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PT 171 Systematic Investigations in the Human Sciences

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PT 171 Systematic Investigations in the Human Sciences Syllabus PT 171 Systematic Investigations and Ethics D. Gilhooley Fall 2013 Mon. 3:40-5:20 30 Clock Hours Course Description This course is designed to provide a theoretical and practical knowledge of research and methodology. The course examines what is basic to scientific inquiry and reviews important tools, methods, and techniques that are available for the implementation of sound and ethical research. The focus of this course is empirical research on unconscious mental processes. We will look at the work of two early investigators (Puysegur and Janet), along with contemporary researchers investigating the role of the unconscious in knowing, feeling, remembering, learning, expecting, deciding, and communicating. We will look at the work of six prominent researchers in greater detail: John Gottman, Wilma Bucci, Sidney Blatt, Paul Ekman, Nalini Ambady, and James Pennebaker. Throughout the course will be considering the implications of this research for the psychoanalytic theory of mind and conception of therapeutic process. Objectives By the end of the course the student will be able to: define scientific research and discuss various research methodologies employed in the social sciences describe several research tools (e.g., case studies, rating scales) apply historical and current scientific research on unconscious processes to psychoanalytic theory and practice; and critically discuss ethical issues confronting research practice Methods of Evaluation Logs: Each week students write logs describing their emotional and intellectual experience of the previous class session. Logs can be submitted to me electronically at [email protected]. Readings: Each week students will be selected to present an assigned reading. The goal of student presentations is to foster thought-provoking class discussions. Readings are identified as Concept, Research, or Clinical Application papers. Concept papers are overviews (or literature reviews) of a topic. Research papers are more technical, describe research methods, and usually interpret results statistically. Clinical Application papers are psychoanalytic in nature. When presenting a paper students should summarize the major idea and if possible place it in the context of psychoanalytic theory. When presenting the assigned Research paper students will try to explain the logic of the research design employed by the researchers, identify confusing bits, and discuss how the findings might impact psychoanalytic theory or clinical practice. While research papers usually include statistical results that are confusing, following some simple guidelines, we will do our best to make sense of these numbers. Our goal in reading research papers is to become intelligent consumers of scientific information. PT 171 Systematic Investigations and Ethics Fall 2013 Page 1 of 5 Last printed 8/27/2013 4:43:00 PM Term Paper: Students will write a 10-page paper examining one or several of our reading topics and considering its implications for psychoanalysis. This assignment can be tailored to students’ levels of experience and areas of interest. If students are pursuing the master’s degree, they can use this assignment as a way of identifying and describing a research topic, or as an opportunity to conduct an initial literature review of a topic. Students will research their topic using electronic databases such as the PEP available through the library. The paper should follow APA style (e.g., see Modern Psychoanalysis) and incorporate a minimum of eight references. Reference Texts Ellenberger, H. (1970). The discovery of the unconscious. New York, NY: Basic Books. Gilhooley, D. (2008). Psychoanalysis and the “cognitive unconscious”: Implications for clinical technique. Modern Psychoanalysis, 33, 91-127. Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. New York, NY: Little, Brown. Harrington, A. (2008). The cure within: A history of mind-body medicine. New York, NY: W.W. Norton. Lehrer, J. (2010, December 13). The truth wears off: Is there something wrong with the scientific method? The New Yorker, 52-57. Mayer, E. L. (2007). Extraordinary knowing: Science, skepticism, and the inexplicable powers of the human mind. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Moore, B., & Fine, B. (Eds). (1990). Psychoanalytic terms and concepts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. NYGSP Master’s Thesis Handbook Westen, D. (1998). Unconscious thought, feeling, and motivation: End of a century-long debate. Empirical perspectives on the psychoanalytic unconscious. (R. Bornstein & J. Masling, Eds.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Westen, D. (1999).The scientific status of unconscious processes: Is Freud really dead? Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 47, 1061-1106. Wilson, T. (2002). Strangers to ourselves: Discovering the adaptive unconscious. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Assigned Readings Class 1: “Thin Slices” as a Model for Research Concept Gladwell, M. (2005). The statue that didn’t look right; The theory of thin slices: How a little bit of knowledge goes a long way. In Blink: The power of thinking without thinking (pp. 3- 47). New York, NY: Little, Brown. Research Carrere, S., & Gottman, J. (1999). Predicting divorce among newlyweds from the first three minutes of a marital conflict discussion. Family Process, 38, 293-301. PT 171 Systematic Investigations and Ethics Fall 2013 Page 2 of 5 Last printed 8/27/2013 4:43:00 PM Class 2: Paul Ekman Reading Emotions in Faces Concept Gladwell, M. (2002, August 5). The naked face: Can you read people’s thoughts just by looking at them? The New Yorker, 38-49. Research Ekman, P. (1985). New findings and ideas about lying and lie catching. In Telling Lies (pp. 325- 346). New York, NY: W.W. Norton. In-class training session with Ekman’s Micro Expression Training Tool. Class 3: Implicit Learning Concept Wilson, T. (2002). Freud’s genius, Freud’s myopia, and the adaptive unconscious. In Strangers to ourselves: Discovering the adaptive unconscious (pp. 1-41). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Research Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275, 1293-1295. Class 4: John Gottman Studying Marital Communication Research Gottman, J. (1994). Marital processes that predict dissolution. In What predicts divorce? (pp. 77- 117). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Gottman, J. (1994). Recommendations for a stable marriage. In What predicts divorce? (pp. 409- 417). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Gottman, J. (1994). Appendix: The observational coding systems. In What predicts divorce? (pp. 443-474). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Class 5: Unconscious Knowledge Concept Lazar, S. (2001). Knowing, influencing, and healing: Paranormal phenomena and implications for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 21, 113-131. Clinical Application Mayer, E. L. (2007). The harp that came back; Going public with private knowing. In Extraordinary knowing: Science, skepticism, and the inexplicable powers of the human mind (pp. 1-24). New York, NY: Bantam Books. PT 171 Systematic Investigations and Ethics Fall 2013 Page 3 of 5 Last printed 8/27/2013 4:43:00 PM Class 6: Nalini Ambady Studying Intuition Research Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1993). Half a minute: Predicting teacher evaluations from thin slices of nonverbal behavior and physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 431-441. Research Ambady, N., LaPlante, D., Nguyen, T., Rosenthal, R., Chaumeton, N., & Levinson, W. (2002). Surgeons’ tone of voice: A clue to malpractice history. Surgery, 132, 5-9. Clinical Application Bass, A. (2001). It takes one to know one; or, whose unconscious is it anyway? Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 11, 683-702. Class 7: Discovering Unconscious Memory in 1784 and 1985 Concept Crabtree, A. (1993). Puysegur and the discovery of magnetic sleep. In From Mesmer to Freud: Magnetic sleep and the roots of psychological healing (pp. 38-53). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Concept Schacter, D. (1996). The hidden world of implicit memory. In Searching for memory: The brain, the mind, the past (pp. 161-176). New York, NY: Basic Books. Research Bennett, H., Davis, H., & Giannini, J. (1985). Non-verbal response to intraoperative conversation. British Journal of Anesthesia, 57, 174-179. Class 8: James Pennebaker Studying the Effects of Therapeutic Expression Research Pennebaker, J., & Seagal, J. (1999). Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55, 1243-1254. Concept Pennebaker, J. (2011). Lying words. In The secret life of pronouns: What our words say about us (pp. 131-169). New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press. In-class review of Pennebaker’s LIWC text analysis software Class 9: Expectation and Unexpected Knowledge Concept Moerman, D. (2002). Psychotherapy: Placebo effect or meaning response? In Meaning, Medicine and the ‘Placebo Effect’ (pp. 89-99). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Clinical Application Mayer, E. (2001). On “telepathic dreams?”: An unpublished paper by Robert Stoller. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 49, 629-657. PT 171 Systematic Investigations and Ethics Fall 2013 Page 4 of 5 Last printed 8/27/2013 4:43:00 PM Class 10: Sidney Blatt Studying Personality and Therapeutic Change Concept Blatt, S. (2013). The patient’s contribution to the therapeutic process. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 30, 139-166. Research Auerbach, J., & Blatt,
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