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 human behavior and tried 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.

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 to the health care field.  This requires that everyone work through the course on the same 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; explain several reasons why doing research ethically is a complex task; critically evaluate real world information sources. 
• Identify the major parts of the nervous and endocrine system including the brain and explain how they reciprocally influence emotion, behavior, and mental processes.
• Explain how environmental, genetic, and evolutionary influences contribute to diversity.
• 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. 
• Differentiate between sensation and perception; articulate the major sensory pathways and how/where perceptual modifications can/does occur.
• Define consciousness and describe altered states of consciousness such as sleep, dreaming, drugs, meditation, and hypnosis as it relates to your 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.)

Your final grade may be based on the following scale. Please note that you must also pass at least several exams in order to pass the course, regardless of your scores on the other assignments.

There are 3 exams in this course.