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I thought many of the discussions in this seminar were really eye opening for me, especially with respect to the ways that we classify people both in a psychological sense, and in the social realm.  I think my favorite part about this seminar was the fac that it really made me question the way that I personally, as well as the way that psychologists and doctors on the whole diagnose and classify people with diseases.  Having learned about the medicalization of psychology and the "evils" of the diagnostic criteria of the DSM, I thought I had developed a pretty open mind about mental "disorders".  However, from our first discussion of broken brains, I found that there was really a lot mroe that I was not considering when thinking about people who deviate from what is termed the "norm".  I think especially poignant for me was realizing in that discussion that the way that we treat people with autism today is really quite similar to the way that women and homosexuals have been treated throughout history, and that it is conceivable that in another century, autistics will be regarded by psychologists as simply a set of humans who have differing (not deficient) cognitive abilities which serve them well in many circumstances.  This discussion was really what prompted me to pursue a topic in sex and gender studies for our presentation. 

On a more general level, I feel like my previous notions of the dichotomous nature of most things have really been challanged in this course.  Although it is sometimes frustrating for me to not be able to seperate characteristics into distinct categories, I think in the end I am the better for realizing that almost every variable can be thought of as a continuum.  The more I think about and research terms and variables in psychology, the more I realize that nothing can truly be defined and likewise nothing can be categorized.  For me this really calls into question the validity of most if not all studies in psychology and biology, but although like I said this frustration sometimes gets the better of me, I think it is important to attend to and think about these overarching problems to more fully understand the implications and limitations of our research.  Thanks for the really great presentations and discussion guys!