The Hebrew University of Jerusalem "Amirim" Honor Program of Humanities

AN I N T E R D I S I C P L I N A RY P S YC H O LO GY
AN OVERVIEW OF THE CHANGES IN THE PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTM ENT OF THE HEBREW UNIVESITY FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE

(Interdisciplinary intersections (08270 Prof. Shlomit Rimon-Keinan Lior Krengel, 300915709

Introduction: As I am approaching the end of my second academic year in Ppsychology, the questions appear/surface like 'mushrooms after a rain': what should I do once I finish my B.A. degree? Which path should I take: clinical or research? What is my aim? Is it an encounter with patients, or spending countless hours in a lab? It seems like that these questions are an integrative part of the B.A. degree in Psychology. Already on the very first day, the head of the department informed us that with a B.A in Psychology there is a little that can be done. In order to implement our studies, we, the as psychology students, would have to choose a specialization. During the last couple of years, the classes and the courses indicate the potential split in the future: the path that I'llI will end up choosing will only include some aspects of the wide and complex area called Psychology. In the next years, the psychology department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will move from Mount Scopus to Givat Ram. This geographic change implies a deep conceptual shift; the transition from the home of the faculties of the Social Sciences and the Humanities to the Natural Sciences. This shift should not be seen as big news to the Psychology studies as a discipline. seem surprising, since The area psychology is known for its amalgamation of interdisciplinary aspects and has been integrating which it has integrated ever since its foundations studies from different faculties. This geographical change, however, raises an important question: will the department of psychology manage keeping succeed in striking the a balance between its different interdisciplinary characteristics/traits/orientations? It this paper, I will examine the extent to which the department successfully integrates its interdisciplinary aspects. First, I will present some of these

aspects. I will demonstrate that the Ppsychology studies cannot be clearly associated to any one of the three other faculties. Then, I will observe analyze whether the department of Psychology in at the Hebrew University truly fulfills the interdisciplinary potential of the area. I will utilize the examine this question in light of the B.A studies' syllabus in order to examine this question, as well as draw on my personal experience as a student. The declared goal of the B.A. Ppsychology studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is to "present the students with the fundamental questions of the discipline, afford them with basic knowledge and terms in the different fields of psychology, [to] teach the scientific tools and [to] uncover the various applications of psychology.". The B.A. also provides students with supervised practical experience in the fields of research and treatment/therapy. Finally, it is clearly noted that the B.A program is not designed to provide a specialization in any of the various fields of psychology. The department's statement as quoted above demonstrates the understanding that the area of psychology is a combination of theories, tools and hypotheses from different study fields. The fact that the student may specialize later on in more specific areas is essential but insufficient in order to consider that Ppsychology as an interdisciplinary program. According to the mentioned above, abovementioned statement, the undergraduate student will gain the opportunity to "taste" from different fields in Psychology, so that/in the hope that in at the end of his studies he is would be able to choose from the diverse experiences and based on gained from the different courses. I

will now examine, whether the student [really gains] is actually granted such an opportunity.

The interdisciplinary foundations of Psychology: Psychology exists has existed from the very beginning of humanity. Its definition as the science of behavior and mental processes implies the complexity of the field: the mental processes represent the philosophical aspect; the behavioral component [is a representative of] stands for the social part and the definition of psychology as a science is an provides evidence for of/attests to its scientific features. In order to identify interdisciplinarity as a characteristic [trait] of the psychology field in general psychology at large and not just merely as it is studied in at the Hebrew University, one should examine the known foundations of the Psychology field. It is arguable that the beginning origins of psychology goes/date back to the ancient Greece. Thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle have dealt with questions regarding the nature of the human Mmind, conscience and behavior. Plato suggested that the study of philosophy can lead to an inner balance. Aristotle's first book, " on the soul" On the Soul (De Anima), deals with the kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, to be distinguished by their different operations. Maimonides (Rambam) also dealt/grappled with the essence of the soul and focused mainly on the relation between our actions and soul. Descartes suggested a dualistic perspective, that the mind controls the body, but that the body can also influence the

