Welcome to the Discussion Forum!

Each week, you will be asked to respond to the prompt or prompts in the discussion forum. Your initial post should be 75-150 words in length, and is due on Sunday. By Tuesday, you should respond to two additional posts from your peers. If you have not done so lately, please review the Rules of Discussion. 

For your follow up post…review the responses provided by your peers. Engage in conversation, or even civil debate, as you discuss their insights and viewpoints. You may ask questions for clarification (if you are confused by their initial post) or pose questions that advance the conversation. You might even find a topic that leads you to further research in the area! 

Perception of Psychology

Question A

Psychoanalytic theory suggests that some memories can be so painful, that a person can totally block them from their conscious memory and then later “recover” them; either spontaneously or while receiving therapy.  Others argue that these are false memories that can be created through the power of suggestion for some people.  Which viewpoint do you agree with and why?  Have you had a memory that later turned out to be incorrect?  What do you think was the cause of the error in your recollection? 

Question B

Public perception of psychology tends not to portray the entire scope of the field. To evaluate this statement please ask three people who are not in this psychology class (e.g., roommates, parents, friends and professors from other fields) what they think psychologists do. Next, compile a list of the ideas and then compare this list to Chapter 1 of the textbook. What did your small sample miss? What did they over-represent? Why do you think these misperceptions exist?