Class Syllabus: Humanistic Psychology
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Office Hours: |
By e-mail; or by AIM, ICQ, or Yahoo Instant Messenger by appointment
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Course Meeting Times: |
To be announced
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Course Description
This course is designed to acquaint students with the humanistic movement in the context of psychology and counseling. Some of your learning will come about from classroom experiences, with a moderate part coming from required reading. For the purposes of this class, we define "humanistic" as referring to those traits, archetypes, or other characteristics which are common to humanity across cultures. "Humanistic" counselors, then, are those who are aware of such concepts and who implement them to bring about positive changes in themselves and their clients. Human instincts, impulses, and traits are accepted as essentially good. People who deny that which they have in common with others often feel isolated and alone. Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Rollo May, and Viktor Frankl are a few of the better known counselors who brought a humanistic style and worldview to psychology, and whose influence is discussed in this course. Realizing that human nature, with the impulses and traits of a well-developed person, are essentially good and healthy, humanistic psychologists work from the premise that a "whole" person whose growth has not blocked by trauma or disease is naturally inclined to grow and self-actualize by connecting with other humans and fully experiencing the peak transcendent moments that are the joys of life. "It is one of the paradoxical and exciting things about the humanistic approach generally that it assumes that everyone is capable of being fully human," wrote psychologist John Rowan. Where barriers to this exist, a humanistic approach utilizes self-help, loving partners, education, and various forms of psychotherapy can help. This course touches on each of these topics, in addition to discussing theory and history of humanistic psychology and education. |
Course Requirements
Students must have Internet access and be able to use e-mail and the latest version of MS Internet Explorer, which is available for free download from Microsoft Corporation if needed. An effort has been made to provide online course reading materials in a file format that is likely to provide the least difficulty for students (i.e. MS Word or HTML). For those who may not have MS Office applications on their system, free viewers are available for download from the instructor's website. Acrobat Reader may be obtained free from Adobe Software. As it is noted above that the instructor may be available for consultation by Instant Messenger, the following free software download links are provided as a courtesy: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo. It is strongly recommended that textbooks listed below be obtained either by purchase or from a local lending library immediately upon enrollment. Journals and other written assignments must be submitted either in MS Word or plain ASCII format. It is expected that students will have the reading and writing ability that is generally expected of a college undergraduate student. Writing assignments must be original. Plagiarised work will not be accepted. See Avoiding Plagiarism on the website of Purdue University.
Course Goals
To increase self-awareness and apply a personal understanding of humanistic theories of psychology, students will keep an introspective journal which they will share with other class members; engage in group discussion; and give reactions to assigned readings in relation to their own life experiences. To demonstrate an understanding of the humanistic theories studied in this class, students will complete written assignments and quizzes based upon assigned readings.
Course Materials
REQUIRED:
Frankl, Viktor E. (1963). Man's Search for Meaning, Washington Square Press: NY. (View listing on amazon.com for purchase information, or borrow from a library near you.)
Copies of articles, etc. that are provided in the virtual classroom and/or are available on the web. (See above "Course Requirements" section.)
RECOMMENDED:
Rowan, John (1987). The Horned God: Feminism and Men as Wounding and Healing, Rutledge & Kegan Paul: London and NY. (View purchase information on amazon.com, or borrow from a library near you.)
Grading Policy
Your final grade is based on your class participation (your journal postings, and a minimum of two well thought-out responses to other students' journal postings per classLesson), completion of all written assignments, and a mean score of 70% or better on all tests. Written assignments, class participation, and tests are based on assigned readings and class discussion.
Privacy Policy
Class members should treat each other with respect and observe confidentiality of other students' writings by not reprinting, posting, or revealing outside of the class context the content of other students' journals. Exceptions to this rule include any information which gives cause to suspect child abuse or maltreatment, or threats to cause bodily injury to any person including self-harm.
Disclaimer
Original content of this course is authored by the instructor and does not necessarily represent the views of any organization or entity with which he is affiliated.
This class is for informational or refresher purposes, not certification. It cannot be substituted for any state, government, licensing, or educational requirements.
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