Psychology

[regentrude]

My DS has expressed an interest in learning about psychology. Could you point me towards any resources?

We will be doing it as an elective, so I am looking for an interesting eclectic approach as opposed to working through a strict text (I do not think he is interested in taking the AP exam.)

[KarenNC]

www.learner.org has free video series on the mind, the brain, and one called "Discovering Psychology."

[Mom22ns]

We're using the Sonlight guide and the Meyer's Psychology book which don't fit your request, but to add to your list of eclectic resources, I snagged the TC course, The Psychology of Human Behavior from Audible. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, there is Psychology: A Very Short Introduction by Pringle and Butler.  It's just that - slim and short - but a nice intro to the topic.  How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker is a good trade book on cognitive science more broadly.

 

I thought that Coursera's Social Psychology course was excellent, very interesting and very well done.  I'd recommend that one.  The Social Animal by Aronson is kind of the classic in that field.

 

There are a lot of great trade books out on specific aspects of psychology.  Does he have a specfic interest, or just wants to learn about behavior generally?  Does he want to learn about the brain and the neural bases of behavior, or just stick with what you can see on the outside?

[texasmama]

You  might hunt for an Abnormal Psychology college text that he could skim through and read for the topics that interest him.  Also, if you want to get your hands on a DSM 5 for the strictly clinical diagnostic criteria, that would be interesting to a concrete thinker and would give a thorough overview of psychopathology.  After developing a bit of familiarity with psychopathology, he might enjoy an overview of different therapy approaches.  You would need a grad school text for that one. 

 

The nice thing about doing an informal study is that a wide variety of resources could be easily and inexpensively gathered (except the new edition of the DSM).  I would reach out to the psychology department of the university you teach at.  They likely have gobs of desk copies sitting around that they would be willing to share.

 

I know you said you weren't interested in a textbook approach, but gathering a variety of texts would be a straightforward way for him to look at what interests him and skip the rest, as the topics are pretty well-organized.

 

It's cool that he wants to do this.  I think everyone should be familiar with basic psychology. 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

My daughter has been enjoying trade books dealing with psychology. I'm glad you started the thread; I'm considering counting psychology as a credit next year.

[EKS]

 The Social Animal by Aronson is kind of the classic in that field.

 

I just wanted to announce that I took a social psychology course from Aronson back in the day.  :D

[hornblower]

For 2 very readable behaviorism books, check out Karen Pryor's newish book Reaching the Animal Mind, or the oldie but still goodie Don't Shoot the Dog (which used to be in La Leche League parenting libraries)

Behaviorism is eminently useful not only in training animals but also parents, siblings, co-workers ;)

Behaviorism goes in & out of fashion in psych circles but honestly, anyone who masters the basics of behaviorism & understands the 4 quadrants of behavior modification is miles ahead of the pack.

This from a review of RAM "Communication, fear, feelings, and how to reach minds other than our own are examined, and a chapter on using clicker training with people neatly sums up the technique. This absorbing look at the broad applicability of a major training technique will be useful for all animal owners, parents, and people who train others or who need training.â€"

[Beircheart]

One of my favorites was Current Psychotherapies. Not an Intro to Psych, strictly speaking, but a good and broad overview of psychological philosophies. It is NOT a good biological text and neuroscience in psychology is kind of the hot topic at the moment.

 

http://books.google.com/books/about/CURRENT_PSYCHOTHERAPIES.html?id=7IsC1gX6Pv4C

[elegantlion]

We watched this documentary on Genie, a feral child, as part of my psychology class last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmdycJQi4QA

[regentrude]

Thanks for all the fabulous suggestions! I'll discuss them tomorrow with DS and let him choose something to start with.

[elegantlion]

Poor Genie:(

 

 

 

We had to research some follow up and discuss her treatment. It was pretty sad. 

[kiana]

The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an awesome read. Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures might also be interesting.

 

When I took psych 101 in college, I found the Myers textbook very readable and very interesting. As a matter of fact, I kept it after the class was over to re-read for fun. 

[Laurel-in-CA]

The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an awesome read. Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures might also be interesting.

 

When I took psych 101 in college, I found the Myers textbook very readable and very interesting. As a matter of fact, I kept it after the class was over to re-read for fun. 

 

DS used the Myers book and the Sonlight guide, got about 3/4 of the way through it, and found Psych 101 in college to be mostly a repeat. He has retained the text on his very own bookshelf.

[Joules]

My ds really enjoyed the Psychology as a Science Coursera course, if it becomes available in time.

https://www.coursera.org/course/psy

 

The course used the CMU Open Learning Initiative textbook,which is very interactive and has most of the videos and demonstrations from an intro class embedded. It is one of the best implementations of multimedia with a text that I've seen. And it is free!

https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/webui/guest/join.do?section=psychology

(just choose to enter without an account. The account is only necessary for a prof to track your progress.)

 

ETA: For those who are interested in AP, ds did get a 5. He went through sample tests to understand the format, but he didn't have to learn anything more than what he got from the two resources above.

