Introduction to Psychology

Course Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

Define psychology and describe the four goals of psychology.
Identify the origins of the field of psychology and analyze how various methods, people and theories have impacted early psychology to evolve into contemporary psychology. 
Propose ways in which psychologists can apply their expertise in society. 
Analyze how race, culture, and ethnicity influence behavior. 
Describe the discipline and practice of sociocultural psychology. 
Define the concept hypothesis and theory, analyze the requirements for using the scientific method in psychology, and identify the importance of objectivity in psychological research. 
Analyze research methods in psychology and explain the descriptive research designs. 
Identify experiments using correlational and experimental research methods. 
Define the nervous system and analyze how the body works with the nervous system to generate behavior. 
Compare and contrast the central, peripheral nervous systems, somatic, and autonomic nervous systems. 
Distinguish between the Gestalt principles and identify the process of sensory perception. 
Summarize the effects of drug addiction and dependence and produce real life scenarios resulting from drug abuse. 
Explain cognitive-social approaches to learning. Compare and contrast the characteristics of observational and latent learning. 
Create an original diagram showing the regions of the brain that influence memory.  
Identify Carl Jung’s influence on the study of psychosexual development. 
Compare and contrast methods and theories for measuring and assessing personality. 
Identify the relationship between prejudice and stereotypes and describe how these constructions affect our attributions about other people’s behavior.  
Distinguish among the explanations for prejudice and identify some effective techniques for combating prejudice.