Introductory Psychology Course in Tallaght

Psych_Student

Hey guys,
With the permission of the mods I'm posting some information about a course we're offering in TACT in Tallaght. It's a ten week introduction to psychology course, signup info here -http://www.aidandore.com/tact/

The course is currently under booked, so we need at least 4 more sign ups by the end of the month for it to go ahead. This is not a FETAC course, but would be good preparation for someone planning on embarking on a FETAC level 5 course in Applied Psychology, or anyone with a general interest in the topic.

The course would be thought by a recent psychology graduate (me!), from TCD's four year pure psychology degree.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Planned lectures include...

1) What is psychology- history and origins of psychology, the differences between psychiatry, academic psychology and counselling;
and routes to studying each in Ireland.

2) The Changing Mind- from psychodynamic theory, to radical behaviourism to the cognitive revolution; how psychology's view of the person has changed, and how it has influenced how we view ourselves, and treat one another.

3) The individual- the unit of study in psychology. How are we different from one another, what makes us form groups, and how groups can change our behaviour. What other ways exist of seeing the person, and what can psychology learn from sociology and genetics.

4) Psychological Disorder- The mental illnesses of the DSM & culture bound syndromes. The history of our ideas about madness, the use of psychology as a tool of oppression, and criticisms of today's definitions of mental health.

5) The Brain- How we came to learn how our brain works, and how functional imaging technology has revolutionised how we see ourselves.

6) New areas in psychology- Evolutionary Psychology, Behavioural Economics (What Psychology teaches us about why individuals and societies make financial mistakes), and Affective Psychology (how emotion influences thought and decision making).

7) Is psychology a science? What can we know for sure? How we test our theories, and what is this science thing anyway? The great experiments of the past (and why we would never be allowed perform them today).

8) Why people behave irrationally - The fundamental attribution error, cognitive dissonance, obedience, group think, religion, the invention of tradition and the microsociology of every day life

p.pete

I did a similar evening course before starting an undergraduate degree in psychology as a mature student. It was a nice gentle toe in the water before starting more substantial studies.

Odysseus

p.pete wrote: »

I did a similar evening course before starting an undergraduate degree in psychology as a mature student. It was a nice gentle toe in the water before starting more substantial studies.

96 was when I did one. I had started read Freud already by then. However, it was significant for me, the following year I started my BA in Psychoanalytic Studies and as they say the rest is history. I think short courses like this are important especially as they are made up lets say nore mature people;)

I still occasionally laugh at the fact that I failed my Inter-Cert as I had no interest in school. Started back in 97 and had my Masters by 2002. So I'm glad to know this is still happening. I work in Tallaght so I may be able to send a person or two in the OPs direction.

cupofjoe

In NO way mean to put this course down, for €8.50 per lecture over ten weeks it sounds good value - I had considered something myself but with only a degree still felt unqualified to regard myself as a "lecturer" in psychology - there's a part of met that's curious if the lecture slides and notes are all your own research or are you using the ones from your degree?

Odysseus

cupofjoe wrote: »

In NO way mean to put this course down, for €8.50 per lecture over ten weeks it sounds good value - I had considered something myself but with only a degree still felt unqualified to regard myself as a "lecturer" in psychology - there's a part of met that's curious if the lecture slides and notes are all your own research or are you using the ones from your degree?

A lot of the people I have meet that have done these introduction type course only have that. The one I done in 96 the guy only had a BA. Its an adult education course, imo nothing more would be needed. I know of people doing similar type ones in counselling who only have a Dip. Once the person signing up for it understands that, I can't see an issue.

There is quite a difference between doing an adult ed intro course and lecturing at university level. It all seems above board to me.

cupofjoe

Just to reiterate I didn't mean to suggest it isn't above board, the OP clearly stated in the post being out of TCD with a BA so I'm not implying any form of deception in this course, not at all.

