History & Theory of Psychology (Global Summer School)

Who on earth do you think you are? This module looks at the history of what we say about the self - from the Ancient Greek idea of a life-force that galvanises the body, to the idea (so popular now) that the mind is the brain, and the brain just a sort of processing machine.

We look at Descartes' notion that the mind is separate from, yet intermingled with, the body, Wundt's attempts in the 19th century to make the study of the mind scientific, William James's strange theory about emotions, Watson and conditioning, Freud and the murky unconscious, and modern theories which make the mind a mere accident of the body and a kind of computer.

This module will include lectures, interactive discussions, excursions, activities, and a group project.

You will be asked to think critically about what the Mind is and how we can study it scientifically. You will also identify and discuss key figures, concepts, and theories in the history of psychology.

Download a course overview

For further information please see the History & Theory of Psychology overview pdf

Course tutor

Jane O'Grady did a BEd in English at Homerton College, Cambridge, a BA in Philosophy at UCL, and studied the topic of sincerity for a philosophy PhD at Birkbeck College.

She teaches Philosophy of Psychology at City University London, and is Philosophy Obituarist for The Guardian, as well as writing articles and reviews for various newspapers, magazines and websites.

With AJ Ayer she co-edited A Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations. She has written introductions to John Stuart Mill's On Liberty and The Subjection of Women, and to Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium (Wordsworth), and 16 entries in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy.

At the moment, she is writing a book on being in love, which embraces philosophy, psychology, anthropology and literature.