In Psychology 202, you will study human behavior and mental processes in the areas of:

• Learning
• Memory
• Thinking and Language
• Intelligence
• Personality
• Psychological Disorders
• Therapies
• Stress, Coping and Health
• Social Psychology

Learning requires understanding and remembering new ideas and information, and the first assignment in each unit provides presentations and exercises to help you do this.  But meaningful learning also requires analyzing and comparing new ideas and information to what we and others know, applying new ideas to real life, and assessing the value of what we are learning.  Therefore, the course includes assignments that involve applying and discussing what you are studying.  This requires that everyone work through the course on the same weekly schedule and, participate in the discussion forums in a certain time frame.

If you do well in this course, you will be able to:

• Explain how organisms learn through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.
• Identify processes involved in the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information and how these processes impact your own memory.
• Explain how people think using concepts, solving problems, and making judgments; describe how language develops and how thinking and language reciprocally influence each other.
• Describe varying conceptualizations of intelligence and identify genetic and environmental influences on intelligence; demonstrate an understanding of the principles involved in test construction.
• Define stress and describe its effect on health; identify coping strategies and explain how stress and health relate to your own life.
• Identify the major theoretical perspectives of personality and articulate their similarities and differences; describe psychological findings on the self and recognize the influence of the self in your own behavior.
• Differentiate between abnormal and normal behavior; identify the symptoms of major psychological disorders and explain what roles biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors play in causing these disorders.
• Identify the major psychotherapy and biomedical therapies used to treat psychological disorders and articulate their effectiveness.
• Explain the major social psychological concepts involved in how people think about, influence, and relate to one another and describe how these relate to your own life.

Required Texts

The required textbook for this course is:

• Myers, David (2007).  Psychology (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

For information on how to order your textbooks, go to http://eli.nvcc.edu/books/

Your course grade will be determined according to the following points:

There are 3 proctored exams in this course. You are expected to take your proctored exams at one of the NVCC campus Testing Centers. Be sure to allow enough time to complete your exam before the Testing Center closes; Testing Centers have specific policies relating to the administration of ELI exams. You will need to take a photo ID, your NovaConnect Empl ID number, and the appropriate Exam Pass when you go to the Testing Center.  

For Testing Center locations, hours of operation and policies, click here.

For information on taking proctored exams outside of the metropolitan area, click here.

We are here to help you succeed in this course. Occasionally questions or problems may arise. Here is how to contact us when they do:

You may also call us to schedule a meeting in person, either at ELI or at our campus offices.

1. Use your web browser to connect to http://www.nvcc.edu/bbstart. Follow the directions to determine your email, Blackboard and VIVA account user names and passwords.
2. Access your email account and make sure you know how to use it; you will be required to use this account for all course-related email.
3. Log on to Blackboard and email at http://nvcc.my.vccs.edu.
4. Click on this course under "My Courses." Review the entire course to make sure you understand what will be required of you. Then start completing the assignments.

Please note that account generation takes approximately one week from the time of your paid registration. If you cannot log on after one week, contact the IT Help Desk. If you can log on to Blackboard, but your course isn't listed, please contact ELI or your instructor.