IDS 1610 - Interdisciplinary Studies: Literature and Psychology

Communications Department

Credit(s): 6
Contact Hours: 94
Effective Term Fall 2014 (490)

Requisites

Prerequisite ENC 1101 or
Prerequisite ENC 1101H or
Prerequisite IDS 1101H or
Prerequisite IDS 1111H or
Permission of the Program

Course Description

This course is designed as an interdisciplinary study of literature and general psychology. The course will emphasize the evaluation and synthesis of psychological concepts (i.e., scientific methodology, major theoretical schools of thought, various approaches to interpersonal functioning, and human development). It will also examine a variety of creative, historical and scientific literature that highlights and exemplifies psychology’s association with culture and language. While the course integrates substantial writing assignments, the primary aim of these assignments is a focused application of psychological concepts in regards to literature as a matter for illustration and example. (Note: Students who complete Interdisciplinary Studies: Literature and Psychology will receive credit toward the completion of the general education program for the following courses: ENC 1102 and PSY 2012. Each student will be required to write a minimum of 8,000 words. This course partially satisfies the writing requirements outlined in the General Education Requirements.)

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

  1. The student will demonstrate knowledge of the historical and cultural roots of the science of psychology as an evolved science that made its initial appearance in stories and literature by:
    1. understanding folk stories and tales as the archetypical underpinning for psychological analysis.
    2. identifying major theorists and schools of thought from the late 1800s to the present.
    3. identifying major writers whose body of archetypical and symbolic work focused on a psychological perspective of the human being, e.g., Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Hemingway, Faulkner, Eliot, O’Connor, Miller, and Jackson.
  2. The student will acquire knowledge of research skills and methods used in both psychology and English, along with a working understanding of APA and MLA standards for writing, including retrieving, interpreting and evaluating information from electronic sources and using proper documentation in citing these sources by:
    1. distinguishing among the descriptive (case study, naturalistic observation, survey) correlational and experimental approaches to behavioral research.
    2. identifying strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies used in psychology.
    3. composing abstract research writing.
    4. incorporating primary and secondary research.
  3. The student will evaluate the major theories of psychology and its initial, deep-set roots in literature with emphasis given to psychoanalytic, behavioral, humanistic, and existential theories by:
    1. recognizing major theorists, research supporting each theory, and literary applications applying each theory.
    2. comparing and contrasting theoretical points of view as applied in literature.
    3. recognizing and critiquing the application of psychological theories as also found in a correlative and contextual review of literary theories, e.g., archetypical, modernism, postmodernism, psychoanalytical, deconstruction, and new historicism.
  4. The student will develop knowledge of him/herself as a biological, psychological and cultural being by:
    1. identifying various approaches to interpersonal functioning.
    2. recognizing how biology and environment impact behavior in areas such as sensation, perception, state of consciousness, emotion, language, intelligence, motivation, memory, and learning.
    3. understanding how the world is improved through the application of theoretical lenses found in literary theory.
  5. The student will develop knowledge of the universal, contextual and cultural effects of ethnicity, age, gender, and/or race on psychological functioning by:
    1. recognizing ways by which differences in cultural norms and values influence personal behavior and various cognitive points of view.
    2. judging major issues emerging from research in areas such as personality development, consciousness, human motivation, and etiology of psychopathology.
    3. reviewing how such cultural effects play a contributive and illustrative role to both the psychological and literary understanding of the human being.
  6. The student will acquire a working understanding of scientific writing techniques, e.g., inductive and deductive reasoning, writing strategies, theory and thesis building, abstract writing, organizing findings, along with primary and secondary research and quote incorporation with critical evaluation of said materials by:
    1. creating a problem.
    2. constructing of restricted thesis.
    3. composing cartographic outlining.
    4. expressing an educated and researched purpose.
    5. demonstrating logical development.

Criteria Performance Standard

Upon completion of the course the student will successfully demonstrate mastery of 70 % of the above stated objectives. The writing will meet the criteria of at least Level 3 of the SPC Analytical Rubric for Writing.

History of Changes

C&I 6/14/2011, BOT 10/2011, Effective 20112(0450). Submitted as 11XX, SCNS approved as 1610.
C&I Approval: 05/31/2013, BOT Approval: 06/17/2014, Effective Term: Fall 2014 (490)