Learning Objectives
Chapter 1
What is Psychology?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After
exploring chapter 1, students should:
1. Understand the concept of theories and the
relationship theory has to the field of psychology.
2. Understand the various fields of psychology; what the
main focus is of each division within psychology.
3. Understand the theoretical perspective of modern day
psychologists. What are the current
contributions, what added understanding do we now have, and how are the
contributions different from the historical perspectives.
4. Understand how psychology has become more diverse in
recent years regarding gender and ethnicity.
Be able to list some key contributions of women and minorities.
5. Understand the various research methods that
psychologists use to enhance our understanding of human behavior and mental
processes. This includes an
understanding of the scientific model and the importance of this model to the
field of psychology.
6. Understand the ethical considerations that
psychologists use in both research and practice.
7. Understand the difference between science and
pseudoscience. Student should also have
an understanding of critical thinking.
Chapter 2
Biology and Psychology
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After
exploring chapter 2, students should:
1. Appreciate the life of Charles Darwin and the
contributions he made to science.
2. Understand the theory of evolution and its place in
science.
3. Understand the field of Evolutionary Psychology.
4. Understand the term heredity and understand the role
of genes and chromosomes in heredity.
5. Understand kinship, twin and adoptee studies.
6. Know the parts of a neuron and how neurons
communicate.
7. Know the various neurotransmitters used in neural
communication.
8. Understand the divisions of the various nervous
systems.
9. Know the various brain structures and associated
functions.
10. Understand the experience of the split-brain patients.
Chapter 3
Voyage Through the Lifespan
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After
exploring chapter 3, students should:
1. Understand the cognitive development of children
including the theoretical contributions of Piaget.
2. Understand the moral development of children as
proposed by Kohlberg.
3. Understand the tenets of social and emotional
development; specifically the theoretical perspectives of Erikson
and the various attachment theorists.
4. Know the role that parents (caregivers) play in a
child’s development; specifically the various parenting styles and child abuse.
5. Understand the cognitive changes that occur during
adolescence including the extension of Piaget’s theory.
6. Understand the moral development of adolescents
according to Kohlberg.
7. Understand the emotional and social development of
adolescents extending Erikson’s theory.
8. Understand adult cognitive development including
Alzheimer’s disease.
9. Understand adult social and emotional development
examining Erikson’s and Levinson’s theories.
10. Understand the theory of Kubler-Ross
which focuses on the stages of dying.
11. Understand how day care affects bonds of attachment
and social/cognitive development of children.
Chapter 4
Sensation and Perception
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter, a
student should:
1.
Be able to define
and differentiate between sensation and perception.
2.
Have knowledge of
the five traditional senses.
3.
Understand how
the five senses function including absolute and difference thresholds, sensory
adaptation, and signal detection theory.
4.
Be familiar with
the sense of vision understanding the properties of light and the parts of the
eye.
5.
Understand the
theories of color vision, specifically the trichromatic,
Helmholtz and opponent-process theories. Also
understand color blindness.
6.
Understand visual
perception including the concepts of perceptual organization, motion, depth and
constancy.
7.
Become more
familiar with the kinesthetic and vestibular senses.
8.
Have an increased
knowledge of extra-sensory perception and also understand the ramifications of
“virtual reality”.
Chapter 5
Consciousness
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter, a
student should:
1.
Be able to define
consciousness, and be aware of sensory awareness, selective attention, inner
awareness, and a sense of self.
2.
Understand the
nature of sleep including the sleep cycle, function of REM sleep, theories of
dreams, and various sleep disorders.
3.
Be familiar with
hypnosis and the theoretical explanations of hypnosis. Students should also understand various uses
of hypnosis.
4.
Appreciate
different forms of meditation and positive effect meditation can have.
5.
Be knowledgeable
about biofeedback techniques and how the technique can help people.
6.
Understand the
concepts of substance abuse including abuse, tolerance and withdrawal. Students should also know the various
categories of drugs.
