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Discover the different approaches to psychology and the dangers of relying solely on personal experience. Gain insight into the importance of alternative perspectives and the role of theory in understanding human development.
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HOW TO APPROACH PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDINGS
Insiders seek the answer to questions within the contexts of their own lives. INSIDERS STRANGERS (“There is more light here”) Click for passage 4
Experiential Thinking (everyday, casual, taken-for-granted, there-is-more-light-there, “insider”) Dangers of Experiential Thinking Developing and Maintaining False Beliefs 6
Once a question has been answered, the answer tends to remains fixed (“My, my . . . dead men do bleed”) Help me Doctor … 7
Experiential Thinking (everyday, casual, taken-for-granted, there-is-more-light-there, “insider”) Dangers of Experiential Thinking Developing and Maintaining False Beliefs Confronting the novel ineffectively 8
“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again — and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.” Mark Twain 9
Experiential Thinking (everyday, casual, taken-for-granted, there-is-more-light-there, “insider”) Dangers of Experiential Thinking Developing and Maintaining False Beliefs Confronting the novel ineffectively Mental inertia and dogmatism 10
DANGER 11
We are all insiders in the study of human development 12
Psychological Thinking . . . (scientific, reflective, “stranger”) . . . requires the habit of • ALWAYS SEEING ALTERNATIVES • GAINING AND CHANGING MENTAL PERSPECTIVE 13
Psychological Thinking . . . (scientific, reflective, “stranger”) . . . requires the habit of • ALWAYS SEEING ALTERNATIVES • GAINING AND CHANGING MENTAL PERSPECTIVE • SUPPLEMENTING OUR LIVED EXPERIENCE WITH INSIGHTS DERIVED FROM RESEARCH AND THEORY TO FORMULATE QUESTIONS AND GUIDE HYPOTHESES (MORE ON THIS LATER) 21
CLASS THEMES 22
Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone. “But which is the stone that supports the bridge?” Kublai Khan asks. “The bridge is not supported by one stone or another,” Marco answers, “but by the line of the arch that they form.” Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds: “Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me.” Polo answers: “Without stones there is no arch.” 25
WE WHO CUT MERE STONE MUST ALWAYS BE ENVISIONING CATHEDRALS 26
STORY 27
A teacher of an 8th grade gifted language arts enrichment class is interested in students learning to be poetically expressive. A 13-year-old student submits the following poem: When the wild west winds are blowing the tall trees will tremble. When heavy rains fall from the skies and a torrential downpour hits the earth, when the tall trees are struck with lightning and whole forests catch on fire, that is when we feel nature at its greatest. After the teacher reads it, the student asks, "Do you like it? Is it good?" How should the teacher respond? Why. 28
Responses of Teachers, Student Teachers, and Psychology Sudents 1. A TEACHER MUST ALWAYS RESPOND POSITIVELY 2. STUDENTS SHOULD BE PRAISED AND ENCOURAGED 3. CRITICISM IS THE ENEMY OF CREATIVITY 4. EVALUATIVE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE REDIRECTED TO THE STUDENT 5. THE VALUE OF POETRY CANNOT BE JUDGED 29
"Discerning which action best instantiates a given principle requires judgment about the particularities of the situation.“ Lawrence Blum Moral Perception and Particularity 29a
“We cannot store up generalizations and constructs for ultimate assembly into a network.” • “When we give proper weight to local conditions, any generalization is a working hypothesis, not a conclusion.” Lee Cronbach 30
"It is difficult to connect general principles with such thoroughly concrete things as little children“ John Dewey The School and Society, p. 31 31
STONES & ARCHES READING A WAVE THEMES STORY USE OF FORMALISMS 32
IS TO ACHIEVE A COMPLETE PERSPECTIVE OF A HUMAN BEING 34
SO . . . THE ART OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING IS . . . 36
THE ART OF GRASPING SIMILARITIES AMONG PHENOMENA AND THUS FORGING PERCEPTUAL PATTERNS AND CONCEPTUAL CATEGORIES OUT OF THE FLUX OR APPARENT CHAOS OF EXISTENCE. WILLIAM JAMES 37
HOW BEST TO DISCOVER AND EXPLAIN SIMILARITIES PATTERNS CATEGORIES ? 38
PSYCHOLOGISTS CREATE AND DEVELOP THEORIES TO EXPLAIN PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA 40
“Theory is the most practical of men’s instruments.” Thomas Jefferson 41
“Our understanding of human development is built out of theories and research findings, just as a house is built out of mortar and stones. But a collection of findings without theory is no more a basis for sound understanding that a heap of stones is a house.” Henri Poincare 42
INSIDERS STRANGERS Insiders seek the answer to questions within the contexts of their own lives (“There is more light here”). Once a question has been answered, the answer tends to remains fixed (“My, my . . . dead men do bleed”).
STONES & ARCHES READING A WAVE THEMES STORY COMING SOON!!
THREE KEY ISSUES 1. FORMALIZING 2. TRUTH in TEACHING 3. RENDERING PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT
FORMALIZING FORMALISMS: BELIEFS THAT BECOME RULES AND PRECEPTS TO BE FOLLOWED REGARDLESS OF CONTEXT “Formal principles used as recipes save people from having to think.” “The understanding of particular persons in particular situations is an essential capability of a morally mature individual."
FORMALIZING • “We cannot store up generalizations and constructs for ultimate assembly into a network.” • “When we give proper weight to local conditions, any generalization is a working hypothesis, not a conclusion.” Lee Cronbach
TRUTH STANLEY CAVELL CRITERIA FOR RECIPROCAL CONVERSATION TRUTH SIGNIFICANCE COMPREHENSIBILITY “ . . . the responsibility to say what we mean and mean what we say.”
JUDGMENT "Discerning which action best instantiates a given principle requires judgment about the particularities of the situation.” Lawrence Blum
JUDGMENT Judgment is the faculty of subsuming under rules; that is, of distinguishing whether something does or does not stand under a given rule. Judgment is a peculiar talent that can be practiced only and cannot be taught. Although admirable in understanding, one may be wanting in the natural power of judgment. One may comprehend the universal in abstracto, and yet not be able to distinguish whether a case in concreto comes under it. Immanuel Kant