1205 This course will focus on the biological and cognitive foundations of individual behavior, as well as the individual in the social context. Research on psychological phenomena will be reviewed to demonstrate the logic of the scientific method, to foster critical thinking, to identify potential shortcomings in interpretations of behavior (e.g., claims presented in the popular media), and to describe linkages to everyday experiences (e.g., aesthetic and perceptual judgments, improved studying, friendship and attraction, development of political attitudes). Students will learn how to use empirical data to draw sound conclusions about behavior
- Lecture One: Introduction
Enjoy!
- Lecture Two: Thinking critically with Psychology
Hey guys and gals,
I'm posting today's lecture a bit late (OK, a lot late) on UReddit because I was on a plane at 2300 GMT on my way to visit family. I posted to the sub but forgot to post here, so I'm sorry.
So, here is what you guys need:
As I'll be traveling, it won't be as easy to update with new discussion threads. As such, I'm going to only have the one thread.
Enjoy!
- Lecture Three: Research Methods
Sorry for not getting this out to you all sooner. Comicspedia posted on Reddit, but I was on vacation and couldn't update the page.
- Lecture Four: Behavior Genetics and Evolutionary Psychology
Hey guys, sorry for the late posting. Had a bit of an internet problem but after a friendly chat with Comcast, I am back online! Here are tonight's resources:
- Lecture Five: Environmental Influences on Behavior
We're going to do things a little different this lecture. Since we weren't getting a big response with different time zone discussion threads, and questions/comments come in at all times, we're going to change up the structure a bit. Comicspedia and I have discussed it and decided to have the discussions within the lecture post. The goal here is to streamline the page. I'm also going to add a link in the sidebar to a Overall Lecture Thread which will have ordered links to each of the lecture posts. This should make it easier for you all to find any lectures that you may want to find. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please message the mods and we'll do our best to make this work for you!
OK, here's today's materials.
[Slideshare](still uploading)
Webpage on Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
Discussion questions for today are:
How might you use your new knowledge of enrichment to change how you study and how you plan to raise your children?
Think of a personal experience you've had where you blamed/gave credit to your parents for a personal failing or success. What was it, and is that blame/credit justifiable now (in some cases, it very well may be- parents do have some profound impacts on development, just not as profound as society would have you believe)?
What are some survival benefits of culture beyond those mentioned in the lecture? Would we still survive without culture?
What is a conventional gender norm you've violated? How did it impact your interactions with members of your own, and members of the opposite sex?
- Lecture Six: Neural and Hormonal Systems
Hey guys,
Video about sodium potassium pumps
Discussion Questions:
What are the primary differences between neural impulses and hormones? What would be the evolutionary advantage of having both fast and slow methods of communication?
How might drugs impact the production of neurotransmitters in the brain?
Describe the difference between agonists and antagonists.
- Lecture Seven: The Brain
Discussion Questions:
Discuss the brain's plasticity following injury.
What might be some consequences of splitting the brain?
Explain localization of function and contrast that with known examples of associated areas of the brain working in concert (not just the example I gave! Use those google-skills
- Lecture Eight: Infancy and Childhood
Hey guys,
Today's lecture is on infant and child development. Next lecture will cover adolescence.
Discussion Questions:
How might you criticize Piaget's theory of development through the four stages he outlined?
What is a schema? Give examples of assimilation and accommodation.
How might attachment style influence your future relationships?
How old were you at your earliest memory? If younger than 3, why do you think you remember it?
- Lecture Nine: Adolescence
Here's the video lecture:
The PowerPoint is currently converting on Slideshare. I will edit this to include the slides once it's done.
EDIT: Sorry for the delay with getting the slides up. Slideshare gives me a file conversion error quite frequently, finally got it to work: Slides
- Lecture Ten: Classical Conditioning
Hey guys,
Today's lecture is on classical conditioning.
Discussion questions:
Come up with a classical conditioning example. Identify the UCS, the UCR, the CS, and the CR.
