The Psychology of the Tiger King
Registration & Participation
Tickets are $10 (USD). The live session will be a Zoom-hosted webinar, and throughout you will engage by responding to polling questions about the show and what you are learning. You can also submit questions to the instructor via the chat feature, and he'll do his best to answer as many of those as he can.
Fundraising
10% of all proceeds will benefit Feeding America - Connecting people with food and ending hunger through a nationwide network of food banks.
About the Mini-Course
The two-hour online, interactive mini-course will explore some fundamental concepts, theories, and research findings from psychology in the context of the people and events featured in the show. Learning outcomes include:
What do we know about the intelligence of tigers and other big cats?
What attracts people to exotic animals, and to big cats in particular?
How does cognitive dissonance help explain how people justify what they think, feel, and do?
What motivates someone to hurt or kill another person?
What are Personality Disorders and how might they relate to some of the patterns of behavior that are described in the show?
What is the clinical definition of a psychopath and how are their brains different than the average human's brain?
What effect does meth have on the brain and body?
What makes some people so effective at manipulating the thoughts and feelings of other people?
What are some of the common techniques that cult leaders use to recruit and manipulate members?
How might the confirmation bias and group polarization lead to escalating feuds and extreme behavior?
About the Instructor
Scott Roberts is an Assistant Dean and a faculty member at the University of Maryland, where he teaches a course on the Psychology of Evil. He earned his bachelors degree at Denison University, and while there studied chimpanzee intelligence at the Ohio State Chimpanzee Center. He then worked as a dolphin trainer and research assistant at the University of Hawaii before earning his Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Maryland. After serving as a research Psychologist for the Federal Government, he returned to UMD as a faculty member and administrator.