otherwise rational mind. Later on, Hobbes and John Lock were also concerned with questions regarding the innate contents of the mind that a human being is born with: are we born as "tabula rasa,", or with knowledge and conscience? Finally, philosophical questions were an integral part of the philosophical studies of the mind in universities in America since the 17th /seventeenth century. The first psychology lab was founded by Wilhelm Wundt in Germany in 1879 and is traditionally considered the starting point of modern psychology. The aim of the experimental labs that were opening at that time was to implement new scientific methods, which were mainly borrowed from physiology and psychophysics. The empirical methods of the physiology, together with the questions discussed in philosophy, created the role of the psychologist, that is as distinguished from the roles that of the philosopher, physiologist, and or doctor. At about the same years, Freud began to develop his psychoanalytical theory. The pPsychoanalysis was defined as a method based on the theory of neurosis along with a theory of a healthy mind. Many of the terms that Freud defined are still considered to be the basis of the psychoanalysis today. The simultaneous development of two different methods could be seen/ regarded as one of the sources/a possible source to the methodical conflict that the psychology as a discipline endures grapples with todaynowadays. The expected changes in the Psychology department in at the Hebrew University are also a consequence of this conflict. Psychology studies at the Hebrew University:

The required courses for the B.A. Psychology degree are a great provide evidence for/attest to the interdisciplinary orientation within the department. It is a twelvecourses list, which the student must complete during the three years of the B.A. These courses are seen/ regarded as the core studies of the degree, as the rest of the courses taken by the students are chosen according to their own preferences. The core courses aim to give [a little taste of] from an idea/a sample of everything that the psychology studies have to offer, so that the students can wisely choose his their path later on. The application of statistical and mathematical tools is current in methodological courses, such as "Introduction to Statistics and Methodology" and "Methods in Psychology Research.". These courses provide the statistical foundations that are inquired required for experiments based on a population sample. This is a junction between the psychological goals and tools that belong to a very different area. The statistical Statistics studies are often considered to be the anti-thesis antithesis for of the faculty of humanities studies, and yet, the existence of these two courses, proves differently. The presence of the lLife sciences is are also current in part of the syllabus. The course "Basic Principles in Biology" is intended to provide/aimed at providing a basic understanding of the structure and functioning of the human brain. The concepts that are learnt on this course will later on assist the student in the understanding of complex behaviors patterns such as perception and learning. Courses with a biological base orientation contradict, in many ways, the Freudian theories that had focused on the study of the mind. An important premise in the study of biology study in this context is that there is an actual connection between the human body and mind and that in order to understand one of them, we must learn the other.

Courses such as "Abnormal Psychology" are a product of/stem from the view of psychology as an medical sectorarea of medicine. The course focuses on psychopathology, and its studying material is clinical in every aspect: each psychopathological disease is described for its essential characteristics, etiology, prevalence in population, physiological and environmental components that may add to its appearance/emergence and finally, the different treatments and medicines that may be taken. At the same time, case studies for each disorder are provided, as it is typical in the psychology studies. The case studies present the individual and human aspects of the psychopathologies combining a name and a face with a more general and categorizing medical view.

Finally, the course "Social Processes" is also based on two areas: anthropology and sociology. The course presents the field of the social psychology, which explores that the reasons and ways that thoughts, emotions and behaviors are affected by the environment. The emphasis is on the analysis of individuals' behavior in the context of social situations. In this way, we can examine all kinds of social issues. The question of giving and getting help from strangers would be a good example of that. In which situations do people help more? Is [there an influence forto] this conditioned by the number of people present in an event or to/by the time that will pass elapse until we offer help to a total stranger? Some of the research methods have been adopted from that the field of anthropology. Social psychologists also attempt to recognize universal features of the human nature, just like in a similar mode to their anthropologists colleagues. The core courses show/attest to the usage incorporation of different methods, taken from/which belong to various areas/disciplines: Mmedicine, Bbiology,

Ssociology, Aanthropology and Sstatistics. The specialization programs that are offered for graduate studies are of a multi-disciplinary kind, as the relation between the different programs is not integrative. For instance, A a student who chooses the clinical path is not exposed to the same empirical tools that are a part of the cognitive studies, for example. However, if we look at the department as a whole, the mere existence of different specialization allows for the definition of the psychological project/psychology department as interdisciplinary. Thus, the structure of the undergraduate program reveals some

interdisciplinary aspects/an interdisciplinary tendency. In the last couple of years there have some significant changes have taken place in the department. These changes show a transition of the psychological focus, both physically and contently wise , to the Natural Sciences. What is the ambition? What are the goals? Regardless the different possible answers to that, one thing is clear: this transition will affect the nature of the studies. I will now exemplify this, through the alternations that have been made in a main course of the Undergraduate program; the course "Personality.". A case study: the course "Personality" In the year of 2009 I have participated in a required compulsory course titled "Personality,", which was taught by Dr. Tzvi Carmeli, who masters specializes in the various aspects of the psychoanalytic theory. During the course, there were presented theoretical approaches were presented to describe and characterize the personality, along with an overview of the main characters and concepts of the area,. Freud, Jung, Melanie Klein, and Kohut represented being the main representatives of the psychoanalytical approaches. Watson and Skinner were chosen to demonstrate the