An asthmatic patient receives medication for her condition when needed. Later, on vacation,her inhaler is almost empty. A devious friend fills the inhaler with harmless saline solution, and the asthmatic individuals still obtains relief from the inhaler in the absence of the medicine. What has happened here?
Sounds like classical conditioning reduces our behaviors to thoughtless, rote actions as a result of stimuli. Do you agree? How might you support or counter that assertion?
- Lecture Eleven: Operant Conditioning
Hey guys,
Here's the information for today's lecture:
Discussion questions:
Describe an undesirable behavior and describe a reinforcement/punishment schedule to change that behavior.
What is the different between positive and negative reinforcement? Provide examples.
Give an example from your own life where latent learning proved useful to you.
- Lecture Twelve: Stress and Illness
Hey guys,
Here's today's material.
- Lecture Thirteen: Coping with Stress
Hey guys,
Sorry for the delay, I live in the metro DC area and well, the Nationals had a ball game today and traffic was just atrocious. Anyway, here's today's materials:
I'd like to do a little something with this discussion thread. We have had roughly the same number of upvotes for each lecture, and I assume that pretty much the same people are here each lecture. I'd love to get to know you all. Feel free to tell me a bit about you, or ask me anything. Also, if you have any questions about stress, now is a great time ;)
- Lecture Fourteen: Intro to Memory
Hey guys,
Here is everything you need for today's lecture:
Attention video I ask you to watch in the lecture- 1 min
Discussion questions:
Discuss a memory from your past you later learned was erroneous. Which stage (encoding, storage, retrieval) do you think led to the error? How?
Consider the (super awesome) video I linked you to. How does attentional awareness impact the formation of new memories? Cite an example.
- Lecture Fifteen: Encoding
Hey guys,
Today's lecture focuses on the first stage of memory formation: encoding.
Discussion questions:
Would chunking or hierarchical organization be better for remembering complex information? Why?
Give examples of automatic and effortful processing.
Take a look at my questions above. What memory effect is in place here?
- Lecture Sixteen: Storage
Hey guys,
Today's lecture is all about storage. What happens to it once it's been encoded into the brain. We look at a few different types of memory.
Discussion question:
Think about this lecture and the past. What are the many different ways we can categorize memory? Are these distinctions important or unnecessary? Why?
- Lecture Seventeen: Retrieval, Forgetting, and Memory Formation
Hey guys,
Today's lecture is kind of intense. It's on memory retrieval and what happens when we forget as well as how to combat forgetting.
Elizabeth Loftus on Memory Construction
No discussion questions today. This is a complex lecture, so instead, please ask me questions.
- Possible cancellation
Hello guys.
If you weren't aware, I live in the DC metro area. We are bracing for full impact from Hurricane Sandy within the next two hours. I have not recorded tomorrows lecture and do not expect to be able to before the power goes out. There is no telling if power will go out, and if it does, how long it will be out. As such, I cannot determine the direct impact of the storm on this class. Once the storm has passed, I will reassess the schedule and make arrangements where necessary. I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. Be safe and have a great week!
- Lecture Eighteen: Intro to Intelligence
Hey guys,
Thanks for understanding my missed week! I had a nasty cold but I'm mostly back to normal. To make up for the missed lectures, we're skipping "thinking" and moving into Intelligence. If you want the lecture slides for thinking, let me know and I'll get them to you.
EDIT: As requested, here are the thinking slides.
- Lecture Nineteen: Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence
Hey guys,
Today's lecture focuses on the factors which impact scores on a standard IQ test which measures the general intelligence. We discuss some racial and gender differences in scores and examine what possible causes might be behind the differences.
Questions to consider:
If you had or have children, what would you do to encourage them to perform at their absolute best? Try to include information from past lessons.
At your present age, do you think you could realistically change your IQ score? If so, how? Also, why or why not?
