PSYCHOLOGY 410/510 Imagination
The imagination is a powerful tool that is available to us throughout
life, part of our biological endowment as human beings. With our
imaginations, we can relive the past, plan and anticipate the future,
process and come to terms with the issues in our present. The study of
imagination crosscuts traditional areas in psychology and extends into
other fields as well (e.g., philosophy, literature). In this course we
will examine how psychologists think about and study human imagination,
covering topics such as pretend play in children, counterfactual
reasoning, imagery, mental time travel, creativity, consciousness,
dreaming, mental illness, and the impact of technology on concepts of
self and identity.
