Medical historian traces how Western culture has explained and treated insanity. Holes bored in 7,000-year-old skulls indicate the earliest assessment of madness as spirit-possession. The ancient Greeks and medieval and Renaissance philosophers influenced by them replaced possession with irrationality as the cause of madness and exorcists with physicians as its curers. The Enlightenment stressed folly as the mark of madness; romanticism reacted by considering genius akin to madness. Asylums arose to secure the insane for their own good, and newly emergent psychiatry developed several ostensibly successful asylum strategies. As asylums became overloaded with incurables...
TTC - Theories of Human Development
(24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Course No. 197
Taught by Malcolm W. Watson
Brandeis University
Ph.D., University of Denver
Have you ever wondered where the terms "terrible twos’’ and "identity crisis" come from?
Did you know that the notion that children are different from adults, and require special care, is only about 200 years old?
Did you know we can trace most of our modern ideas about children to just two renowned thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries?
These are just a few of the fascinating aspects of the field of "human development": the science that studies how we learn and develop psychologically, from birth to the end of life. To a large extent, the study of human development is the study of child development, because the most significant changes take place from infancy through adolescence. This very young science not only enables us to understand children and help them develop optimally, but also gives us profound insights into who we are as adults.
In Theories of Human Development, Professor Malcolm W. Watson introduces you to the six theories that have had perhaps the greatest influence on this field. You will meet the people who formulated each theory, become familiar with their philosophical backgrounds and the historical contexts in which they worked, and study the specific processes of human development that each theory describes.
Along the way, you will evaluate the strength and weaknesses of each theory. How do these six great theories complement or contradict one another? What do they tell us, as a whole, about human development?
Six Theories of How We Become Who We Are
Portrait Of A Killer: Jack The Ripper -- Case Closed Well, I am sure - THAT case is far from being closed...it is a very controversial book, probably fiction (and it made big money:)) but.. I have read that book, and if not more, we can learn a lot about Victorian London's East End and its poverty.
Sphere
Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton is possibly the best science teacher for the masses since H.G. Wells, and
Sphere, his thriller about a mysterious spherical spaceship at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, is classic Crichton.
Americans at Work: A Guide to the Can-Do People
Whether you work with Americans face-to-face, communicate with them by
telephone or e-mail, or interact together in a virtual team,
Americans
at Work reveals the subtle and the not-so-subtle aspects of American
culture in the workplace. Learn about straight talk, American style,
and how Americans aren’t always as direct as they say they are. Find
out why Americans are deeply conflicted about power: they crave it but
hate to be caught craving it. See how Americans view outsiders. Gain
tips for succeeding in the American work environment. Finally, get the
basics of work-related etiquette: conducting meetings, giving feedback,
nonverbal communication, e-mail rules, gifts, taboo topics and so on.
About the Author
Craig Storti is founder and director of
Communicating Across Cultures, a Washington DC-based intercultural
communication training and consulting firm. A former Peace Corps
volunteer, he has written many best-selling books on the cross-cultural
experience, including The Art of Crossing Cultures and Figuring
Foreigners Out.
TTC - Theories of Human Development 
