Summary

This course has been designed to introduce the listener to the basis of college psychology. As you have learned, psychology is the study of the mind. You studied elements of psychology that have biological origins, such as learning, memory, sensation, and perception. You also learned about psychological wellness, which is important to overall health. In the course, we talked about stress and illness, states of consciousness, and personality. The various mental illnesses were important to learn about when you study psychology as well as the ways many of these disorders are treated by psychologists and other mental health professionals. Now that you have finished the course, you should feel competent in your understanding of psychology as it is presented in a typical college psychology course.

Chapter one in the course looked at psychology as a health discipline. In the chapter, you learned about what psychology means as a discipline, the history of psychology throughout the world, and the practice of modern psychology. Psychology has many applications, which were covered in the chapter. Whether you have been studying psychology to become a psychologist or using psychology as part of your career, this chapter helped you understand both the different careers in psychology and the various fields of applied psychology.

The focus of chapter two is psychological research. All good research starts with an understanding of the scientific method, which is the foundation of all research processes. There are different types of psychological research studies that differ in their design and interpretation, as well as ways to interpret the findings determined to be fact in the different psychological experiments. There are certain ethical principles that must be considered when performing research on human subjects, which have been covered as part of this chapter.

Chapter three in the course studied the subject of biology in the study of psychology. Genetics are an important part of the biology of a human being, so this was covered in the chapter. The cells and structures of the nervous system need to be understood

before you can understand the interplay between biology and psychological phenomena, so this was discussed. An important aspect of this are the neurotransmitters that have different effects on the nervous system. All of these things are put together in the study of biopsychology, which is a major research field in psychology.

Chapter four was about lifespan development. There are several researchers who have developed theories on lifespan development, which were explained in the chapter. The different stages of development, from the prenatal stage to stages of advanced age, were covered in this chapter. Finally, issues related to death and dying as well as the different stages of grief were explained as part of the chapter.

The focus of chapter five in the course was consciousness, which is the awareness of one s internal and external environment. There are different states of consciousness experienced every day, the most common of which is the sleep state. There are different stages of sleep that can be identified and a range of sleep-related disorders that can affect a person. Altered states of consciousness have been covered in this chapter, including ways of inducing an altered state, such as meditation and hypnosis.

Chapter six looked at the principles of sensation and perception. Sensation can involve several things because there are multiple sensory organs in the body. The typical sensory functions covered in this chapter were vision, hearing, olfaction, taste, and several different tactile perceptions. Each of these depends on certain receptors that pick up details from the environment. Perception is related to sensation. Because Gestalt psychology is based on perception, this was discussed in this chapter as well.

The topic of chapter seven in the course was learning theories. Learning involves the acquisition of new information but it can also involve acquiring behaviors, values, preferences, or skills. There is learning throughout life and different ways in which learning can occur. Some of the most historically significant learning strategies are classical conditioning and operant conditioning, although there are other ways of learning new things, such as through operational learning or modeling, which was also covered in this chapter.

Chapter eight was about intelligence, thinking, and cognition. Part of the understanding of intelligence involves the understanding of things like creativity and

language. Where intelligence comes from and how it is tested for were also covered in this chapter. Everyone, regardless of their intelligence, has the ability to problem solve so this was included in the chapter.

The focus of chapter nine in the course was personality. Personality involves the traits a person has that are consistent over time. There are multiple theories on what personality is all about and theories on personality development, which were discussed in the chapter. Specific personality tests can be used to evaluate a person s personality, which you have learned about. Finally, there are personality disorders that were covered in the chapter, which represent deviations in what can be called a normal personality.

Chapter ten in the course introduced the subject of memory. Memory is not just a single phenomenon as there are several types of memory. Memory is largely biological, with certain parts of the brain contributing to the experience of memory. Some people have memory deficits, which have been discussed in the chapter. In order to combat memory impairment, many individuals will use specific memory enhancement techniques in order to improve memory.

Chapter eleven was about emotion and motivation. Motivation explains why a person does what they do. There are specific motivations that are universal to all humans. These include the drives to eat and the drives related to sexuality and sex. The chapter talked about the different disorders related to eating and sexuality, such as eating disorders and gender identity disorder. Finally, the basis of emotions was covered in the chapter.

Chapter twelve in the course talked about issues related to social psychology. Social psychology is about those behaviors, thoughts, and feeling brought about by interactions with other people. There are certain things that occur mainly in the group environment, such as conformity, obedience, aggression, and prosocial behavior. This chapter was basically about groups and group dynamics as they exist only in a social environment.

The topics in chapter thirteen included stress from a psychological viewpoint and the pursuit of happiness. Stress comes in many forms; there can be relatively positive stressors and negative stressors. People regulate stress in relatively predictable ways,

which have been covered in the chapter. Negative stress can lead to a variety of disease states. The pursuit of happiness is an uplifting aspect of psychology, which was also covered as part of this chapter.

The focus of chapter fourteen in the course was clinical psychology or the study of psychopathology. There are many different types of mental disorders in the realm of psychology, which were briefly covered in the chapter. These include mood disorders, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorders, and somatic disorders. The different psychological disorders that primarily affect children were also discussed in the chapter. The chapter also explained how the different psychological disorders are diagnosed in clinical psychology.

Chapter fifteen was about the treatment of mental health disorders. Mental health treatment has been around for centuries but is currently more humane that it originally was. There are several approaches to treating mental illness and several specific psychological treatments, which were covered in the chapter. There are many types of providers that help people with mental health problems, which were described as part of the chapter.