- Lecture Twenty: Introduction to Sensation and Perception
The follow-up lecture to this presentation (going into and concluding perception) will be posted on the 13th. That one is one of my favorite topics to present, it's really a lot of fun and very interactive, so keep an eye out for it!
- Lecture Twenty One: Perceptual Organization
As I mention in the video, this is typically a very interactive lecture in my classes. Please view the links below as I refer to them in the video.
- Lecture Twenty Two: Drugs and Consciousness
Hey guys.
Today's lecture focuses on the classes of drugs, addiction, and motivating factors for drug use.
Questions: Do you think the hallucinogen category should be broken into two categories?
Given the recent legislative changes in Colorado and Washington State, what would you predict to be the outcome regarding usage of both marijuana and harder drugs?
Also, for your enjoyment: animals totally love to do drugs
- Lecture Twenty Three: Motivation
Hey guys,
Today's lecture focuses on motivation (competing theories to explain, as well as examination of sexual motivation).
Let me know if you have any questions!
- Lecture Twenty Four: Social Influence
Hey guys,
This lecture is about how other people influence our actions and beliefs.
- Lecture Twenty Five: Introduction to Psychological Disorders
While I only touched on it briefly, check out The OCD Project for a fantastic eight-episode show that covers intensive treatment of OCD. A colleague of mine studied under Dr. Tolin, and she said the show is about 90% accurate of what it was like to work in a facility like that. The other 10% came from producers who were trying to drive up the dramatic effect of things, but thankfully he resisted a lot of their pushes.
- Lecture Twenty Five: Introduction to Psychological Disorders
I've come down with a cold, I apologize if anything is difficult to understand in the lecture.
While I only touched on it briefly, check out The OCD Project for a fantastic eight-episode show that covers intensive treatment of OCD. A colleague of mine studied under Dr. Tolin, and she said the show is about 90% accurate of what it was like to work in a facility like that. The other 10% came from producers who were trying to drive up the dramatic effect of things, but thankfully he resisted a lot of their pushes.
- Lecture Twenty Six: Personality
I've come down with a cold, I apologize if anything is difficult to understand in the lecture.
- Lecture Twenty Seven: Anxiety and Mood Disorders
- Lecture Twenty Eight: Schizophrenia
Today's lecture is a super quick one!
Solid understanding of the English language
At least high school level education (though if you're younger, you're certainly welcome to sit it!)
A desire to learn
All course material will be made available both at /r/IntroPsych and on the UReddit website. Materials will be posted at 6PM EST (1800 EST, 2300 GMT).
Tentative Schedule:
Section One (8/28-9/6): Psychology as a Science. Genetic and Environmental Influences Introduction: Psychology as a Science. Research Methods. Nature & Nurture Behavioral Genetics and Evolutionary Psychology
Section Two (9/11-9/27): The Brain, Development, and Conditioning Neural and Hormonal Systems. The Brain. Physical and Sexual Development Classical and Operant Conditioning
Section Three (10/2-10/18): Stress, Memory, and Intelligence Stress and Illness Introduction to memory: Encoding, Retaining and Retrieving
Section Four (10/23-11/6): Intelligence, Sensation and Perception Language and Thought Intelligence Sensation and Perception
Section Five (11/8-11/11/29): Mental Illness [No Lecture on 11/22] Mental Illnesses Treatment of Mental Illnesses
B.A. Psychology (cum laude)
M.A. Experimental Psychology
Teacher of Record- Intro Psychology
Teacher of Record- Graduate Statistics
Latest Twitter post:
SRM has created a class! http://t.co/zHhCQ4gbpN "Introduction To Office 365"
Top Reddit Post:
[Update] Final handwriting repair video ! Watch it, learn, and stop making numbers look like a bird shat on a piece of paper.
Latest WordPress Post:
Featured class: Microsoft Excel - Lessons & Training
Latest GitHub commit:
" added tracking of adding/dropping classes for Google Analytics "