Psychology of Violence Custom Essay

Please read the course syllabus before working on the paper, and please note the requirements for the paper.
Ideas for the topic: The psychology of violence against women in the Middle east, focusing on honor crimes and the issue of masculinity. Perhaps we can relate violence against women with religion and masculinity (this is a suggestion). I will upload a paper to give you a brief idea, and you can expand on that. Please make sure that the paper is 100 % plagiarism free.

Psychology of Violence and its Prevention
COURSE SYLLABUS
Violence is here, in the world of the sane
And violence is a symptom
I hear it in the headlong weeping of men who have failed I see it in the terrible dreams of boys
Whose adolescence repeats all history.
–Jacob Bronowski, 1967, The Face of Violence: An Essay With a Play
The deadliest form of violence is poverty. –Gandhi, as cited in Slattery, 2006, p. 211,
Harvesting Darkness: Essays on Literature, Myth, Film, and Culture
A. Course Description
From era to era the withered finger of demonization casts its horrific shadow upon widely diverse segments of human culture. We will examine various aspects of human culture in an attempt to distinguish archetypal themes in the violence we perpetrate toward others or ourselves. The archetypal foundations of violence appear in various myths, cultural beliefs, and psychological theories, which will inform our discussions. We will also examine diverse metaphors of American culture to better understand the socio-political-economic matrix out of which some aspects of our own culture’s violence may emerge. We undertake this journey in the hope of deepening our perspectives and attitudes toward increasing our capacities for both the prevention and treatment of violent behavior and its traumas. Innovative community treatment and prevention programs will also be presented.
B. Course Schedule and Reading
Session One:
The Personal Spectrum of Violence: From Suicide to Homicide:
Topics
Through the lens of a soul-centered psychology, we will examine a range of “psychopathologies,” for which self-inflicted abuse, neglect, or violence is a characteristic signature. We will discuss both the metaphor and literalization of suicide and various etiologies of violence toward others. We will explore several myths that may lend insight into archetypal foundations of violence.
Violence in nature will be examined from the moral-free perspective of evolutionary psychology. Our own violent dreams and fantasies will be invited to inform our discussions. Pathological narcissism can be understood as a violence-generating complex, particularly, in the nihilistic psychology of hate advocates and in the silent abdication of the disengaged; discussions about psychopathy will inform all three sessions.
Reading
Scheper-Hughes, N., & Bourgois, P. (2003) Violence in war and peace: An anthology (Blackwell Readers in Anthropology). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. st
(Please read at least pp. 1-31; 143-168 and 267-362. Best to read entire text before 1 class; do finish entire text before 3rd class).
From DPC 731 Electronic Course Reserves:
Freud, S. (1963). Instincts and their vicissitudes. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard
edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud Vol. 14 (pp. 122-129). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1916)
Jung, C. G. (1960). The fight with the shadow. In R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 10, pp. 218-243). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1960). Good and evil in analytical psychology. In R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 10, pp. 456-468). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1960). Introduction to the religious and psychological problems of alchemy. In R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 12, pp. 30-33). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1960). A psychological view of conscience. In R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 10, pp. 446-449). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1960). The shadow. In R .F. C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 9ii, pp. 8-10). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Session Two:
The Cultural Spectrum and the Economies of Violence: Money, Class and Power
Topics
Money is a subject often more taboo than sex, religion, or political affiliation. And depth psychology has been no better than other forums in hosting useful dialogs on the topic. Some people will kill for money, others die for it. Many traumas ranging from war, to labor exploitation, to the destruction of cultural and ecological environments appear to be driven by the Monetary goals. Current global concerns about Ecocide will be examined in light of the deep psychology of Money or: The Midas Complex. For most of us, Money as an archetype enters every aspect of our lives and presents continuing traumas regardless of our place in the economic spectrum. We will examine monetary aspects of psychology as an occupation, particularly the big business of mental disease promotion and psychopharmacology.
We will also explore: 1) The roles of money in interpersonal relationships; 2) The injuries of class and their relevance to work with others at all points of the economic spectrum; 3) Diverse metaphors of American culture that may contribute imaginal underpinnings to our economic philosophies; 4) Parallels between money and psychology which readily emerge through an exploration of metaphors that glide from one domain to the other such as: inflation, depression, investment, value, allure, exchange, debt, obligation, worth, deficit, loss, gain, promise, confidence, failure and trust; 5) The commodification of beauty6) Views beyond our shared quantitative concepts of Money to consider other possibilities such as the energy-flow of the imaginative life of the polis or even a God of Western culture; 7) Imaginings toward a moneyless society and 8) The economics of war and other conflicts as a segue to session #3.
Reading
Szasz. T. (1979). The myth of psychotherapy: Metaphorizing medical treatment. In The myth of psychotherapy (pp. 1-8). New York, NY: Doubleday.
Szasz. T. (1979). Curing souls. In The myth of psychotherapy (pp. 25-40). New York, NY:Doubleday.
Wolf, N. (1991). Violence. In The beauty myth (pp. 218-241, 264-266). New York, NY: William Morrow and Co.
Session Three:
The Political Spectrum of Violence: From Civil Strife to Global War.
Some topics that may inform our discussion are: 1) High functioning psychopathy and its possible role in contemporary politics; 2) The recapitulation of personal themes (session one) in political streams of violence; 3) Various psychodynamic concepts with possible links to violent political expressions such as: oppression, exile, domination/submission, scape-goating, xenophobia, pathologizing, dehumanizing and demonization; 4) The science of propaganda as a depth psychologically informed institution; 5) Current trends toward “enhanced interrogations” and other political applications of psychological theory and technology; 6) The paradox presented by an ostensibly free nation with the largest prison population in the world; 7) Personal examination of introjected bias toward the “other” within as a way of better understanding the psychodynamics of projection without and 8) Discussions about our growing culture of surveillance and its implications for a free society, and more.
Reading
Scheper-Hughes, N., & Bourgois, P. (2003). Violence in war and peace: An anthology (Blackwell Readers in Anthropology). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. (Please read any remaining unread chapters, prior to class).
Freud, S. (1963). Thoughts for the times on war and death. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The
standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud Vol. 14 (pp. 275- 288). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1916)
Freud, S. (1963). Why war? In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud Vol. 22 (pp. 203-215). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1916)
Straub, E. (1989). The psychology of the perpetrators: Individuals and groups. In The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence (pp. 67-88). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
C. Course Requirements
Term Paper Guidelines:
Pick a course theme and work it. Or, if there is an aspect of violence that is of interest or has impacted you, but was not well addressed by our readings or discussions, this is the place to deepen your curiosity and breadth of knowledge in that topic.
My idea of the ideal paper is one that is roughly a quarter to one third personal reflection, a quarter to one third exploring your paper’s topic in its relationship to the field of depth psychology, and one third or more integrating the course content and readings.
Concerning quotes: Beyond convincing me that you examined the texts please try to use them as tools to support your ideas, deepen your insights, elaborate your confusion and further your concerns.
Also, feel free to incorporate relevant texts beyond the reading list into your work. Texts include: films, television, video games and other media, web sites, novels, poetry, song lyrics, magazines, art, images, persons etc.
The term paper is to be 10-12 pages in length, APA style.
Criteria for the Final Grade:

Content – Balanced scholarly presentation. It includes class themes, scholarly citations and appropriate course concepts.
Synthesis – Original contributions incorporated. Student’s goal is accomplished.
3. Writing Style – Papers must be typed, double spaced, APA format and referencing style. Citations included. Thoughts expressed clearly, cogently, competently.