Rated 3 out of
5
by
mvdmd from
Good on research poor on clinical
I am a psychiatrist and I learned new material about psychological theory and research. However, the segments on clinical application and psychopathology was often misleading and sometimes wrong.
Date published: 2017-10-20
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Oxfreudian from
First Lecture Left Me Wondering
Prof. Martin said one goal of the first lecture was to explain the distinction between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Someone needs to explain that distinction to Prof. Martin. As a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst (yes, those are two different professions), I was struck by several errors. He lumps psychiatrist and psychoanalysts together. The former requires med school and 4 years of post-doctoral specialty training. Psychoanalysis requires another 5+ years of training, which is available to psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals.
He also failed to clarify that both Sigmund Freud and William James were physicians. It's admittedly confusing--Freud was a neurologist who founded the profession of psychoanalysis. James was a physician and philosopher who helped found the profession of clinical psychology in the U.S. with his 1890 book Principles of Psychology.
I hope the remaining lectures will be more accurate.
Date published: 2017-10-03
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Guideaux from
Sleeper Effect
This course put me to sleep twice as fast as any lecture live or remote I have ever been forced to endure.
Date published: 2016-12-18
Rated 3 out of
5
by
learner2014 from
On the Fence
The course is dated which is to be expected given the year of production. However, using a non-anthropologist and someone who has never been recognized by the academic community, who was a very popular non-academic writer in the 1960s, as the reference for evolutionary theory was hard to swallow. The lecturer was personable and easy to listen to but there were enough "mistakes" regarding subjects that I do know about to make me question his statements about other things. His review of operant conditioning would really resonate well with a lot of pseudo-trainers - all about positive reinforcement and little to nothing about the other quadrants. I think there is some good material, but would suggest people do a little additional research on the topics that interest them before assuming what is in the lectures is accurate. However, since inspiring students to do more research is, IMO, a hallmark of a good professor, I'm giving the course a 3.
Date published: 2016-08-15
Rated 3 out of
5
by
VisitUSSHornet from
Recommended with reservations
The course is well organized over-all and each subsection is very well organized. Instructor states things in clear terms and uses the I'm going to tell you, I am telling you, I told you, sort of organization throughout.
I would recommend the course, but with some serious reservations.
First, it is slightly dated. The discussion of classifications of disorders is based on DSM IV. This has since been revised to DSM 5, but the course predates the update. I think this probably is insignificant and does not detract from the course content.
In the discussions of neural biology he correctly uses the term synaptic cleft once and also uses the term synapse correctly once, maybe twice. But, there are at least a dozen more places, probably more, where he uses synapse when he means synaptic cleft. I have a friend who also is a university psychology professor. I think he would never allow his undergraduate students to make this error.
He mentions that after a suicide is widely reported in the media there is an uptick in suicides, including an uptick in aviation deaths. He then states that this is in commercial aviation and may be due to sicides by commercial pilots. I have no data, but I find this to be an impossible statement. I can readily believe there could be a statistically significant uptick in civil aviation deths, where the real uptick is in the general aviation portion of civil aviation, but not in the commercial sector of civil aviation. I find it credible in general aviation as I once discussed this matter with an experienced aircraft accident investigator. He told me that officially six percent of fatal general aviation crashes are classed as suicides, and that in his opinion the real number could be as high as 25 percent. For the instructor of this course to confuse "civil" aviation to mean only "commercial" aviation is an unforgiveable error.
In the discussion of evolutionary psychology he gives an example of squirrels learning to not be afraid of humans in one circumstance. Again, I have no data, but I find it impossible to credit this to inheritated behaviorial change. I strongly suspect this is a perfect example of what he had just explained was not inherited behavior, that is, it is a learned behavior. Without proof of heritability, it can't be evolutionary.
For these three really big errors, one of which I am positive of and two of which I am very certain, I must mark this instructor and course down to three stars. Again, recommended, but with reservations.
