First-Year Seminar (FYS-160)

The Roots of Rage: Understanding Anger, Hate and Violence

Revised Course Schedule (Spring, 2008)

 

 

 

Date

 

Topic

 

Readings

 

 

 

 

 

Week 1

1/15

 

Course Introduction;

Analysis: What it is and What it Does

 

R & S: Chpt 1.

 

 

1/17

 

Human Violence and Evil

 

Baumeister (Chpt. 1)

 

 

Week 2

1/22

 

Habits of Mind, Ideas, and Complexity of Thinking

 

R & S: Chpt 2.

 

 

1/24

 

The Nature of Anger

 

 

Handouts

 

 

Week 3

1/29

Library Instruction

 

 

Meet in Room B01, Trexler Library

 

1/31

 

The Nature of Anger (cont.)

Analysis and Interpretation

 

Beck (2000,  pp. 40-70);

R & S Chpts. 3, 4

 

Week 4

2/5

Victims and Perpetrators; Buddhism and Enemies: Shifting Perspective

 

Baumeister (Chpt. 2);

Dalai Lama (1998)

 

2/7

 

 

The Myth of Pure Evil

Baumeister (Chpt. 3)

 

Week 5

2/12

Cognitive Models of Anger; Primal Thinking ; Arguments and Analysis

 

 

Beck (2000, pp. 71 – 86);  R & S Chpt.5, 6

 

2/14

Evil as a Means to An End;

Using Evidence

 

Baumeister (Chpt. 4)

R & S Chpts. 7, 8

 

Week 6

2/19

Egotism and Revenge

Reading Analytically

 

Baumeister (Chpt. 5)

R & S Chpt. 13

 

2/21

 

School Violence: Nobody Left to Hate;

Aronson (2000; excerpts)

 

 

2/26

School Violence: Nobody Left to Hate; Thesis Statements

 

Aronson (2000; excerpts)

R & S Chpts. 9, 12

 

2/28

Case Presentation (School Violence);

 

 

 

3/11

School Violence (cont.); Structuring Papers

 

R & S Chpt. 10

 

3/13

Domestic Violence

Munro, Royal Beatings

 

 

3/18

Domestic Violence;

Introductions and Conclusions

 

Case Study: Weiss

R & S Chpt. 11

 

3/20

Case Presentation (Domestic Violence)

 

 

 

3/25

Domestic Violence (cont.)

Using Sources Analytically

 

 

R & S Chpts. 14,16

 

3/27

 

Hate Crimes (James Byrd)

The Two Towns of Jasper

 

 

4/1

Hate Crimes (cont.)

Organizing and Revising the Research Paper

 

Lorde, Power

R & S Chpt. 15

 

4/3

Case Presentation (Hate Crimes)

 

 

 

4/8

True Believers and Idealists; Mass Hate

 

Baumeister (Chpt. 6)

 

 

 

4/10

Mass Hate: The Case of Rwanda

 

Kressel (2002)

 

4/15

Case Presentation (Mass Hate)

 

 

 

4/17

Mass Hate (cont.)

 

 

 

4/22

What to Do: From Understanding to Action

Dalai Lama (1998);

 

4/24

Empathy and Altruism

 

 

 

4/29

Creating Caring, Morally Inclusive Societies

 

 

 

5/1

Open Date

 

 

 

5/5 – 5/9

Final Exam Period

 

Final Paper Due

 

 

Note. Topics related directly to writing are presented in italics