Exploring the frontiers or Psychology requires participants to do their own research and present their findings during the course.
How is the course structured?
The course is structured into three modules and each module consists of 5 contact hours each. Contact sessions are conducted over live video. Participants are expected to come prepared for discussion during the session. Students are expected to put in two hours of preparation for every one-hour contact session. Since this is an advanced course intended for those who already have some familiarity with the subjects of psychology, the course aims for depth more than breadth. This is to say that each and every topic mentioned in this outline may not be dealt with in the contact session and the participants are expected to learn quite a bit on their own (see the flipped classroom for more information). This is now possible because a wide variety of good quality content is now available online and participants are expected to conduct their own research. At the end of each session, a list of questions is given for the participants to conduct research on and this will form the basis for the concepts covered in the next session.
The course has three modules – Core Concepts in Psychology, Advanced Topics, and Applications in modern life. The third module is optional and offers the participants to explore the application of Psychology in Organizational Behaviour, Consumer Behaviour, Counseling, Education, Consciousness or Artificial Intelligence (Indicative topics)
Module I: Core concepts in Psychology
The first five sessions introduce the following topics
- * The philosophical foundations of modern Psychology.
- * Cognition (sensation, attention, perception, memory, cognition),
- * Decision Making and Intelligence both natural and artificial
- * Depth Psychology and symbols, a contemporary view (includes inputs from postmodernism and recent developments)
- * Abnormal psychology and the medical model
- * Brain and the Body
Module II: Advanced Topics in Psychology
- * A list of topics to be explored in depth chosen by participants
- * This module is advanced not just in the topics and the level of depth they are explored, but by the method too. Participants are expected to present topics based on a review of published academic research, similar to a conference paper.
- * Learn how to offer and accept constructive criticism
Module III: Applications in modern life (Separate Registration) Module III is optional. However, the course completion certificate is only available for those who complete all three modules. The application module involves a Practical application involving fieldwork – Each participant will have to choose his or her own project. The Talk Shop will assist in selecting, planning and executing the project.
* For those interested in Counseling, they can use one of several online counselling sites or provide support for someone they know is going through a difficult time.
* For those who are interested in Business Psychology, they can either pick up a project from their workplace or a related business project that they would like to do.
* Those who choose to specialize in Education, will work with students / families who are facing problems in education or with those who face difficulties in learning. Special note: This specialization is also useful for parents who want to help their children become better equipped for the 21st century.
- * Participants are expected to submit a written report of publishable standard to complete requirements for the course. (See Talk Shop Research for more details – alternatives are available for those who request it.)
- * A certificate that allows you to practice in your chosen field (please check with legal formalities in your area)
- Specializations:
- Counseling – Includes depth work. (see why psychotherapy is not included)
- Academic Research – for those aspiring to go for a Ph.D. (ask sneha@thetalkshop.in about our research collective)
- Management – Organizational Behaviour, research, decision making and AI
- Education – Help people become more effective learners, become a certified educational coach, enhance learning communities, build learning organizations including schools and help families build a rich learning culture. This equips the person with lifelong learning.