Date published: 2016-07-13
Rated 4 out of
5
by
don2507 from
A Good Introduction to Psychology
I wanted to brush up on the psychology I learned in college many years ago and found this course to be a very suitable vehicle for that purpose. All of the major topics are covered clearly, e.g., evolutionary psychology, mental disorders, memory and learning, perception, and social psychology. The professor has a pleasant manner, uses examples both from classroom experience and everyday life, and speaks clearly at a moderate pace. There are two main branches of psychology: experimental psychology and clinical psychology, and while Professor Martin covers experimental psychology in this course including an excellent early lecture on experimental design and the insidious encroachment of "confounding variables", the course has a strong emphasis on clinical psychology in that, by my count, almost half the lectures deal with mental disorders and therapies to alleviate them. There is an excellent lecture on the classification of mental illnesses and how it's changed over time, e.g., homosexuality was once considered a mental illness, and some family advocates, according to Martin, are lobbying to remove autism as a mental illness.
The Great Courses offers two general introductions to psychology: this course and Professor Robinson's "Great Ideas in Psychology"" which I purchased about 12 years ago. Professor Robinson's course is a longer course #48 lectures# and emphasizes more of the history of psychology as well as a more philosophical interpretation of selected psychological topics. It's on a bit higher intellectual level than this course; however, I found Professor Martin's course rewarding precisely because of its more clinical orientation. At this time, I am less interested in "Signal-Detection Theory" and "Artificial Intelligence and the Neurocognitive Revolution" #Robinson lectures# and more interested in "Anxiety and Mood Disorders", "Schizophrenic Disorders" and "Talking Therapies-Psychoanalysis" #Martin lectures#.
Date published: 2015-05-31
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Docsam35 from
Lucid and useful
As a physician, I found the first 17 (almost 50%) of the lectures less useful because they dealt with psychiatry more than psycholog, and I had learned this material in Psychiatry 200.. I think this was maybe a bit too much, and would have liked to heard more about psychology in behavior and evolution.
He is a personable man, and lets parts of himself show, which is refreshing. He expresses himself slowly and carefully which is great, especially because so many TLC professors rush. He did spend a bit too much time reviewing what was said and outlining what was going to be said. He also said "...and that sort of thing..." a bit too often for my taste. it's a redundant term and an academic professor should avoid it.
I thoroughly enjoyed--and profited from-- the latter 19 lectures and would recommend it to anyone, but especially to a non-physician.
Date published: 2015-05-13
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Paint from
Well Rounded
Another quality course from TTC. Professor Martin effectively introduces the student to the science of Psychology with an easy to understand and light hearted approach that satisfies. Even though the course is from 2006, I found it to be much more thorough than course #1626: 'Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior' from 2012. The course was laid out extremely well - starting from the historical context and advancing into various illnesses and disorders, followed by different therapies and drugs utilized within the profession - is covered in the first 2/3 of this course. The latter 1/3 deals with cognition and how we learn and maintain memory, and concludes with a discussion of evolutionary psychology which helps to demystify much of human behavior.
Perhaps, because the course is 8 years old, not as much discussion was given to neuroscience or neuropsychology as I would have liked. However, professor Martin wonderfully showed and described the transfer of neuro-chemicals between neurons and the various drugs utililized to influence receptors, uptake, and neuro-chemical production.
The presentation was excellent with the only negative being the amount of time spent on re-capping what was learned. Many times throughout the coure Professor Martin will include personal anecdotes either from his classroom or personal life that help make complex issues easy to digest and enjoyable.
Date published: 2014-03-12
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Thomasmkelly from
Excellent course
Outstanding course, I purchased it a few years ago. Most people gave good reviews. I was shocked to see the one bad one, that is hard to explain. Perhaps if you are professor of Psychology you might be critical of another presenter, but to most of us this course is informative & presented to lay persons in an easy to understand format. Outstanding for those who wish to learn psychology.
Date published: 2014-01-12
Rated 4 out of
5
by
PolarStar from
Just fantastic
I haven't listened to a whole lot of lectures on CD or Digital download but I have to say I can't imagine any being more engaging than Professor Martin's. I really enjoyed listening to him, very relaxing and explains everything concisely and without any confusion, ever, for the listener. Highly recommended.
