Thought Paper Topic: Seminar 2 on Tuesday 1 March

The topic for the first thought paper is as follows:

Briefly explain what Cosmides and Tooby (1997) mean when they claim that "our circuits weren't designed to solve just any old kind of problem[; they] were designed to solve adaptive problems."

A thought paper should be a brief, focussed one (max. two) page response to the question or topic posed each week. It should preferably be typed, and will be collected at the start of the relevant seminar.

Handing in thought papers, and the quality of the thought papers, contributes towards the 5% portion of your overall mark relating to thought papers, preparation and participation.

Readings for Seminar 3 - Tuesday 8 March

In Seminar 3, we will be examining sex and evolved sexual strategies from the point of view of Evolutionary Psychology (EP).

The four readings for Seminar 3 is as follows:

1. Buss (1989) from Behavioral and Brain Sciences. The article can be accessed by following the link below:

http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Group/BussLAB/pdffiles/SexDifferencesinHuman.PDF

2. Buller (2005) Chapter 5

3. Fausto-Sterling (2000) Beyond Difference - reading will be provided in class.

4. Schmitt et al. (2001) The Effects of Sex and Temporal Context on Feelings of Romantic Desire. This article can be accessed via the eJournal portal by following the link below:

http://0-psp.sagepub.com.innopac.wits.ac.za/content/27/7/833.full.pdf+html

Readings - Seminar 2 on Tuesday 1 March

Our second seminar will be the first of three to focus on Evolutionary Psychology (EP).

The reading for Seminar 2 is as follows:

1. Cosmides & Tooby (1997) - Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer
You should read up to the section heading 'Reasoning Instincts: An Example'

The primer can be accessed at the following address:
http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/primer.html

2. The Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2 from Buller (2005) Adapting Minds


It is recommended that you read Chapter 3 from Buller (2005) at some point during the EP part of the course.

Readings - Seminar 1 on Tuesday 22 February

Readings for our first seminar are now available. One reading - a chapter from Hergenhahn (1997) - is available for collection from the Main Office (U211). Please ask for one of the readings from the box labelled 'Mind, Brain and Behaviour'.

Our second reading (apologies for prescribing something written by me) is Pitman (2002), and can be downloaded by following the link below:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1CW4LT2aWMtNDc5MjQ1ZTEtODNjMi00NGM4LTg3MzYtMWVhMDhmZWZlMDRj&hl=en

The third reading is Miresco and Kirmayer (2006), which you should be able to connect to by following the link below:
http://0-ajp.psychiatryonline.org.innopac.wits.ac.za/cgi/reprint/163/5/913

Unless you are on the Wits network, this link should take you via the Library login page, for which you will require your Library PIN. If you have any difficulty obtaining the article via this link, please search for the article via the Library eJournal Portal, using the reference below:

Miresco, M.J. & Kirmayer, L.J. (2006). The Persistence of Mind-Brain Dualism in Psychiatric Reasoning About Clinical Scenarios. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 913-918.