behaviorist era the idea that a person is perceived as a continuum of different patterns of behaviors rather than as an entity with an inherent world. The cognitive methods, bringing back the human mind back as a necessary component of human understanding, were presented by psychologists such as Bandura and Kelly. Finally, modern social theories, such as "Tthe Ttheory of Ccharacter" that aims to understand the person through its/his/her characters, were studied as well. The emphasis was on laying/establishing the clinical base basis of the profession, and each lesson was an active discussion about possible links between the different methods, the contradictions, conflicts and completions complementariness. Also, along with the study of theoretical principles, there was an emphasis on the therapeutic practices derived from each method. The main teaching method was a direct reading of texts written by the [earlier described] abovementioned personas. The final exam of the course was of in an open- questions format combined with closed questions, and examined the student's ability to implement the various theories on therapeutic cases. In the year 2010, the course's professor was replaced by Dr. Maya Tamir, who specializes in emotion and emotional regulation. The course's name of the course remained the same; however, its description in the syllabus was quite different. The aim of the new-structured course was to examine the concept of "personality" from a scientific perspective. The premise was that every scientific research has a theory as a its base, and therefore we shall learn first the personality theories and derive from them the experiments and scientific hypotheses. The Ppsychoanalytic, behaviorists and cognitive theories, which were taught with in depth on in the previous version of the course, are were now solely merely mentioned through secondary sources.

Instead, there is now a debate on the interpersonal differences in motivation, emotion

and self-regulation. The main teaching method is based on a textbook, where each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the personality, - e.g. such as the relationship between body and soul, the prevailing learning theories, the question of what is happiness, the source of human motivation and others. Under the new format, the final exam is conducted in the form of closed questions, and it examines the student's knowledge and proficiency in the course textbook. The questions are limited and generally focused on one specific characteristic of a theory, idea or research that was studied presented in the textbook. At a macro level, one cannot perceive the alterations I mentioned. The course was and remains a required compulsory one,; the title was not changed/ altered, nor was its number of credit points. But when considering the essence of the course and its content, the additional details are indicative of the changes' nature of the changes. Thus, the classic therapeutic approach, which focuses on the relationship between a patient and the therapist, was replaced by a research analytical approach, according to which every practice should be established scientifically. The difference in the teaching methods also indicates the changes in the course. The reading and discussion of primary sources are teaching methods I am familiar with from courses in literature and philosophy in the "Amirim" program. The nature of the classes given by Dr. Carmeli was literary, inviting the students to share their thoughts and opinions. The professor would also discuss ideas that are implied "between the lines.". In this way, the students were encouraged to look critically at analyze the texts and, at the same time, achieve a deeper understanding of them. In contrast, the learning from a textbook written and edited by various scholars, who collected what seemed to them as appropriate resources, is a more selective and fixed method of studying. Many Much researches are is cited and different researchers and

scholars are mentioned throughout the book. The student is not given an opportunity to meet "directly" with the theory and the relevant thinkers. Instead, the learning resolution process/mode is more distant, with a quantitative emphasis. Lastly, the change in the final exam's format of the exam is also indicative too. Revealing. Open questions allow the students to express their own ideas to relatively a greater extent. Multiple-choice questions leave no place for self-expression. The scoring process is very different too. Open questions require experts in the field and the scoring is subjective, based on valuing evaluating judgments. The scoring procedure for multiple-choice questions can be done by a computer, while the process is fully objectingve. These changes imply a shift to scientific trend. The global significance of the changes in the course's characters of the course is that students at the Department of Psychology may finish their undergraduate studies without encountering names such as Lacan, Klein and Winnicott, some of the most important thinkers in psychoanalysis. Against this fact, one can no longer deny: nNot only that are the psychoanalytic aspects of psychology are being emphasiszed, but they are practically being but omitted from it. IsDo the place of new approaches must necessarily come at the expense of ideas and previous research?

Conclusion: Can psychoanalysis exist along with the scientific methods? What is the interest of the university, and of the psychology department in particular, in canceling the mandatory psychoanalysis course? In order to answer this question, it is required to examine where the psychoanalytical ideas contradict the empiric and investigational aspects that are been being emphasized lately.

