Summary: William James, more than anyone else, was responsible for introducing the wide range of topics that now make up the broad field of psychology. This program presents some of James’s most important formulations, including his discussions of habit, consciousness, will, and religious experience, as well as what he referred to as the fringe of experience: the hunches, inexpressible feelings, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: Key figures either directly or tangentially connected to the progress of atheism-the Baron d'Holbach, Thomas Paine, Jeremy Bentham, Charles Darwin, George Jacob Holyoake, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx-are profiled in this program as Jonathan Miller draws links between atheism and the realms of utilitarian and secularist philosophy, evolutionary science, psychology, and politics. Is religion...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: One of the most visible issues facing Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is the role of women serving religion. Because of religious and cultural conditioning in the past, women in all three religions have experienced limited roles. Today, though, their voices are being heard. This program traces women's roles in religious tradition and what it means to be a woman in these three religions today....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Part one of this program presents the life of Jesus against the backdrop of first-century Judea, inhabited by the Jews and occupied by the forces of the Roman Empire. Was Jesus the long-awaited Messiah? After the Resurrection, Saul of Tarsus, later Paul, became a champion of a budding new religion based on Jesus' teachings: Christianity. Part two traces the spread of the faith and its...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Better self-control begins with an understanding of the psychological factors that affect behavior. Section one of this program focuses on the influence of brain structure, brain chemistry, and genetics on behavior; section two illustrates key concepts of psychoanalytic theory; and section three distinguishes between classical and operant conditioning. Strengths and limitations of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: In animism, good and bad spirits exercise an influence on humans. The shaman communes with the spirits in order to heal his tribal constituency. These and other less traditional beliefs, practices, and rituals are the topics of this program. Millenarianism is discussed as a nostalgic belief in a 1,000-year reign of the saints either before, or immediately after, the return of Christ. Astrology...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: If God exists, why is there so much suffering? What happens after you die? Does God hear our prayers? In this program a panel of teens pose the hard questions to a Catholic pilgrimage leader, a Sufi Muslim practitioner, and an Anglican minister as together they examine the relationship between the physical world and the spiritual. The group find areas of agreement between Christianity and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Philip Zimbardo has spent decades researching the transformation of character that occurs when generally good people are led to engage in evil actions. In this lecture, Zimbardo discourses on theories of conformity, prejudice, aggression, social influence, and antisocial behavior. Topics include the permeability of behavioral boundaries; the nature of evil and its societal consequences;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The history of the three religions of the Book is a convoluted story of deep-seated hostilities relieved by all-too-brief periods of coexistence and cooperation. Filmed from a Christian perspective, this program looks at the sectarian and interdenominational clashes that have bloodied the centuries while pointing out efforts to achieve a lasting, mutually supportive peace. As the world enters...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program brings to life five of psychology's most significant studies: Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment, 1961; Milgram's Study of Obedience, 1963; Ainsworth's Strange Situation Experiment, 1971 and 1978; Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, 1973; and Loftus's Eyewitness Testimony Experiment, 1974. Footage from the original experiments and from contemporary reconstructions is featured...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The work of Lev Vygotsky is cited as the theory and practice of constructivist education. This program reconsiders the life, vocabulary, and concepts of Vygotsky, illustrating four basic concepts integral to his work: children construct knowledge, learning can lead development, development cannot be separated from its social context, and language plays a central role in cognitive development....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1994
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Summary: Drawing upon laboratory and field experiments, this program compares and contrasts experimental research methods through an attractiveness study involving young adults. Section one observes how subjects respond to photos in two lab environments-one comfortable, and one not. Then, section two repeats the experiment in two field locales: a trendy bar and a dull coffee shop. Does context make a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Born more than 25 years before Piaget or Vygotsky, Maria Montessori understood the constructivistic nature of all learning. Montessori’s conception of the changing roles the classroom environment and teacher should play for students of various ages is presented in this program through carefully shot film of toddler, preschool, elementary school, and secondary school classes at work in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: This program presents non-experimental research methods-questionnaires, interviews, and naturalistic observation-through three studies on the effects of cell phone use. Section one explains good questionnaire design while considering both the advantages and limitations of this method. Section two examines the use of unstructured interviews, a more nuanced approach to data collection. And...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Neanderthals begin burying their dead in sepulchers that simulate their huts in an attempt to connect with the spiritual world. When God first speaks to Abraham, he becomes the father of three great religions: Judaism, and subsequently Christianity and Islam. Moses leads the children of Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land. Buddha, "The Awakened One," teaches humans to transcend...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program explores three major areas of philosophical inquiry into religion: religious epistemology, or the exploration of the rational grounds for religious beliefs and, in particular, the existence of God; the metaphysics of religion, which inquires into the nature of God; and theodicy, which examines the philosophical implications of the presence of evil in the world. Commentary by Alvin...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program portrays the Crusades as a response to the rapid rise of Islam. It looks at various orders of Christian monks and their role in the preservation of religious, artistic, and cultural aspects of civilization. The Inquisition-the Church's response to the rise of heresy and the practice of witchcraft and magic in the Middle Ages-illustrates the ultimate in religious intolerance which...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Christianity, Islam, and a broad range of indigenous religions coexist side by side in Africa, in many cases blending into unique hybrids. This program-an inquiry into the nature of the continent's spiritual practices-spotlights the Reverend Pastor Benoit D. Agbaossi, supreme head of the Celestial Church of Christ, in Benin, and footage of an exorcism and The Ceremony of the Infertile Woman;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, 1,800 delegates gathered at the Congress of World Religions in Montreal to spend a week in ecumenical dialogue. This program captures the wisdom of attendees who, speaking from the podium or offstage, address topics ranging from widespread religious fanaticism, the destabilizing action/reaction spiral of violence, and the misuse of religion for political ends...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: This program introduces the basic terms used in the study of memory such as encoding and storage and retrieval, and looks briefly at the historical ideas about memory. Modern theories are explained using diagrams and real-life examples, and the program then goes on to discuss current research in the area of everyday memory. The reasons for forgetting are explored and the biological basis of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Is the human brain hardwired for religion? This program examines work in the emerging field of neurotheology, focusing on links between religious ecstasy and the brain's temporal lobes. Dr. Michael Persinger, who has spent much of his career pursuing such a connection, uses magnetic field resonance to test his theories on renowned atheist Richard Dawkins. Inversely, Dr. Andrew Newberg performs...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: When used with delicacy, the hand is capable of manipulation that goes far beyond what might be expected of its mechanical design. This program demonstrates how the hand functions, spotlighting the opposable nature of the thumb, and how the nerve network and blood vessels deploy. The pathologies of common damage, including carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist fractures, "mallet finger," and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program explains the nature of behaviorism, so central to the study of human behavior, and its important applications in clinical therapy, education, and child-rearing. The program clearly explains, discusses, and illustrates the complex classical and operant conditioning theories of Pavlov and Skinner, and features archival footage of laboratory work with dogs and present-day research...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program traces the history of the Protestant Reformation, the path of its founder, Martin Luther, and the subsequent rise of sects including Calvinism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, and Methodism. Topics discussed include the Council of Trent, the renewal of Catholicism in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the rise of religious orders founded by St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005