[In The Great White North]

 

 

My ds really enjoyed the Psychology as a Science Coursera course, if it becomes available in time. 

https://www.coursera.org/course/psy

 

The course used the CMU Open Learning Initiative textbook,which is very interactive and has most of the videos and demonstrations from an intro class embedded. It is one of the best implementations of multimedia with a text that I've seen. And it is free!

https://oli.cmu.edu/...tion=psychology

(just choose to enter without an account. The account is only necessary for a prof to track your progress.)

 

Dd used that Coursera course also and liked it.  

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm glad to hear you guys liked the Coursera Psychology as a Science course! I missed it the first time around but definitely plan to check it out when it comes back through.  My thought was to use that plus the Social Psychology one for a year's Psych credit.  It's good to hear that your kids liked it and about the success with the AP, too.

[shage]

I am teaching a high school psych class this year.

 

I did go with a traditional text (for the kids who want the AP or CLEP) plus some trade books.  (My Stroke of Insight, Power of Habit, Blink, The Invisible Gorilla)

 

There are some excellent TED talks on psychology.  Many of the speakers have also authored books.

 

For a project, my students will pick one of the classic "studies" to research: Milgram shock, Asch line, Harlowe monkey, Zimbardo prison, Rosenhan thud, Pavlov dog, Seligman learned helplessness, etc.

 

Some other books that I considered but am not using formally: Interpretation of Dreams by Freud, My Voice Will Go with You by Milton Erikson, Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B F Skinner, Anthropologist on Mars by Sacks, Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman, Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl, Language and Thought of the Child by Jean Piaget, In a Different Voice by Carol Gilligan, The Anatomy of Violence by Adrian Raine.

 

I also have a stack of autobiographical books written by people with serious mental illness. It is an odd collection I have gathered over the years for when I teach abnormal. Let me know if you would like a list of those.

[Chrysalis Academy]

A few other interesting trade books:

 

Why Everyone (else) is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind – Robert Kurzban 

Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People – Mahzarin Banaji & Anthony Greenwald

The Moral Animal: Why We are the way we are – the new science of evolutionary psychology – Robert Wright (discusses evolutionary psychology in the light of Darwinian theory, directly)

Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature – Agustin Fuentes

 

And just for fun - a dystopian novel, House of Stairs – William Sleater - a group of teenagers are imprisoned and trained using operant conditioning.  Very interesting (quick, easy) read

 

 

 

 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

One I haven't seen mentioned yet, although I might have missed it, is The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson.  It wouldn't be a main text, but we found it worthwhile for extra reading and discussion. It's one that we still comment on months later. (If anyone has a sensitive child, you might want to pre-read.) 

 

What a great thread! Thanks so much for the ideas, everyone!

[Penguin]

How about some movies?  I see some of my psych-major-who-is-also-a-film-buff son's favorite movies on this list.

 

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls006294202/

 

 

And this looks like a good site:

https://sites.google.com/site/psychologyinfilm/Home

 

[Cosmos]

How about some movies?  I see some of my psych-major-who-is-also-a-film-buff son's favorite movies on this list.

 

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls006294202/

 

I wonder why African Queen is on the list?

 

Great ideas in this thread!

[shage]

How about some movies?  I see some of my psych-major-who-is-also-a-film-buff son's favorite movies on this list.

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls006294202/

 

 

 

 

And this looks like a good site:

https://sites.google.com/site/psychologyinfilm/Home

Oooh, movies! Great idea!

 

I had the chance to meet Oliver Sacks in real life and it gave me a whole new appreciation for how Robin Williams played him in Awakenings. He nailed it.

 

Here are a couple of documentaries that I have used in college classes, please please please preview so you can discuss with your kids because the themes are heavy.

 

Thin is about a groups of patients undergoing treatment for eating disorders at the Renfrew Center. Warning: the outcome for one of the main characters after filming ended was very sad. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492496/

 

The Bridge is/was highly controversial; a photographer trained his lens on the Golden Gate Bridge over the course of 12 months and captured 23 suicides. He then went back a researched the backstories.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799954/

 

This photo essay on mental health treatment in a Kentucky prison is excellent: http://www.ackermangruber.com/trapped/

[shage]

I need to get some work done today, you guys. :-P I am loving the resources here. Thanks to everyone posting!

 

regentrude---

 

Awhile back you either stated or I inferred where you live and work. My husband is from the rural Ozarks and he is an alumni of the civil engineering department. Anyway, the university has a decent I/O department which your son might find interesting. I/O is much more business oriented and less dark than the clinical topics. Most experimental and I/O psych's are happy to give lab tours; or rather, they have their grad students give the tours.

 

If you are up for the drive, I have taken students through the Fed Med in Springfield post 9/11. They have one of the largest federal prison psych units, plus the facility itself has an interesting history. (Bird Man of Alcatraz died there because after Alcatraz closed, many of the inmates were transferred to Springfield.) I no longer live in the area, so can't give you a contact name, but generally if you find someone in the social work or psychology departments, they are the most helpful. Allow 6 weeks lead time because they do require paperwork/background checks. Wait. I am not sure how they would handle a minor child because all my students were adults. You would have to ask about that.