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Discovering Psychology through Science Fiction

When asked to consider the relationship between science fiction and psychology, Isaac Asimov wrote, “In science fiction, human beings are pictured as facing unusual situations, bizarre societies, unorthodox problems. The effort to imagine the human response to such things may cast light into the shadows in a new way, allowing us to see what had not been clear before.” This course will follow Asimov’s suggestion by exploring the intersection between science fiction and psychology. Broadly, we will explore the ways in which popular works of contemporary and classic science fiction can help us to understand human behavior and its causes. Along the way, we will look at examples of science fiction across media: from novels like “A Scanner Darkly” by Phillip K. Dick, to movies like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, to episodes of TV shows like “The Twilight Zone” and “Futurama”. In each case, we will examine a work of science fiction that poses an important psychological question (for example “What makes me the way I am?” or “How much does my environment effect me?”). When possible, we will then contrast science fiction’s speculative treatment of psychological questions with modern psychology’s scientific approach to answering these same questions.

Course taught by

Jeremy Miller