7.
Understand how to
maintain healthy a healthy sleep cycle without drugs.
Learning
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After
exploring chapter 6, students should:
1. Understand Ivan Pavlov’s contribution to learning
theory of classical conditioning or learning by association.
2. Know the basic elements of classical conditioning
including: UCS, UCR, CS, CR, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization,
and discrimination.
3. Understand the applied side of classical conditioning
including Counterconditioning, Flooding and
Systematic Desensitization.
4. Understand the contributions to learning theory of
Thorndike (The Law of Effect) and B.F. Skinner (Operant Conditioning).
5. Be able to differentiate between various reinforcers including:
positive, negative, primary and secondary.
6. Be able to differentiate between reinforcement and
punishment and how each affects behavior.
7. Understand the use of shaping to teach complex
behaviors in both humans and animals.
8. Appreciate the cognitive factors in learning including
Tolman’s latent learning and Bandura’s
observational learning.
9. Have a greater understanding of the effects of media
violence on behavior.
Chapter 7
Memory
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter, a
student should:
1.
Be able to define
memory and differentiate between explicit and implicit memories, and
retrospective and prospective memories.
2.
Be familiar with
the process of memory including encoding, storage and retrieval.
3.
Be knowledgeable
of the stages of memory including the specifics of sensory memory, short-term
memory and long-term memory.
4.
Understand the
contributors of forgetting including retroactive and proactive interference,
repression, and anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
5.
Understand the
difference between recognition and recall tasks.
6.
Be familiar with
the biological aspects of memory including engrams
and the hippocampus.
7.
Know some helpful
ways to enhance memory.
Chapter 8
Cognition and Language
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter, a
student should:
1.
Be able to define
cognition and identify the building blocks of cognition.
2.
Understand the
tools/problems utilized in cognition such as algorithms, heuristics, framing,
mental sets and overgeneralization.
3.
Appreciate
language and the components of language.
4.
Understand how
language develops including the role of genetics. Appreciate the various theories of language.
5.
Understand the
important issues regarding bilingualism, intellectual development and Ebonics.
Chapter 9
Intelligence and Creativity
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter, a
student should:
1.
Identify and
understand the key theories of intelligence including Factors Theory, Multiple
Intelligences, and the Triarchic Theory.
2.
Understand the
relationship between creativity and intelligence.
3.
Identify and
understand some major measurements of intelligence including the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, The Weschler
Scales, and Group tests.
4.
Understand how
socioeconomic and ethnic differences impact intelligence test scores
5.
Understand
extremes in intelligence
6.
Understand where
intelligence can come from including both genetic and environmental influences
7.
Understand some
beneficial ways to enhance Intellectual Functioning.
Chapter 10
Motivation and Emotion
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter,
students should:
1.
Be able to define
motivation including needs, drives and incentives.
2.
Be familiar with
the theories of motivation including instincts, drive reduction, homeostasis,
stimulus motives, and humanistic.
3.
Be knowledgeable
of hunger and the role of the hypothalamus.
Understand the biological and psychological contributions to hunger.
4.
Understand the
nature of emotions and the three theoretical explanations of emotions
(James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and the Schachter-Singer).
5.
Be familiar with
the area of positive psychology.
6.
Understand how
facial expressions can reflect and affect emotions.
7.
Understand the
issues related to obesity and important fundamentals of weight control.
Chapter 11
Personality:
Theory and Measurement
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter,
the student should:
1.
Be able to define
what is meant by personality.
2.
Appreciate the
Psychodynamic perspective and the contributions made to psychology.
3.
Understand
Freudian theory including the psychosexual stages of personality development,
levels of consciousness and the structures of personality (id, ego, and superego).
4.
Be familiar with
the contributions of the neo-freudians including
Jung, Adler, Horney, and Erikson.
Note: Chapter
12 is not covered in this course.
