Course Catalog

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LIFE STORIES (PY3066)

This course will introduce students to the basic tenets, methods of study and controversies of narrative psychology. Particular attention will be paid to narrative analysis, identity and the influence of social interactions and culture on how we talk about the past. Students will apply narrative research and theory to the interpretation of life stories.

SOCIAL MEMORY (PY3067)

This course inquires into the nature and dynamics of how groups (families, institutions, countries, etc.) reconstruct and represent the past together. The problem of social memory is approached from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Students will have the opportunity to explore various places of memory in Paris and examine how these historical events are constructed in the present.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PROCESS (PY3068)

This course explores autobiographical remembering as an issue of neuroscientific, cultural, and narrative psychology, while also considering it as a subject of other memory studies. It draws particular attention to how scientific, psychological, social, technological, artistic, and conceptual changes in various cultural fields have transformed the traditional idea of memory as an archive of the past.

SOCIETY, ILLNESS, & HEALTH (PY3069)

This course examines health and illness in a social, cultural and historical context. The first part of the course focuses on physical or behavioural 'symptoms' without any apparent organic aetiology (e.g. sick-building syndrome), appearing in members of specific groups or localities (socio-genic illness). The second part of the course considers socio-cultural shaping and experience of other more prevalent disorders.

TOPICS IN LITERATURE & PSYCHOANALYSIS (PY3090)

Topics change every year. The course uses French literary or cinematographic material in order to introduce and illustrate important psychoanalytical notions which will help students understand the complexity of the human psyche and its cultural constructions. Course subjects have included: Fairy Tales and the Complexity of growing up, Psychoanalysis as Detective Story, Scandal as a cultural pathology, Islam and the invention of the Self... Taught in French.

TOPICS IN PSYCHOLOGY (PY3091)

Treats a series of topics that change every year and deal with various aspects of psychology. Courses are taught by permanent or visiting faculty and are generally related to their fields of specialization.

EDITORSHIP (PY3850)

This course is designed for students involved in editing, writing and producing The Planet and The Peacock. It offers basic instruction and hands-on experience in newspaper and magazine composition. The course will cover everything that comes up in the process of producing a publication, from reporting, writing and editing to page design to working according to a production schedule. A constant concern will be the challenge facing print editors in the Internet age: how to create reader-friendly publications that are informative and attractive enough to appeal despite the draw of the Web. The production of The Planet and The Peacock will be the main work of the course.

SENIOR SEMINAR (PY4090)

The purpose of this class is to challenge advanced psychology students to: practice and improve their skills in reading, critiquing and conducting research; strengthen their ability to effectively communicate their scholarship; clearly define their scholarly interests; and consider their future goals. Students will be given the opportunity to craft a well researched and argued literature review. Involves class discussions, presentations, and a major research proposal or literature review.