What do your dreams mean? Do men and women differ in the nature and intensity of their sexual desires? Can apes learn sign language? Why can't we tickle ourselves? This course tries to answer these questions and many others, providing a comprehensive overview of the scientific study of thought and behavior. It explores topics such as perception, communication, learning, memory, decision-making, religion, persuasion, love, lust, hunger, art, fiction, and dreams. We will look at how these aspects of the mind develop in children, how they differ across people, how they are wired-up in the brain, and how they break down due to illness and injury.
Introduction
Foundations: This Is Your Brain
Foundations: Freud
Foundations: Skinner
What Is It Like to Be a Baby: The Development of Thought
How Do We Communicate?: Language in the Brain, Mouth and the Hands
Conscious of the Present; Conscious of the Past: Language (cont.); Vision and Memory
Conscious of the Present; Conscious of the Past: Vision and Memory (cont.)
Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Love (Guest Lecture by Professor Peter Salovey)
Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Evolution and Rationality
Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Emotions, Part I
Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Emotions, Part II
Why Are People Different?: Differences
What Motivates Us: Sex
A Person in the World of People: Morality
A Person in the World of People: Self and Other, Part I
A Person in the World of People: Self and Other, Part II; Some Mysteries: Sleep, Dreams, and Laughter
What Happens When Things Go Wrong: Mental Illness, Part I (Guest Lecture by Professor Susan Nolen-Hoeksema)
What Happens When Things Go Wrong: Mental Illness, Part II
The Good Life: Happiness