Date published: 2013-01-18
Rated 3 out of
5
by
MarkC from
Useful; some defects
This is a review of the audio download version.
I am a social scientist with a fair amount of knowledge of many of the topics in this course. It is certainly worthwhile for someone wanting to learn or review introductory psychology, but it is below the average for the Teaching Company.
The material on evolutionary psychology has some strangely outdated content, but overall is useful.
There is a long treatment of the effects of psychoactive drugs which seems almost completely out of place here. It would probably be useful in a freshman intro course, given the clientele, but this content will be fairly familiar to anyone who reads news magazines. Peyote is a cactus, not a mushroom, as the professors affirms. I didn't catch other errors in this section.
There is a long presentation of a relaxation technique which is largely an irrelevant digression.
The treatment of social psychology is interesting and very helpful.
The treatment of memory is inadequate, but TC now has an entire course on this topic.
The vital discipline of cognitive psychology is almost completely missed.
The term "cue" is used in relation both to perception and to memory, but there isn't enough elaboration on the different uses of this term to compare and contrast them; this could easily lead to confusion.
Martin's style of presentation is adequate.
I learned much from the course in spite of its defects.
Date published: 2012-08-27
Rated 4 out of
5
by
George from
Covers a lot of ground
This is a very traditionally delivered lecture series. The course content was well designed and had a smooth transition from one lecture to the next. The content was well explained but did not go into details.
Each lecture could almost itself be the topic of a series of lectures. So if you are looking for detail then this probably wont suit you. For example, Prof Martin spends 2 lectures on Evolutionary Psychology while Prof Sapolsky has a whole series of lectures on this topic. If you want the detail on aggression and cooperation, then I would recommend Prof Sapolsky.
Prof Martin is very skilled at summarising and talking efficiently. However, his delivery is monotone and he could improve his presentation. Also, I think the production could have used more visual aids to enhance the lectures.
If you want a summary of the major Psychological ideas over the last century then this would be good for you. Then from that you can decide which specific area you may want to get more detail and search for another teaching Company course, you should find one.
Date published: 2012-04-08
Rated 1 out of
5
by
demanda from
world class bore
Painfully dull, filled with common knowledge, plentiful personal plugs, macho stock car driver, hunter, professor, head of department.
Date published: 2012-03-29
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Ozymandias from
Solid overview
This is a solid introdution to the subject and the Professor is easy to follow and spends time explaining difficult concepts such as evolutionary and social psychology. It was worth it for me even though i had listened to Professor Robinson Psychology course.
Date published: 2012-03-19
Rated 4 out of
5
by
psychologyfollower from
Great Course!!!
This is a well spent money. I really enjoyed this course, David W. Martin is a good professor, easy to follow...
This is a great intoruduction to psychology.
Date published: 2011-09-18
Rated 3 out of
5
by
FR33L0RD from
Average but fair enough
Average course compared to the extremely high level of the bibliography of The Great Courses.
Date published: 2011-07-12
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Andrew from
Solid Psych 101
The negative view of this course I've read in other reviews seems unjustified. The course is as described, though the title is misleading. This is a standard introduction to psychology course. The "Human Behavior" piece I suppose differentiates it from animal psychology... maybe. There is no specific focus on human behavior beyond that found in intro to psych. And if you understand it is Psych 101, and buy it for that, it's a fine course.
Date published: 2011-06-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
artseeker from
THOROUGH, INTERESTING
This review refers to the CD's.
I just finished listening to to these discs again after several years, and found them just as useful as I did then. This series is not some explosive showmanship vehicle for a dynamic speaker. Dr Martin gives you a comprehensive review of the discipline with plenty of illustrations from his own experience. His low key style fits the subject perfectly.
Among many fascinating details, he provides a clear explanation of why Freud is no longer in favor although he took the care to cover Freud's theories in detail while pointing out their strengths and weaknesses.
While this course may be too basic for those experienced in this field or who already possess considerable knowledge of psychology, others may find it a useful review. For the lay person, these eighteen hours of lectures are a worthwhile investment of both time and money.
