PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO MODERN LIFE
So far only courses required by majors, but open to others who are interested, have been mentioned. A course is available in "Elementary Psychology of Personality," studied by the case-history method, for those seniors who have had no previous courses in psychology. The value of such an approach is especially strong in a course of this type.
A year's work is given to the applications of psychology in the business world; but not the magical wonders seen in advertisements in the cheaper-grade magazines. One semester is devoted to the use of psychological techniques in vocational guidance and selection, and in condition of work; the other is a study of advertising and salesmanship from the psychological point of view. This furnishes a valuable contrast to the same field studied in Tuck School from the standpoint of economics.
Other courses, designed to give a brief acquaintance with certain interesting phases of psychological study, are the following one-semester courses. First, the socially accepted, but entirely misunderstood, extreme theories of behaviorism have been presented to a small group of students. Again, a semester is devoted to a larger group of those who are interested in the so-called "insane," and lesser deviates from the normal. Psychology has too long been content to allow various quacks to twist and abuse psychological facts; the need here is for trained and sympathetic men, and for an educated public opinion regarding the problems of human behavior, normal and morbid. Psychoanalysis is critically examined by the criteria of cold scientific demands, and an evaluation of its extreme doctrines is attempted.
Finally, two one-semester courses are given to those who are interested in how man behaves in the presence of his fellow-man, as observed by his fellow-man. A semester is devoted to analysis of the components of that much-abused concept, "Personality," approached from the genetic aspect, and by scientific methods. Another semester is devoted to an analysis of various social attitudes, illustrated by reference to current social movements. This type of course, has as its motive an attempt to strengthen a student's grasp of the psychological basis of society.
This cataloging of courses reveals no "touchstone," no Aladdin's lamp, and no mystery; only in the fact of Life itself is there true mystery. This type of psychology uses an entirely different language from that of the popular books and magazine articles which sell so well, to be sure, mainly because they offer a "key" to the development of a "magnetic, million-dollar Personality." In place of an easy road to hearts-desire, of pithy generalizations which are easy to remember, we offer a science, and an infant one at that.