It's more out of curiosity to what level it's being taught at and where the info for the slides is from - I know a lot of neuroscience lecturers use images from neuro books but they do not provide the images in their slides to students for copyright issues. Was curious if slides given out in powerpoint during college are used by people with degrees doing these courses and if there is any issue with that too. I had considered going to local VEC to do something similar but putting original slides and research into it (though I know a Carlson, Martin & Buskist book would probably get the job done) I wasn't sure if I'd do it real justice for what people would be looking for. But perhaps I'm being anal.

p.pete

cupofjoe, I really don't think those are questions that need to be asked / answered on a public forum. I'm not suggesting anything underhand may be happening with slides, but if you have any question on details like copy-rightable material you might get a more direct answer if you send them a private message (this option appears when you click on a name).

As to the level - it doesn't need to be that high a level. Often people sign up purely for the social aspect, hoping to learn something interesting as a bonus. You wouldn't be qualified to do anything afterwards, I used it in application letters though to display that I was interested.

Psych_Student

@Odysseus I'm making all my own notes, though I'm certainly referring back to notes I made in college, as well as my text books. I will not be using any lecture notes from my college course; and I'll most likely make my notes publicly available under a creative commons license at the end of the course.

Although I don't have a masters, I do have a first class honours degree, some research experience, and a total of 5 years studying Psychology (including the pre-psych course I myself did). I attended college as a mature student, and I work as a standup comedian, so hopefully my approach and communication skills make up somewhat for the lack of a postgrad.

Incidentally, I feel strongly that degree inflation in the area of introductory lectures is unnecessary; as a PHD candidate or even a faculty member is not necessarily better informed outside of his or her specialist area than a recent graduate.

Psych_Student

@cupofjoe I'll likely use copyrighted images and videos as exemplars in the lectures, and redact them from the final emailed / downloadable notes. This should only be an issue (re: comprehensibility of notes) for the neuroscience lecture, as most other topics should be fairly understandable even lacking images.

This is all pretty theoretical right now however, as the course won't go ahead without a few more signups

Odysseus

Psych_Student wrote: »

@Odysseus I'm making all my own notes, though I'm certainly referring back to notes I made in college, as well as my text books. I will not be using any lecture notes from my college course; and I'll most likely make my notes publicly available under a creative commons license at the end of the course.

Although I don't have a masters, I do have a first class honours degree, some research experience, and a total of 5 years studying Psychology (including the pre-psych course I myself did). I attended college as a mature student, and I work as a standup comedian, so hopefully my approach and communication skills make up somewhat for the lack of a postgrad.

Incidentally, I feel strongly that degree inflation in the area of introductory lectures is unnecessary; as a PHD candidate or even a faculty member is not necessarily better informed outside of his or her specialist area than a recent graduate.

Sorry mate, I just wondering why you felt the need to explain yourself to me, I wasn't questioning your ability or qualification to teach such a course, in fact I thought I was supporting you. I believe these type of courses are very important, and even without your further clarification above I thought you where coming from the right place. I have re-read the thread a few times in case something I said came across wrong, so I just a bit confused. Did you think I was saying your shouldn't be teaching this type of course?

On the notes things, I'm sure your ethical. I know myself that with all the various stuff I done since 97, that it can be difficult to actual remember, where something came from. As for the specialist side of things I find there more you try to do that the more problematic it becomes.

For example, I would not consider myself a specialist or even worse an "expert" I just swicht off when I hear that word. However, giving my qualifications and the amount of time I'm working in my area, I could get away with using that. However, my main area is addiction, and I have a special interest in dual diagnosis. The addiction area is so big never mind the comorbidity area, I don't think any can really know their area to its full extent.

I would sometimes teach Dips in addiction studies, even at that level I would cover such a wide range of material that I don't think anyone can be a specialist in it. If you get my point. Anyway, it took alot of waffle to get to this point, I think what your doing is great, and I plan to metion it to one or two people in that area who may be interested in it. I hope you get the numbers and best of luck with it.

herbiemcc

I have very recently started to consider going back to study psychology as a mature student. However I'm still a bit worried about hearing that post grad places are so highly limited and a post grad is so crucial to carrying on in the field.

How much is the course btw? It sounds like a good way to get a grounding in the basics.

Thanks.

Odysseus

I don't know if this is of any used to you psych student, but I gave somebody the contact details. They rang the school, and requested the info to be faxed to them to get their boss to sign off on it. They are still waiting for the fax.