Date published: 2011-05-22
Rated 1 out of
5
by
dietdoc from
Well below....
the level I expect for the Teaching Company's professors and courses. Like others, I learned nothing new and found it slow, plodding and downright boring. I returned my course and it marked the first time I have done that in 3 years of active listening.
Date published: 2011-05-13
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Paul92 from
The Science of Human Behavior, Joy...
Psychology, like any subject, can be very intimidating if you know nothing or next to nothing about it. Professor Martin is good, but not amazing. He covers the material very slowly, and in a way that is not intimidating whatsoever.
I liked this course, but I had nothing to compare it to so I also purchased Great Ideas of Psychology, which is a much more advanced, interesting, and in my opinion better course.
But even though I prefer the other Teaching Company offering over this one, it still does not change the fact that this is a very good introductory course. But if you already took a course in Psych and happened to pay attention, I'd skip this one and go for Professor Robinson's course.
Date published: 2010-08-09
Rated 5 out of
5
by
VinM from
Very good for beginners...
...or people like me who "skipped" psychology classes in college. This course is quite comprehensive and very easy to follow. I don't disagree with people who find the pace a bit slow but for me, who listen exclusively in my car or while running, that's not a problem. The professor is a Southerner but that's not at all a problem for this class (I'm not sure why other people had a problem with that).
The only little slight complain I have is that he seems to be making fun of some of the mental illnesses he presents. Not so much in the overall presentation but more in his specific examples.
All-in-all, an excellent course for beginners.
Date published: 2010-05-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Jimbeau from
Met My Needs
I read the other reviews befoire making my decission. Being from the south the accent did not bother me as everyone talks like that. For someone beginning in psychology the course is excellent. If you want specialization then you are looking for something beyond an overview. I was interested in the bredth of psychology and for this the course is excellent.
Date published: 2009-10-24
Rated 5 out of
5
by
CaptKirk from
A Useful Course
My test of course quality is whether or not the material is applicable to everday life. Because of memory aids that work, an explanation of therapies and an exploration of contemporary thinking in the field (ie evolutionary psychology), I'd have to say that this course hits the mark. Not that I agree completely with everything said (ie the experiment that proves that the genders are different), but isn't that what keeps one on his toes?
Date published: 2009-09-06
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Jaspar from
Comprehensive, but ...
... just too slow-going for me -- not enough genuine excitement and enthusiasm on Dr. Martin's part. His regional accent was rather distracting for me -- but that's my problem, not necessarily yours. Perhaps I have taken too many psychology courses, but these lectures felt more like high school instead of college level.
Frankly, I just did not come away from 'Psychology of Human Behavior' with any truly fresh insights or over-all sense of self-improvement. However, those with limited knowledge of -- or less exposure to -- psychology's fundamentals may find some value here. Unfortunately, I did not.
Date published: 2009-05-23
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Grellis from
Falls between audiences
I found this heavy going. The lectures are quite light-on in content and padded out with repetition in the manner of a high school teaching class rather than a university-level lecture. Described in the booklet as a researcher in areas related to "engineering pyschology, ergonomics ...and cognitive modelling" the laconic southerner lecturer David Martin is amiable enough but he didn't inspire much by way of intellectual depth. I would have given this only one star but my high school son did find it useful for his psychologiy classes and contrary to me he found the pace of the lectures and the repetition useful for his exam preparation. So a reasonably good senior high school course on the subject but one that lacks punch for those of us not swatting for exams! (Those looking for intellectual depth and stimulation should go to Daniel Robinson's TTC course on Psychology). Two and a half stars would be the right compromise but I'll err on the side of generosity with three stars.
Date published: 2008-12-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Alvi from
Quite Good, For a Psychology Course
Martin does an excellent job surveying basic psychology in this course. His topics are well chosen and organized, his presentation is very clear, and he comes across as quite personable.
The only real limitation of the course is the limitation of the subject of psychology itself: one can "master" the material, but still wind up with limited insight into human thought, emotion, and behavior, and thus limited ability to apply the material. Psychology is simply not yet a mature science, especially theoretically, although some progress is starting to be made in the more empirical areas of the subject.
