The Great Ideas of Psychology

If you've ever wanted to delve more deeply into the mysteries of human emotion, perception, and cognition, and of why we do what we do, these 48 lectures offer a superb place to start. With them, you'll see the entire history of psychology unfold. In the hands of Professor Robinson, these lectures encompass ideas, speculations, and point-blank moral questions that might just dismantle and rebuild everything you once thought you knew about psychology. In fact, you'll not only learn what psychology is, but even if it is, as Professor Robinson discusses the constantly shifting debate over the nature of psychology itself.

Lecture by lecture, Professor Robinson navigates from one subject to the next, and you'll follow along as he recreates a Platonic dialogue; explains brain physiology; or explores the intricacies of middle ear construction, the psychological underpinnings of the Salem witch trials, and the history of the insanity defense.

Among other things, you'll learn:

• How a brilliant young scientist's temporary blindness led to pioneering research in sensory psychology
• How the once-prestigious, now-derided, "sciences" of phrenology and mesmerism contributed to psychological knowledge
• What happened when a Stanford psychologist and his students decided to study "being sane in insane places" by getting themselves committed to a mental institution
• How the brain is able to "rewire" itself to compensate for particular traumas at an early age
• If high heritability determines how much the environment influences the value of a trait, and more.