A Walk Through the Human Mind

​Process Paper

Psychology: the study of the human mind and its workings.  I choose this topic because I could personally connect to it. Growing up, my father was ill, so I wanted to know why and how. It was helpful because it helped me understand why he was ill and the chances that it can be passed down to me. Not only is it important to me and helped me, but it can help others as well. Understanding Psychology is the first step to understanding the mind.

While doing research for this, I found the site Marxist.com to be useful in finding written lectures by Sigmund Freud. Also since I already had some background knowledge on the topic, I knew who the “father of psychology” was so I started with him. From there I went to psychoanalysis, to the NYC Bomber and criminal profiling.  Another website I found helpful was trutv.com It helped me with the research for the NYC bomber and Dr. James Brussel. 

I mostly relied on books though. Not ones written the by people I was researching, but ones written about them. Since it was so long ago, I couldn’t find interviews or autobiographies that they had written themselves.

A problem I encountered during my research was finding articles written on an article about a book written about the person that I researching and not being able to use them because they were credible. It took a lot of digging to find a source that directed related to the topic of psychology. These articles did lead me books that I was able to use but even though these articles were great in number, the sources they provided were few in number.

            I choose to relate my topic to all three words in the theme. For each word, I picked a specific date that showed how psychology has cause a revolution, who reacted and how it reformed our thinking on psychology. For revolution I choose the year 1883 because it was the year the Wilhelm Wundt began to voice his ideas to the scientific community. At first they were rejected because it was an unknown concept but soon some people were able to see it’s usefulness. Which leads us into reaction. Sigmund Freud gave his final lecture on psychoanalysis and psychology in the year 1932. It may seem strange to not use all of his lectures but I found that the last talked more about him as a human diagnosing people and not as a doctor diagnosing a patient. I also wanted to stay away from mentioning super ego, ego and id in my exhibit because I wanted to focus on him and the new concept he introduced, psychoanalysis. Lastly we have reform. Dr. James Brussel was able to enhance the concept even when he introduced criminal profiling to the FBI. In order to get the FBI’s attention, he first took it for a test run. He was able to profile the NYC Bomber in 1940 by analyzing his behavior.

 

Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources

Freud, Sigmund. "Lecture XXXV A Philosophy of Life." New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis . Hogarth Press, 1933. Web. 1 Jan 2012. <http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/at/freud.htm>.

This source is of a lecture given by Sigmund Freud, written down. He talks greatly about religion and how it could influence behavior. There are a few times when he mentions Marxism but I do not understand if he relates that to Psycho-analysis. This source is reliable because it is form another man who has had a great influence in the world of psychology and he did change many things. I used the parts where he talked about how he got into psychology.

 

The layman's guide to psychiatry and psych-analysis. 3. California: Tantor eBooks of Tantor Media, 2011. eBook. <http://www.amazon.com/Laymans-Guide-Psychiatry-Psychoanalysis-ebook/dp/B005DNSSCQ.

This book is written for people who don’t have a profession in the field of psychology. It gives a general over view of the know how’s of the field. It talks about why people act the way they do and why others judge them the way that they do. It touches on a range of topics from emotions to dreams and from insanity to practical and impractical methods, all relating to the field of psychology and psychoanalysis. I used this to help created my loose definition of psychoanalysis.

 

Secondary Source

"The History of Psychology." Discovering Psychology.WGBH Educational Foundation,2001. Web.1 Jan 2012.<http://www.learner.org/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html>.  This source is like a basic overview of how psychology has evolved from 1879 to 2000. It is a great place to start because it’s main focus is psychology but it also gives brief points on people and buildings that have influenced the advancement of psychology. The time line doesn’t stick to one person who has had an influence in this field but it expands to many people, which is why I think this source is reliable. I used this to help me find the people I would research on.

 

"Wilhelm Wundt and Introspection: the cultural contribution of the father of psychology." WilhelmWundt.com. N.p., Jan 3. Web. 1 Jan 2012. <http://www.wilhelmwundt.com/index.htm>.

This source is an essay written by someone on Wilhelm Wundt, a man otherwise known as the father of psychology. It talks about Wundt life in psychology and how he used introspection to evaluate the behaviors of the human mind. Essentially this text is a general overview of Wundt’s work through out his lifetime although it focuses mainly on introspection. It gives a clearer meaning on his work and it also included other sources that I can go to that may help me with my project. I used this source to help identify what part of Wundt’s work I was following.

 

M. Lothstein, Leslie. "The Transformation of Psychology: Influences of 19th-Century Philosophy, Technology, and Natural Science." The American Journal of Psychiatry. Psychiatry Online, 01, Mar 2003. Web. 1 Jan 2012. <http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=176134>.

This source is about a textbook that gave an interesting viewpoint of both psychology and science as a whole. It mostly talks about chapter 11. Also about how politics play a role in psychology. I found this interesting since you wouldn’t think that something like that could influence a person behavior and memory so much. To the point where people felt the need to study it and see just how far the influence was rooted. I used this source to help create my loose definition of psychology.

 

Madden, Melissa Ann. "GEORGE METESKY: NEW YORK's MAD BOMBER-The Profiler." TruTV. TruTV, n.d. Web. 4 Jan 2012. < http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/terrorists/metesky/8.html>.

This article talks about George Metesky, the first big case that Dr. Brussel profiled that lead him to want to continue and create a new section to the FBI. It talks mainly of the process of what the police went through in trying to apprehend the bomber on their own for close to 10 years until they called Dr. Brussel. Though the police were skeptical, they went along with it and they did catch their guy. I used this source to get a better understanding of the Bomber’s work.

 

Plucker, Dr. Jonathan. "Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) German Philosopher & Psychologist." Human Intelegence. Indiana University, 25 July 2007. Web. <http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/wundt.shtml>.

This page talks about Wilhelm Wundt’s start in opening an Experiment Psychology Laboratory. It catered more toward German, philosophers and psychologist but American and British philosophers and psychologist were also welcomed. Everything he did was considered experimental because he was the first to do it. He set the limits that could be reached for research because there were know for him. I used this source because of the experimental laboratory.

           

Madden, Melissa Ann. "The Profiler." TruTV. TruTV, n.d. Web. 4 Jan 2012. <http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/terrorists/metesky/3.html>.

This article talks about Dr. James Brussel and how he profiled the NYC Bomber. It also talks about how he became involved in the case 10 years after it was opened. Though he had already began to profile the bomber before he was asked onto the case. He was doing because his inner psychiatrist was telling him to do it. I used this source because of the profile on the profiler.

I'll have pictures of my board up tomorrow.