Kurzus nemzetközi vendég- és részidős hallgatóknak

Kar

Társadalomtudományi Kar

Szervezet

TÁTK Szociálpszichológia Tanszék

Kód

ESZOCBA76

Cím

Psychology

Tervezett félév

Őszi

Meghirdetve

2026/27/1

ECTS

3

Nyelv

en

Leírás

|

Oktatás célja

Course Aims Provide a conceptually accurate overview of major psychological paradigms and their historical development. Develop an understanding of unconscious, motivational, cognitive, personality and cultural processes relevant to social action. Connect psychological processes with socialisation, relationships, groups, institutions, culture and inequality. Encourage critical comparison of theories, research methods, evidence and disciplinary assumptions. Strengthen students' ability to analyse human diversity, identity and inclusion in a non-essentialising manner. Support interdisciplinary communication between sociology, psychology and related social sciences.

Tantárgy tartalma

This course provides sociology students with an interdisciplinary introduction to psychological theories of mind, personality and behaviour. It treats psychology as a diverse empirical and interpretive field rather than as a single unified paradigm. Throughout the semester, students examine how individual experience and action emerge through the interaction of psychic processes, relationships, socialisation, cultural meaning, institutions and structural conditions. The course preserves a substantial psychodynamic component while also introducing humanistic and existential psychology, social cognitive theory, trait approaches to personality, cultural and cross-cultural psychology, and psychological perspectives on diversity and social inclusion. Each tradition is presented in its historical context, evaluated in relation to available evidence and considered from critical sociological, cultural and intersectional perspectives. Particular attention is given to the dangers of psychological reductionism, cultural universalism and the individualisation of social problems. Students learn to move between psychological and sociological levels of explanation and to use psychological concepts without losing sight of power, inequality, collective identities and institutional environments. Indicative Course Schedule The sequence below consists of 15 teaching sessions. The distribution of topics intentionally retains the source curriculum's relative emphasis: four sessions on psychoanalytic and psychodynamic traditions, two on humanistic-existential approaches, two on social cognitive theory, two on trait and personality approaches, two on cultural psychology, one on diversity and inclusion, plus introductory and integrative sessions. Session 1: Psychology as a Science and an Interdisciplinary Field Focus: Introduce psychology as the scientific study of mind and behaviour and position psychological explanation in relation to sociological analysis. Core topics Definitions, scope and branches of psychology The scientific method: hypotheses, variables, operationalisation, evidence and replication Historical roots in philosophy and physiology; Wundt and the emergence of experimental psychology Structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, cognitive, biological and sociocultural approaches Levels of explanation: individual, relational, institutional and societal Ethical limits of psychological claims and the problem of reductionism Key concepts: scientific method, empiricism, operationalisation, evidence, levels of explanation, reductionism Session 2: Foundations of Psychoanalytic Theory Focus: Examine Freud's historical break with purely conscious models of action and the continuing sociological relevance of unconscious processes. Core topics Freud's intellectual and sociohistorical context The dynamic unconscious and the topographical model: conscious, preconscious and unconscious Dreams, parapraxes and free association as routes to meaning Conflict, compromise formation and psychic determinism Psychoanalysis as both a clinical theory and a theory of culture Historical, feminist and epistemological critiques of early psychoanalysis Key concepts: unconscious, topographical model, psychic conflict, dream work, parapraxis, free association Session 3: Structural Theory, Development and Defence Focus: Explore the structural model of personality and consider how internal conflict is shaped by socialisation, norms and authority. Core topics Id, ego and superego as functions within a dynamic system Pleasure principle, reality principle, anxiety and compromise Psychosexual development as a historically situated developmental theory Oedipal theory and later revisions, including critical gender perspectives Defence mechanisms: repression, projection, displacement, reaction formation and sublimation Cultural variation in normative development and the danger of universalising Western family models Key concepts: id, ego, superego, psychosexual