By the end of this teaching unit, the student should be able to:
- Be able to identify the epistemological issues specific to psychological and criminological disciplines
- Understand the effects of the environment on the individual, their attitudes and behaviors both in daily life and in a context of crime (social psychology)
- Understand the effects of relational systems on the individual, their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs (systemic approach)
- Understand the construction of emotional bonds based on the understanding of complex and intrapsychic processes (psychoanalytic approach)
- Be able to identify and understand certain common phenomena (love, war, etc.) from a psychological and criminological perspective
- Be able to identify the contemporary issues specific to each explored topic (e.g., crime and sect dynamics in the digital age)
- Being able to develop critical thinking based on knowledge and reflections in psychology and criminology
• To introduce the student to some of the major areas of psychology (developmental, clinical, cultural, social, political) and associated issues of psychological criminology. • To challenge their personal thinking on some of the key issues in these disciplines • Raise awareness of these areas and issues by addressing current themes that are important to society • To enable him/her to establish links between law and psychology, particularly through psychological criminology issues • To give them the means to project a personal and critical view on the themes addressed and the perspectives proposed • To lead him to situate psychology in its relationship with neighbouring disciplines in the humanities.
The course is divided into 4 main parts (Epistemological Introduction, social psychology questions, the avatars of relationships, and the psychodynamic approach to delinquency, crime, and war). Each subsection will be an opportunity to cover some fundamental psychology concepts and discuss their current relevance (i.e., relationships in the digital age).
It will also be about awakening our critical thinking regarding some contemporary issues.
INTRODUCTION
1. Epistemology in the Human Sciences
2. The Object of Psychology: Individual, Person, Subject (Steichen)
2.1. But what is identity?
2.2. What is personal identity?
2.3. The identity of the subject…
3. The Normal and the Pathological (Canguilhem)
II. SOME CONCEPTS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: CONFORMITY, SUBMISSION, AND INFLUENCE
Epistemological Introduction
1. Social Conformity
1.1. Asch’s Experiment
1.2. Mass Effects: The Case of School Bullying
2. Submission to Authority
2.1. Milgram’s Experiment
2.2. Looking Back at the Case of Adolf Eichmann
2.2.1. Critique of Hannah Arendt’s Thesis (I. Delpla, 2011)
3. Conformity to Stereotypes
III. BUILDING AND VARIATIONS OF RELATIONSHIPS
1. Human Systems
1.1. Origin of Systems Theory
1.2. Open Systems (Von Bertalanffy)
1.3. The Five Axioms of Communication: The Palo Alto School
1.4. The Three Focal Points of the Human Environment (Dessoy)
1.4.1. Atmosphere
1.4.2. Ethics
1.4.3. Beliefs
2. Building emotional bonds
2.1. Research on "comfort toys"
2.2. The object and transitional phenomena (Winnicott)
2.3. The experience of bonds in the digital age and with artificial intelligences
2.4. Techno-subjective bonds with artificial intelligences
2.5. Thoughts on the phenomenon of cyberbullying
3. Love and the question of the couple
3.1. What is a couple today?
3.2. What is a couple from a psychological point of view?
3.2.1. Introduction to the concept of fantasy: "a couple, does it even exist?"
3.2.2. Introduction to the concept of illusion: an inter-fantasmatic scene
4. Psychopathological and criminological reflections
4.1. Erotomania as a particular delusion of paranoia
4.2. Deviances and perversion
IV. PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH TO DELINQUENCY, CRIMINALITY, AND WAR
1. Delinquency and psychopathy
1.1. The antisocial tendency (Winnicott)
1.2. The psychopathic shift
2. Reflections on lying
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Playing for real, lying for false
2.3. Lying as betrayal
2.4. Lying as truth
2.5. Conclusion
3. Criminality and sectarian dynamics
3.1. Psychology of crowds and analysis of the self (Freud)
3.2. Mechanisms of group control and disruption of moral sense
3.3. The relationship to the "leader": between idealization and emotional dependence Reflections on group control in the digital age: Discussion
4. War
4.1. Reflections on war from a psychoanalytic perspective
4.2. War and narratives: heritage and transmission
The oral class takes place during the first semester of the academic year, on Mondays for 2 hours, from 10:40 AM to 12:40 PM, and on certain Tuesdays from 4:10 PM to 6:10 PM. It includes student questions and debates, and some video clips will be shown for discussion.
A slideshow is available on the course's Webcampus site. It supports the oral class.
A group Q&A session is held at the end of the semester.
The assessment is done through a written exam, held during the January and September sessions. It covers all the material seen in the course sessions. The details of the exam are explained several times throughout the semester.
After the exam, students who didn’t pass in the January session are invited to review their papers during the weekly office hours and to get constructive feedback to help with preparation and success in future attempts.
See text portfolio
| Training | Study programme | Block | Credits | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor in Law | Double bac droit-philosophie | 1 | 5 | Yes |
| Bachelor in Law | Standard | 1 | 5 | Yes |
| Bachelor in Law | Erasmus Belgica UHasselt | 1 | 5 | Yes |
| Bachelor in Law | Eramus 2+2+1 | 1 | 5 | Yes |