All things considered though, I can certainly recommend the course to anyone interested in pyschology.
Date published: 2008-12-20
Rated 4 out of
5
by
RichardR from
I have found the Teaching Company to be key in rounding up and advancing my needs and curisity to further learn with much anticipation and pleasure.
Date published: 2008-10-17
Rated 5 out of
5
by
BrendaB from
it was not only a great learning experience, but also pleasure being taught by professor david martin.
Date published: 2008-10-17
Rated 5 out of
5
by
RichardR from
These courses have caused me to pick up on a lot of things in the newspaper and magazines that I probably would have glossed over before.
Date published: 2008-10-17
Rated 5 out of
5
by
ThomasT from
I facilitate a panic/anxioty support group at my local mental health agency and have found the human behavior course to be very helpful- comprehensive + informative
Date published: 2008-10-17
3: Nonexperimental Research Methods
Psychological researchers are not confined to experimentation in doing their work. We look at some of the other methods available, beginning with correlational observation, in which researchers attempt to determine whether there is a relationship between two behaviors....
31 min
10: Schizophrenic Disorders
Occurring in only 1 percent of the population, schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder in which there is a break with reality that nearly always involves both positive symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech and behaviors; and negative symptoms such as emotional flattening, lessened speech, or deficient will....
31 min
13: Physical Therapies-ECT, Surgery, Genes
Several physical interventions besides drugs have been used to treat mental illnesses. This lecture looks at some of them, beginning with chemical and electrical means of introducing convulsions and continuing on to discuss surgical and genetic approaches to treatment.
32 min
14: Talking Therapies-Psychoanalysis
Psychotherapies are talking therapies based on the assumption that behavioral problems are caused by inappropriate thoughts and feelings. This lecture focuses on the therapy Freud developed, based on his own landmark psychoanalytic theory, to help patients find out what the contents of the unconscious are so that the unconscious can be restructured....
31 min
16: Behavior Therapies-Classical Conditioning
Behavior therapies are based upon the assumption that the client has learned an inappropriate way of responding. The goal of behavior therapies based on classical conditioning is to substitute a new appropriate response for the old inappropriate response and strengthen the new stimulus-response connection to eliminate the old response....
30 min
21: Psychoactive Drugs-Processes, Stimulants
Legal or not, most people use psychoactive drugs to change the way they feel or act. We begin our examination with a discussion of how such drugs work and a look at some of the more common stimulants, including caffeine, nicotine, methamphetamines, and ecstasy....
30 min
27: Complex Learning
This lecture examines several forms of complex learning, along with the argument that it cannot simply be built from the building blocks of classical and operant conditioning. Our discussion will include the differing views put forth by B. F. Skinner and linguist Noam Chomsky....
31 min
32: Evolutionary Psychology-Basic Concepts
Because behaviorists and their blank-slate concept of learning held sway for many years, it is only recently that the theory of evolution has had an impact on psychology. But since the subfield of evolutionary psychology was founded in the 1990s, its impact has become major....
31 min
35: Engineering Psychology
Engineering psychology is concerned with specifying the characteristics and limitations of the human operator in a human-and-machine environment. This lecture looks at the branch of psychology that is part of the interdisciplinary area of human factors, or ergonomics....
31 min
David W. Martin
Psychology is the most sophisticated of the sciences because we do have to deal with human variability in what we do.
ALMA MATER
The Ohio State University
INSTITUTION
North Carolina State University
About David W. Martin
Dr. David W. Martin is Professor of Psychology at North Carolina State University. He earned his B.A. in Psychology from Hanover College in Indiana, where he also finished the necessary coursework for a major in physics. He earned an M.A. in Experimental Psychology and a Ph.D. in Engineering Psychology from The Ohio State University. Professor Martin is the recipient of the Roush Award for Teaching Excellence and was named to the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Psychonomic Society, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Dr. Martin is author of Doing Psychology Experiments, an experimental methods text now in its 6th edition and adopted at more than 100 colleges. He has also engaged in professional consulting and has more than 75 publications and papers.
