Introduction to Psychology: Seminar A

On this page you will find homework assignments for our seminar and you will be able to download readings here.

Homework for April 18th class will be…

Bring two or three magazines to class, scissors, and glue. The magazines should  have lots of pictures or photographs in them.

Homework for April 25th class will be…

Imagine that you decided to apply to an American university to study psychology. Go to the Websites of various American universities and try to decide the best program for you. In the next class, bring print outs from the pages explaining the psychology program that you chose. Be prepared to tell us in detail why you selected it. Also, without reading from the paper, describe it in as much detail as possible. Tell us a bit about the university itself as well.

It’s not necessary, but if you would like to get a head start on some of the readings we will be doing later in the course, you can access them here: Psychology Readings . [I delayed the first reading assignment until our May 2nd class.]

Here is the model that I promised you for writing in your “Dream Journal.”

Some of the American university psychology programs that will be introduced by our class members on April 25th…

Taiga Hanatani:  Harvard University ( http://undergrad.psychology.fas.harvard.edu/ )

Isamu Matsumoto: Geroge Mason University ( http://cbn.gmu.edu/ )

Mai Kanemaki: Stanford University ( https://psychology.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate-program/major )

Homework for May 2nd class will be…

You will give short presentations on what you learned about yourself from the collage project, as a result of all the feedback you received from classmates last week.

At the end of last week’s class I gave you a sheet that I asked you to read about a fictional girl named “Alissa” and, after reading, you were to rank the characters as to the level of blame you think they deserve for the situation that developed.

Bring your dream journals and share with us one of the dreams you had and your interpretation of it.

I believe Ryoto was absent last week. I put some papers (and his collage) in the box on the door of my office for him to pick up. My office is Goucher, room 1015 (on the 10th floor).

Each week, from now on, we’ll spend about 5 minutes of class on your latest dreams, but there will be four times throughout the semester when you will be required to submit your dream journal: May 16, June 6, July 7, July 18. Of course, feel free to censor any of the dreams that you feel are too sensitive. Also, if you would rather have an alternative assignment to the “dream journal,” let me know.

Homework for May 9th class will be…

Read this chapter about personality theories. On May 9th there will be a quiz on Freud’s stages of psychosexual development and the defense mechanisms against anxiety. You should also know the basics of Carl Jung’s and Alfred Adler’s theories and how they differ from Freud’s emphasis on sexuality.

I gave each of you projective tests that you will have to administer to your classmates and give feedback on in class in the upcoming weeks. I’ll tell you more about those presentations and how to prepare for them on the 9th. As you read about the theories of personality, try to connect them to what the projective tests are attempting to uncover.

Of course, keep up writing your dream journal. The first day for submitting them to me will be May 16.

Oh, by the way, I STRONGLY recommend that you go to the New National Museum of Art (in Nogizaka) to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibit. I saw it on Monday and was very moved by it. It relates to some themes that will come up in our seminar. She coped with lifelong schizophrenia through her creative work in an amazing way.

Homework for May 16th class will be…

I will collect your dream journals today. Also, you all should be prepared to conduct the “projective tests” that I distributed to you a few weeks ago. Administer them to your classmates and note how they respond to them.

  • What differences do you notice in responses?
  • How do you account for those differences?
  • Do you think that the projective test has any sort of validity?

Afterwards, Lead a discussion with your classmates on what they thought of the activity and how they would critique the test.

Homework for May 23rd class will be…

Take the personality test at https://www.16personalities.com for homework and print out your results page. Be prepared to tell us about it and whether you think it accurately reflected who you are. Note the sorts of questions you were asked and try to isolate which personality “traits” they correspond to. Also, read the chapter about personality traits. I will ask you some questions about it in the next class, so I will expect you to have read it. We will continue the presentations related to the “projective tests” so be prepared for them.

Homework for June 6th class will be…

* The last two “projective test” presentations will be done.
* The second submission of your dream journals is due.
* Be sure you have done the HW that was given for May 23rd as we will go over it.

See some photos from the Cyberbullying talk by clicking here.