The scientific arguments against the study of psychoanalysis focus on the research methods and the declarative goals. The main research method in the clinical psychology is the clinical experience and the personal insights of the therapist. The individual experience of both the therapist and the client is reported on questionnaires, case study summaries and self-reports. From an empirical perspective, these methods are all subjective, and do not allow for a quantitative research. In addition, the therapy therapeutic method itself varies from one therapist to another, in a way that does not permit an objective evaluation of the therapy's success. Since the psychoanalytical therapy sometimes does not focus on a specific problem, it is impossible to define an actual and clear ending point to the whole process. Another claim against the Ppsychotherapy is directed to the stagnation that the field has faces in the last 100 hundred years. Scientifically speaking, it is problematic and unthinkable that the same methods that were [utilized] employed a hundred years ago are still in use today. The extreme critiques would even compare the use of psychoanalysis to the medical practice of bloodletting that was finally proven to be not only unpractical but also harmful. The cCognitive-behavioral therapies, which have been developeding since the 70's, are a proof that it is possible to effectively combine the therapeutic approach and research. The CBT therapies are limited in time and with specific applications. In this way, it is easier to assess its their success rate. The existence of such therapy puts the psychoanalysis in an even a more problematic position. Regarding the Hebrew University, the transition to the Natural Sciences is the result of both political interest and global influence. Since this is not the theme of this paper, I will only mention that the shift to the Natural Sciences will result in more an

expansion of financial resources for research. Furthermore, the global trend of brain studies in a psychological context is probably another motivating force. It is important to remark that the psychoanalysis is not the other end of the scale. Since the rise of the psychoanalysis and the of experimental psychology in at the end of the 19th / nineteenth century, the relations between the two have been very complex. Freud himself wished to give a scientific validation to his therapy. For many years, his work moved back and forth from the literary narrative to the scientific theory. Do the studies of Freud's doctrine truly harm the desired image of psychology as empirical? Is the ambition to convert the psychology into an analytical objective field realistic? Alva Noe, a cognitive philosopher, argues in his book that "the brain is essential for our lives, physiology, health and experience. But the idea that it is the whole story, or even the key to understanding the story, is not a scientific conclusion. It's a prejudice."1 Noe suggests a theory that will include the body and the interaction with the world together with brain studies. This approach will give/grant a respectful status to the scientific research but will not exclude the initial and earlier insights of this field. Recent statistical research shows that the impact of the psychoanalytical therapy is equivalent to the results of CBT. Further research suggests that the elements that make the CBT treatment successful are the dynamic elementsones. The bBasic human understanding is, apparently, is essential for an effective psychological treatment.
1

Noe, Alva Noe, Out of oOur heads Heads : wWhy you are not your brain, and other lessons from the biology of consciousness, (New York : Hill and Wang, 2009)you must capitalize each content word and the word following the colon (first of subtitle).

From my perspective, it is challenging to scientifically measure the human mind. How can we empirically examine abstract concepts such as depression and happiness? If the psychology is a natural concept, super-human, that its/If the research field of psychology is no longer human beings but rather inherent features then it is totally disconnected from its study objects. Moreover, the scientific psychology needs the psychoanalysis in order to preserve the cultural prestige of the discipline as a whole. Without a cultural maintenance, the psychology is at runs the risk of fully blending into the medical and brain studies. The psychology department at the Hebrew University is also running the same risk, since the relocation to the new campus, together with the current changes in the syllabus, affirm a clear separation of the body from the soul and redefined the physiological and biological aspects as the new focus. A possible solution to the conflict between the scientific psychology and the psychology as a practice is to define them as two different disciplines. From the very first step, the students will be able to choose the relevant pathway and acquire the right skills that will be required later on as psychologists or researchers. Maybe then, when one aspect will not be a threat on to the other, the political rivalry and the slander will be replaced by co-operation between the two. Li Or, This is a very interesting, well-organized and contentious paper. Your nuanced formulations tend to be marred by proficiency problems. Please go carefully over my partial remarks throughout, and aim mainly at avoiding wordiness, a colloquial register, contractions, and wrong use of apostrophes, of the article the, of prepositions. Best is the conclusion, which is well formulated and flows far more smoothly than the previous sections. I decided, accordingly, to give you a higher grade than I initially though, as it reveals your potential.

Paper grade: 93 Final grade: 93 Talia