Chapter 13
Stress, Health, and Adjustment
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter, a
student should:
1.
Have an
appreciation for the field of health psychology, understanding the
contributions health psychology makes to the overall field of psychology.
2.
Be able to
clearly define what is meant by stress.
3.
Be familiar with
the various sources of stress including daily hassles, life changes, conflict,
irrational beliefs, and the Type A personality.
4.
Be knowledgeable
of the moderators of stress including self-efficacy, hardiness, sense of humor
and social support.
5.
Understand the
impact of stress on the body; specifically the general adaptation syndrome and
the immune system.
6.
Understand the
relationship between psychology and health including headaches, cardiovascular
disease, cancer and sexually transmitted infections.
7.
Be familiar with
effective prevention measures of headaches, cardiovascular disease, cancer and
sexually transmitted disease.
Chapter 14
Psychological Disorders
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
After reading this chapter,
students should:
1.
Understand some
historical views of psychological disorders.
2.
Understand the
criteria that constitute a psychological disorder, and be familiar with
diagnostic practices including the DSM-IV-TR and the Axis in the DSM
3.
Know the
diagnostic criteria for Anxiety disorders including phobias, panic, generalized
anxiety, OCD, and PTSD and the various theoretical views.
4.
Know the
diagnostic criteria for Dissociative disorders
including dissociative amnesia, dissociative
identity disorder, and depersonalization and the various theoretical views.
5.
Know the diagnostic
criteria for Somatoform disorders including conversion disorder and hypochondriasis and the various theoretical views.
6.
Know the
diagnostic criteria for Mood disorders including major depression and bi-polar
disorder and the possible contributing factors.
7.
Know the
diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia including the various types (paranoid,
disorganized, and catatonic) the various theoretical views.
8.
Know the
diagnostic criteria for Personality disorders including paranoid, schizotypal, schizoid, antisocial and avoidant and the
various theoretical views.
9.
Be knowledgeable
of the topic of suicide including the risk factors, myths, warning signs and
the differences in ethnicity and gender.
Chapter 15
Method of Therapy
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
After exploring this chapter,
the student should:
1.
Know the
definition of psychotherapy.
2.
Understand the
history of psychological therapies.
3.
Be familiar with
the basics of the psychodynamic approach and Freudian psychoanalysis.
4.
Understand the
concepts of the humanistic approach including the contributions of
5.
Understand
Gestalt therapy and the techniques used.
6.
Be familiar with
the behavioral approach to therapy including fear reduction, aversive
conditioning, and operant conditioning approaches.
7.
Grasp the concepts
involved in cognitive therapy including the cognitive triad and rational
emotive therapy.
8.
Understand the
concepts involved in group therapy including encounter groups, couples therapy,
and family therapy.
9.
Realize the types
of problems researchers face in conducting research on the effectiveness of
psychotherapy.
10. Understand the various biomedical approaches to
therapy including medications, ECT, and psychosurgery.
11. Appreciate the
concerns when conducting therapy with individuals with different gender, ethnicity,
culture, etc. Appreciate the diversity
of individuals.
12. Be able to name some steps that they can take to alleviate depression.
Chapter 16
Social Psychology
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter,
students should:
1.
Be able to define
social psychology and understand the role it plays in the field of psychology.
2.
Understand what
attitudes are including attitude formation and persuasion including such
tactics as the foot-in-the -door technique.
3.
Have an
appreciation for social perception including the concepts of attribution
theory, first impressions and the fundamental attribution error.
4.
Be familiar with
the actor-observer bias, the self serving bias, and the influence of body
language and how these influence our social perceptions.
5.
Understand the
power of social influence as demonstrated by classic research in this area in
group conformity and obedience to authority.
6.
Appreciate the
power of group behavior and the influence of groups including social
facilitation, group decision making, groupthink, deindividuation,
altruism and the bystander effect.
7.
Understand
prejudice and the contributing factors.
Compare and contrast prejudice and stereotypes.