Homework for June 20th class will be…

Read this collection of readings that are about various social psychologists, their theories, and experiments that they are famous for having conducted. Be prepared for a possible quiz about it. Here is the PDF.

Homework for June 27th class will be…

As I told you during our last class, you will need to plan and conduct a psychology experiment of your own as a final project in the seminar. You can do this together with a partner. Use experiments that you find described in our course textbook for inspiration. Below you will find PDFs of all the remaining chapters of this fascinating book.

Philosophical Roots of Psychology

Developmental Psychology

Social Psychology

The Psychology of Difference

Psychotherapy: Part 1

Psychotherapy: Part 2

Behaviorism

Cognitive Psychology: Part 1

Cognitive Psychology: Part 2

Directory & Glossary

You should also choose one section of the book (it cannot be the Directory & Glossary) which you will be tested on. In other words, I will only test you on the section of the book that you have the deepest interest in. The “test” will be an open-book, take home exam that will include both content that can be found in the section you choose as well as questions that require reflection, critical thinking, and a little bit of creativity. You’ll have to tell me your choice of section by the fourth of July.

July 4th Class

Cancelled due to Dias not feeling well.

Remainder of Assignments and Tasks

*** Dream Journals ***

Final submissions of Dream Journal: July 7, July 18

Be sure you follow the format for writing dream journal entries that you’ll find at: https://aogaku-daku.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Dream-Journal-Model.pdf

Since the July 4th class was cancelled, please put the journal you were going to hand in on July 4th, in the mailbox attached to my office door (Goucher, 15-1015) by Friday, July 7th.

*** Presentation on one particular area of psychology ***

Each of you will have 10 minutes on July 11th to present on one section of the book “The Psychology Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained)” to the rest of the class.

Developmental Psychology

Social Psychology

The Psychology of Difference

Psychotherapy: Part 1

Psychotherapy: Part 2

Behaviorism

Cognitive Psychology: Part 1

Cognitive Psychology: Part 2

In your presentation, give a quick summary of some of the major personalities, theories, and findings in this area of psychology. Also, tell us…

* Which particular psychologist interested you the most and why?

* What experiment or study ignited your imagination the most?

* What did you find out about recent work in this area that has been reported in newspapers, magazines, podcasts, or academic journals? That is, content that is not in the chapter which you read.

Note that since Mai was absent on June 27th, she was left with the topic not selected by any of the other students, Developmental Psychology.

*** Psychological Experiment ***

As I mentioned in our July 20th class, you (along with a partner) will have to design, implement, and report on a psychology experiment. The oral report on the experiment and explanation of its results will be on our final class: July 18th. Feel free to consult with me about your plan for the experiment.

*** Take-home Exam [Due August 1st] ***

You must choose one section of the book (other than the Directory & Glossary, and NOT a section you will present on in class on July 11th) which you would like to be tested on. In other words, I will only test you on the section of the book that you have the deepest interest in. The “test” will be an open-book, take home exam that will include both content that can be found in the section you chose as well as questions that require reflection, critical thinking, and a little bit of creativity.

You’ll have to tell me your choice of section by Friday, July 7th, by email <jodias [@] cl.aoyama.ac.jp>. The due date for this assignment will be August 1st. The “test” will be customized for the particular section of the book you choose. Therefore, the various members of the class might be taking six completely different tests. Choose the chapter from the list above.

Here are the links to the take home exam:

https://aogaku-daku.org/psychotherapy-taiga/ (Taiga)

https://aogaku-daku.org/behaviorism-hinanoyuki/ (Hanako & Yuki)

https://aogaku-daku.org/developmental-isamu/ (Isamu)

https://aogaku-daku.org/difference-marinomai/ (Marino & Mai)

You all have until August 1st to email the responses of your customized final exam to <jodias [@] cl.aoyama.ac.jp>. Be sure not to use the exact words from the text (or from any other sources you might you). Paraphrase, summarize, and express your ideas in your own words.

Here’s a video that was accidentally created on our last day of class.

Also, I happened to find a jumping spider in my apartment the day after our final class. I took many photographs of it and I’m in the process of creating a systematic desensitization  program for Mai so that she can get over her spider phobia.

Cheers,

Joseph D.