Perception

One of my favorite things about summer and television is that several of my favorite shows, especially many on TNT, are on during the summer.  I wait in anticipation for True Blood (HBO), Major Crimes (TNT), Rizzoli and Isles (TNT) and now like King and Maxwell (TNT) and Perception (TNT). 

Perception is one show I really enjoy.  The premise of a brilliant man who is a college professor (neuroscience), who is also a paranoid schizophrenic as well as a consultant for the FBI is just way out there.  It's so fun to see how the writers of that show are able to weave his visual hallucinations into the script.  It's also amazing how those hallucinations (or possibly his unconscious mind) are often telling him something he is not able to yet realize in his conscious mind. 

I teach psychology classes at a community college and often use clips from Perception or from Big Bang Theory in my classes to illustrate points I am trying to make in my lectures.  In Big Bang Theory, Sheldon does a much better job of illustrating classical conditioning (Sheldon Trains Penny) than I can by talking about that concept.  With clips from Perception I am able to demonstrate how the brain works or the behavior of a paranoid schizophrenic much better than just talking about it. 

As a college professor I am always looking for video that demonstrates the theories and concepts of psychology.  It is a continual process and fortunately there is material everywhere (thank you YouTube!).