Course Description
Why do we behave the way we do? How does the brain shape our thoughts and emotions? Why do we remember some things and forget others? What influences our relationships, decisions, personality, and mental health?
In General Psychology, you’ll explore the science behind human behavior and discover how psychologists answer some of the most fascinating questions about what it means to be human.
You’ll explore how the brain and body influence behavior, how we experience the world through our senses, how we learn and remember, and how we think and make decisions. You’ll investigate motivation, emotion, personality, and mental health, including psychological disorders and the treatments used to help people.
You’ll also examine how people influence one another, from relationships and group behavior to culture and social influence, and discover how we change across the lifespan—from infancy through adulthood.
Along the way, you’ll learn how psychologists use scientific research and evidence to separate what we think we know about human behavior from what the science actually tells us.
Benefits of completing this course
- Satisfy general education requirements common to many colleges and universities
- Complete a prerequisite for many upper-level psychology courses
- Get a head start on a psychology major or minor
- Build a foundation for psychology and health-profession programs
- Explore applications of psychology in fields such as business, law, healthcare, and education
- Earn college credit while gaining experience with college-level coursework
Learning objectives
- Demonstrate familiarity with major psychological concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends
- Describe the basic processes underlying a variety of psychological phenomena, including development, emotion, motivation, learning, memory, and consciousness
- Discuss the ways that environmental and biological processes contribute to psychological phenomena
- Identify and differentiate among the basic methods of scientific psychology
- Explain the fundamental changes in behavior and mental processes that occur during the lifespan
- Discuss how groups and individuals influence behavior and attitudes
- Identify factors that contribute to an individual's personality and attitudes
- Recognize psychological disorders and describe treatment options
- Apply psychological concepts to general descriptions of human behavior as well as student’s own experiences and attitudes
- Effectively communicate in writing
Summary of topics covered
Introduction, research in psychology, biopsychology, consciousness, sensation and perception, learning, memory, thinking and intelligence, emotion and motivation, personality, psychological disorders, therapies and treatments, social psychology, lifespan development
Course Resources
[Link to Textbook/Readings - Our textbooks and readings are all open access: Psychology 2E]
