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The Great Ideas of Psychology  By  cover art

The Great Ideas of Psychology

By: Daniel N. Robinson, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Daniel N. Robinson
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Publisher's summary

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1997 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1997 The Great Courses

What listeners say about The Great Ideas of Psychology

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Thorougly enjoyed the lectures

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. Things that every educated person should know and consider were discussed.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. I was listening to it when commuting and the hour flew by every time!

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Wonderful

I loved this course. Dr. Robinson is a brilliant speaker and encyclopedic in his knowledge. I could say at times a little dense but in truth I fear that is me. Only one real caveat, this course was recorded about 1995.

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Wonderfully educational and entertaining!

Robinson is an expert lecturer with a firm grasp of all the relevant topics and concepts. his ability to render complexity into distilled and easily digestible prose seems effortless, but certainly comes from decades of experience and practice. I highly recommend this course!

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Disappointing

The course should be called "my philosophical thoughts about psychology". Also 20+ years old. It did not age well!

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could't finish

Your worst college professor! Boring. Academic to a detail. Too much philosophy. Likes to hear himself talk. Useless details. Where is the relevant psychology??

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More philosophy than psychology

More time is devoted to the teachings of figures like Aristotle, Hume, and Kant, and how they apply to the mind, than is devoted to the findings and theories of psychologists. This isn't necessarily bad, but isn't what I was expecting.

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    3 out of 5 stars

the speaker needs to condense his notions

Any additional comments?

This guy would get fired in the corporate for dragging on the content for longer than is required. Albeit some of the material is good, the speaker needs to condense his notions. He seldom connects the big ideas to the implications of everyday life.
This book is a good example of scholarly aristocratic behaviour- everything from the unnecessary big word to the pompous classical music between chapters. I couldn’t be bothered to listen to the whole damn thing.

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Mind. The final frontier.

An excellent review of psychological theory. I only wish my own College professors had been as enthralling.

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Dry

The Lecturer is super dry. A lot of needless detail and off topic droning on.

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Fantastic

This is probably the single best of the 30+ Great Courses series I've listened to on any topic. Very engaging, well delivered, and worthy to be enjoyed many times by everyone with an interest in provoking thought.

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