People sometimes behave differently than we expect or hope, and we wonder why. Sometimes we wonder what behavior is normal and what's abnormal. We wonder if behavior can be predicted and influenced. This course looks at how psychologists have studied individual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors  to answer questions like these. We'll look at how they do their research, and the different kinds of answers they have proposed. We'll study the biological roots of behavior, as well as the factors in our environment that influence how we act.  Specific topics that we'll cover include the brain, sleep and dreams, lifespan development, sensation and perception, motivation,  personality, psychopathology and treatment, and thinking and intelligence.

Learning requires understanding and remembering new ideas and information, and the first assignment in each week 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 required assignments that involve applying and discussing what you are studying. This requires that everyone work through the course on a fixed weekly schedule and participate during the designated parts of the week for interactive assignments

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

• Identify the major fields of study and theoretical perspectives within psychology and articulate their similarities and differences; recognize that behavior and mental processes can be approached from a number of different perspectives and identify the perspectives at play in real world scenarios.
• Differentiate between the major observational, correlational, and experimental designs used by psychologists; critically evaluate real world information sources.
• Identify the major parts of the nervous system including the brain and explain how they reciprocally influence emotion, behavior, and mental processes.
• Explain how people change physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially over the course of the life span using the major concepts of development; demonstrate an understanding of the research methods used in studying the life span.
• Define consciousness and describe altered states of consciousness such as sleep, dreaming, drugs, meditation, and hypnosis as it relates to the student’s life.
• Differentiate between sensation and perception; articulate the major sensory pathways and how/where perceptual modifications can/does occur.
• 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 the student’s memory.
• Explain how people think using concepts, solving problems, and making judgments.
• Identify the major theoretical perspectives of personality and articulate their similarities and differences.
• 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 the student’s life. 
• Recognize the influence of motivation in your own behavior.
• Describe the major roles that emotion plays in how people think about, influence, and relate to one another and themselves.

Possible Assignments Include: (Subject to change each semester. The actual assignments are available in the Syllabus in the Blackboard course site on the first day of classes.)
 

There are 3 exams in this course. You must pass at least 2 exams with 60% or higher in order to pass the class regardless of the total points awarded for other assignments.

Last Updated: November 21, 2013