Introductory readings

History of Psychology

Baker, D. B. & Sperry, H. (2018). History of psychology. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. DOI:nobaproject.com

Research Designs

Scollon, C. N. (2018). Research designs. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. DOI:nobaproject.com

Learning Objectives

• Understand Phineas Gage’s story and its significance

• Understand the “astonishing hypothesis” that our mental life is the product of our physical brain

• Understand Descartes’ concept of dualism, identify the strengths of this view, and then explain why modern scientists have abandoned it

• Understand the different parts and functions of a neuron

• Know the different types of neurons and their specific

• Understand how neurons communicate with one another

• Explain in what ways the human mind is wired up differently from the computers we use in our everyday lives.

• Know about the different subcortical structures and what they do

• Know the different lobes of the cerebral cortex and their functions

• Understand and distinguish different problems than can arise from brain damage, including apraxia, agnosia, sensory neglect, aphasia, acquired psychopathy

• Understand the concept of lateralization and contralateral organization

• Distinguish the functions of the right hemisphere from the left hemisphere

• Describe the hard problem of consciousness

• Understand concerns about a scientific approach to psychology and different ways of addressing them.

• Have a basic appreciation of who Freud was and the significance of his work

• Understand Freud’s idea of the unconscious

• Understand the Freudian concept of the id, ego, and superego and distinguish these concepts from one another

• Understand Freud’s psychosexual stages

• Understand the Freudian idea of the Oedipus Complex

• Understand Freud’s different defense mechanisms and distinguish them from one another

• Understand Freud’s concepts of hysteria and catharsis

• Understand the notion of falsifiability and how to distinguish falsifiable theories from unfalsifiable ones

• Apply the concept of falsifiability to Freud’s psychodynamic theories

• Identify components of Freud’s theory that are still considered valuable today

• Understand the three main claims of behaviorism

• Understand habituation and its role in learning

• Understand the logic of classical conditioning and its role in learning

• Distinguish between the different components of classical conditioning, including unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response

• Distinguish between reinforced and unreinforced trials

• Know the best way to pair up the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus in order to ensure the best learning

• Explain instrumental conditioning and its role in learning

• Understand the “Law of Effect” and the partial reinforcement effect

• Understand positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment

• Understand and be able to give an example of how instrumental and classical conditioning can be combined

• Understand different schedules of reinforcement (i.e., fixed versus variable, and interval versus ratio) and distinguish between these different schedules

• Understand the main challenges to behaviorism

• Understand the concept of latent learning and why it is a problem for behaviorism

• Articulate Noam Chomsky primary criticisms of behaviorism