development, Oedipal theory, defence, sublimation Session 4: Neo-Freudian and Post-Freudian Developments Focus: Compare major revisions of classical psychoanalysis and show how interpersonal, social and cultural factors entered theories of personality development. Core topics Alfred Adler: inferiority, striving and social interest Carl Jung: analytical psychology, complexes and the collective unconscious Karen Horney: culture, gender and basic anxiety Erik Erikson: psychosocial development across the life course Anna Freud: ego psychology and systematic accounts of defence Melanie Klein: object relations, fantasy and early relational experience Key concepts: individual psychology, analytical psychology, basic anxiety, psychosocial development, ego psychology, object relations Session 5: Contemporary Psychodynamic Perspectives Focus: Present contemporary psychodynamic approaches and assess their usefulness for understanding identity, relationships and social suffering. Core topics Object-relations traditions and Winnicott's account of the facilitating environment Bowlby's attachment theory and culturally variable caregiving systems Kohut's self psychology and the regulation of self-esteem Relational psychoanalysis and intersubjective approaches Lacanian perspectives on language, subjectivity and the social bond Race, class, gender and sexuality in contemporary psychoanalytic thought Dialogue - and points of tension - between psychodynamic concepts, developmental research and neuroscience Key concepts: attachment, holding environment, self psychology, intersubjectivity, language, social suffering Session 6: Humanistic Psychology and Person-Centred Approaches Focus: Examine humanistic psychology's emphasis on agency, subjective experience and growth, alongside its cultural assumptions. Core topics Humanistic psychology as a 'third force' in twentieth-century psychology Maslow's hierarchy of needs, peak experiences and self-actualisation Rogers's person-centred theory: congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard Self-concept, ideal self and conditions of worth Applications to education, helping relationships and community work Individualist assumptions and cross-cultural reformulations of growth and autonomy Key concepts: self-actualisation, hierarchy of needs, congruence, empathy, unconditional positive regard, conditions of worth Session 7: Existential and Positive Psychology Focus: Investigate meaning, freedom, responsibility and well-being while critically examining normative definitions of a 'good life'. Core topics Existential approaches to finitude, choice, anxiety and responsibility Viktor Frankl: logotherapy and the search for meaning Positive psychology: strengths, virtues and flourishing Hedonic and eudaimonic models of well-being Resilience and post-traumatic growth in social and cultural context Critical perspectives on adaptation, individual responsibility and structural disadvantage Key concepts: existential anxiety, meaning, logotherapy, well-being, resilience, post-traumatic growth Session 8: Social Cognitive Theory Focus: Explain how behaviour develops through observation, interpretation and reciprocal interaction between people and their environments. Core topics Bandura's development of social learning and social cognitive theory Observational learning: attention, retention, reproduction and motivation Self-efficacy and outcome expectations Reciprocal determinism: person, behaviour and environment Aggression, helping and prosocial behaviour as socially modelled practices Personal, proxy and collective agency in sociostructural context Key concepts: observational learning, modelling, self-efficacy, reciprocal determinism, collective agency Session 9: Self-Regulation, Media and Cultural Learning Focus: Apply social cognitive theory to education, digital media and the cultural transmission of norms and aspirations. Core topics Self-monitoring, goal-setting, feedback and self-regulation Achievement motivation and culturally patterned expectations Media models, influencers and the social production of desirable identities Algorithmic environments, attention economies and repeated exposure Cultural scripts and the transmission of gendered, classed and racialised behaviour Applications to public communication, education and behaviour-change programmes Key concepts: self-regulation, goal-setting, cultural scripts, media modelling, algorithmic environment, behaviour change Session 10: Trait Theory and the Measurement of Personality Focus: Introduce trait models and critically examine what personality measurement can and cannot explain about social behaviour. Core topics Allport, Cattell and Eysenck in the history of trait psychology The Big Five model: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism Reliability, validity, self-report and observer ratings The person-situation debate and interactionist perspectives Ethical and