Lecture: Yale: Susan Nolen-Hoeksema: Mental Illness

 Psychiatry, Psychology  No Responses »
Jan 032010
 
Lecture 18 – What Happens When Things Go Wrong: Mental Illness, Part I

Professor Susan Nolen-Hoeksema describes how modern clinical psychology both identifies and treats various mental disorders.

Particular focus is placed upon mood disorders such as bipolar disorder and depression, including current diagnostic criteria and current practices for treatment.

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Lecture 19 – What Happens When Things Go Wrong: Mental Illness, Part II

This lecture continues to cover one of the most salient areas within the field of psychology known as psychopathology, or clinical psychology.

Following a discussion of the different ways of defining mental illness, Professor Bloom reviews several classes of clinical diagnoses including schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, and personality disorders.

The lecture concludes with a brief introduction to therapy.

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Self and Other

 Psychology, Sociology  No Responses »
Jan 012010
 
Lecture 16 – A Person in the World of People: Self and Other, Part I

This is the first of two lectures on social psychology, the study of how we think about ourselves, other people, and social groups.

Students will hear about the famous "six degrees of separation" phenomenon and how it illuminates important individual differences in social connectedness.

This lecture also reviews a number of important biases that greatly influence how we think of ourselves as well as other people.

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Lecture 17 – A Person in the World of People: Self and Other, Part II

This lecture begins with the second half of the discussion on social psychology.

Students will learn about several important factors influencing how we form impressions of others, including our ability to form rapid impressions about people.

This discussion focuses heavily upon stereotypes, including a discussion of their utility, reliability, and the negative effects that even implicit stereotypes can incur.

The second half of the lecture introduces students to two prominent mysteries in the field of psychology.

First, students will learn what is known and unknown about sleep, including why we sleep, the different types of sleep, disorders, and of course, dreams, what they are about and why we have them.

Second, this half reviews how laughter remains a mysterious and interesting psychological phenomenon.

Students will hear theories that attempt to explain what causes us to laugh and why, with a particular emphasis on current evolutionary theory.

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Morality

 Lawrence Kohlberg - Moral Development, Moral Development, Psychology  No Responses »
Dec 312009
 
Lecture 15 – A Person in the World of People: Morality

Professor Bloom provides an introduction to psychological theories of morality.

Students will learn how research in psychology has helped answer some of the most central questions about human morality. For instance,

  • which emotions are "moral" and why did these moral feelings evolve?
  • What factors guide our moral judgments?
  • And what factors predict when good people will do bad things?

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Evolution and Gender

 Evolution, Psychology  No Responses »
Dec 292009
 

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Evolution and Gender

Lecture 14 – Psychology, Sex, and Evolution

This lecture reviews what evolutionary theories and recent studies in psychology can tell us about sex and gender differences.

Students will hear how psychology can help explain many of the differences that exist in whom we find attractive, what we desire in a mate, and sexual orientation.

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Lecture 14 – Psychology, Sex, and Evolution

This lecture reviews what evolutionary theories and recent studies in psychology can tell us about sex and gender differences.

Students will hear how psychology can help explain many of the differences that exist in whom we find attractive, what we desire in a mate, and sexual orientation.

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Differences in People

 Psychology  No Responses »
Dec 272009
 
Lecture 13 – Why Are People Different?: Differences

Why are people different from one another? This lecture addresses this question by reviewing the latest theories and research in psychology on two traits in particular: personality and intelligence.

Students will hear about how these traits are measured, why they may differ across individuals and groups, and whether they are influenced at all by one’s genes, parents or environment.

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Emotions

 Psychology, Sociology  No Responses »
Dec 252009
 
Lecture 11 – Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Emotions, Part I

This class is an introduction to the evolutionary analysis of human emotions, how they work, why they exist, and what they communicate.

In particular, this lecture discusses three interesting case studies, that of happiness (e.g., smiling), fear and the emotions we feel towards our relatives.

Finally, this lecture ends with a brief discussion of babies’ emotional responses to their caregivers.

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Lecture 12 – Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Emotions, Part II

Professor Bloom continues the discussion of emotions as useful evolutionary adaptations for dealing with our social environment.

In particular, this lecture describes evolutionary explanations for several important emotional responses, such as the love between parents and their offspring, the gratitude we feel towards cooperative behaviors, the spite we feel for cheaters, and the cultural differences in feelings of revenge.

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Evolution and Rationality

 Biology, Evolution, Psychology  No Responses »
Dec 232009
 
Lecture 10 – Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Evolution and Rationality

This lecture introduces students to the study of psychology from an evolutionary perspective, the idea that like the body, natural selection has shaped the development of the human mind.

Prominent arguments for and against the theory of natural selection and its relationship to human psychology are reviewed.

Students will hear several examples of how studying mental phenomenon from an evolutionary perspective can help constrain theories in psychology as well as explain many prevalent human instincts that underlie many of our most basic behaviors and decisions.

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Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Consciousness, Vision, and Memory

 Biology, Psychology  No Responses »
Dec 192009
 
  • Lecture 7 – Conscious of the Present; Conscious of the Past: Language (cont.); Vision and Memory

    This lecture finishes the discussion of language by briefly reviewing two additional topics: communication systems in non-human primates and other animals, and the relationship between language and thought.

  • The majority of this lecture is then spent on introducing students to major theories and discoveries in the fields of perception, attention and memory. Topics include why we see certain visual illusions, why we don’t always see everything we think we see, and the relationship between different types of memory.

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  • Lecture 8 – Conscious of the Present; Conscious of the Past: Vision and Memory (cont.)

    In this lecture, Professor Bloom reviews the basic psychological research on memory.

  • Specific topics covered include the different memory types, memory limitations, strategies that improve memory, and memory disorders.

  • This lecture also includes a discussion of several important social implications for memory research, such as recovered memories, and the influence of suggestibility on eyewitness testimony.

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    • Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: Communication and Language

     Psychology  No Responses »
    Dec 192009
     
    Lecture 6 – How Do We Communicate?: Language in the Brain, Mouth and the Hands

    One of the most uniquely human abilities is the capacity for creating and understanding language.

    This lecture introduces students to the major topics within the study of language: phonology, morphology, syntax and recursion.

    This lecture also describes theories of language acquisition, arguments for the specialization of language, and the commonalities observed in different languages across cultures.

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    Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: The Development of Thought

     Biology, Jean Piaget, Psychology  No Responses »
    Dec 172009
     

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    Lecture: Yale: Paul Bloom: The Development of Thought

    Lecture 5 – What Is It Like to Be a Baby: The Development of Thought

    This lecture explores issues and ideas related to the branch of psychology known as cognitive development.

    It begins with an introduction of Piaget who, interested in the emergence of knowledge in general, studied children and the way they learn about the world in order to formulate his theories of cognitive development.

    This is followed by an introduction to the modern science of infant cognition.

    Finally, the question of the relationship between and the existence of different kinds of development is addressed.

    Watch it on Academic Earth

    Lecture 5 – What Is It Like to Be a Baby: The Development of Thought

    This lecture explores issues and ideas related to the branch of psychology known as cognitive development. It begins with an introduction of Piaget who, interested in the emergence of knowledge in general, studied children and the way they learn about the world in order to formulate his theories of cognitive development. This is followed by an introduction to the modern science of infant cognition. Finally, the question of the relationship between and the existence of different kinds of development is addressed.

    Watch it on Academic Earth

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