PSY 101 Introductory Psychology

This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts that form the foundation of the field of psychology. Topics to be discussed include the following: The history of psychology Research methods in psychology Biological bases of behavior Sensation and perception Consciousness Learning Memory Intelligence Development Emotion Personality Psychological disorders Treatment of psychological disorders Social psychology\ud Both the textbook and class lectures emphasize an empirical approach to a scientific understanding of human behavior across these diverse domains. Most classes will be in a lecture format in order to enable us to cover the wide expanse of material that comprises this course. Nevertheless, we will also use segments of some class meetings to discuss issues raised in lectures and readings, as well as to provide demonstrations to bring to life and personalize the material covered in this course. We will also make use of various technological tools during the lecture, including the Classroom Performance System (CPS) ???clickers??? that you will purchase at the bookstore and some of the interactive activities embedded in the on-line eBook for our textbook, in order to permit more active engagement on your part with the course material. My goal in taking this approach to teaching is to permit you to be an active learner in this course and to avoid the passivity that can often characterize students??? behavior in a class of this size