methodological issues in personality assessment Uses and misuses of psychological testing in institutions and organisations Key concepts: trait, Big Five, reliability, validity, person-situation interaction, assessment ethics Session 11: Personality, Culture and Social Roles Focus: Analyse the relationship between relatively stable dispositions, changing social roles and culturally available identities. Core topics Cross-cultural evidence for and variation in personality structure Etic and emic approaches; indigenous concepts of personhood Social roles, expectations and the contextual expression of traits Gendered and classed pathways of personality development Migration, bicultural identity and behavioural flexibility Personality stability, life transitions and institutional environments Key concepts: emic and etic approaches, social role, personhood, bicultural identity, personality flexibility Session 12: Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology Focus: Examine how culture participates in the constitution of cognition, emotion, motivation and selfhood. Core topics Cultural psychology and cross-cultural psychology: distinct questions and methods Culture as shared meaning, practice, institution and contested resource Individualism-collectivism, power distance and other dimensional models Methodological and political critiques of national-culture typologies, including Hofstede's framework Independent and interdependent self-construals Language, attribution, emotion regulation and motivation across cultural contexts Key concepts: culture, self-construal, cultural model, individualism-collectivism, power distance, attribution Session 13: Culture in Interaction, Groups and Institutions Focus: Connect cultural psychology with sociological questions about communication, conflict, group boundaries, authority and belonging. Core topics High-context and low-context communication as heuristic models Cultural patterns in conflict resolution and negotiation In-groups, out-groups, social identity and boundary-making Leadership, authority and legitimacy across institutional contexts Religion, ethnicity and other forms of cultural membership Intercultural competence, reflexivity and the limits of cultural generalisation Key concepts: communication context, conflict resolution, social identity, boundary-making, authority, intercultural competence Session 14: Human Diversity, Inequality and Social Inclusion Focus: Use psychological concepts to analyse the lived effects of social categorisation and inequality without reducing structural problems to individual attitudes. Core topics Race and ethnicity as social constructions with psychological consequences Gender identity, sexual orientation and psychological well-being Intersectionality and the interaction of multiple positions of privilege and disadvantage Stereotype threat, minority stress, microaggressions and resilience Implicit bias: evidence, measurement debates and limits of individual-level intervention Prejudice reduction, institutional inclusion and social justice approaches Key concepts: intersectionality, social categorisation, stereotype threat, minority stress, implicit bias, inclusion Session 15: Integration and Contemporary Applications Focus: Synthesize the course through multi-level explanations of contemporary social problems and reflect on psychology's place among the social sciences. Core topics Comparing psychodynamic, humanistic, existential, social cognitive, trait and cultural explanations Integrating individual experience with relationships, institutions and social structures Technology, globalisation and transformations of identity and behaviour Decolonising psychology and challenging the universalisation of WEIRD samples Global mental health, cultural translation and epistemic plurality Student presentations, integrative case analysis and course synthesis Key concepts: theoretical pluralism, multi-level explanation, WEIRD samples, decolonisation, global mental health, integration

Számonkérés és értékelés

Evaluation Online test

Irodalomjegyzék

Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, Samuel R. Sommers,  Lisa M. Shin, Psychology (2024) Fourteenth Edition, Pearson Publisher Heine, S. J. (2020). Cultural psychology (4th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. McWilliams, N. (2011). Psychoanalytic diagnosis: Understanding personality structure in the clinical process (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. Mitchell, S. A., & Black, M. J. (1995). Freud and beyond: A history of modern psychoanalytic thought. Basic Books. Pickren, W. E., & Rutherford, A. (2010). A history of modern psychology in context. Wiley. Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology-2e Rod Plotnik and Haig Kouyoumdjian (2011):  Introduction to Psychology, (Ninth Edition) Wadsworth

Ajánlott irodalom

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