PSYCHOLOGY 1101:  Introduction to Psychology I

Introductory Psychology is a VERY broad topic.  Almost anything human beings do is fair game in this study.  So, in this course and it's partner (PSY 1102) we survey hundreds of theories and examples to explain every aspect of human experience.  That's a lot to expect from 3 hours a week for 14 weeks!!!

Although many students groan when I begin to talk about the brain, we must begin with this handful of pinkish-grey-jelly-like stuff to set the stage for our exploration of human experience.  Where would you be without your brain?  (At that party you went to 2 weeks ago friday???).    I urge you to learn as much as you can about the brain and the synapse.  Sure, there will be questions on the exams related to this BUT, the real reason to know this stuff is because it will make your life easier when you study subsequent topics such as learning, motivation, and the treatment of major depression with a little pill. 

Next we consider how the brain knows so much about the world around it.  The senses of course!  Here we go into more gory detail about how the remarkable biological system we have accomplishes what it does.  DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME MEMORIZING NAMES AND PARTS OF THE ANATOMY.  While these details are important it is MUCH more important that you understand the functional issues.  Once you understand the functional details, useful things like the names etc. will be more than easy to learn. 

Finally, with Perception we begin to discuss some of the things you think of as psychological.  The central question here is how we make meaningful all the sensory information we receive from our senses.  To sum up the main point:  what you see is NOT necessarily what you get.  We "compute" a great deal to make sense of the inputs and sometimes make mistakes.  That's the fun part!  We will consider some illusions (e.g., THERE ARE NO DANCING DOTS HERE) which arise because of the way we compute.  By analysing illusions we get answers to how we ordinarily make our world meaningful. 

The last topic prior to the midterm is the very tricky issue of Consciousness.  We all know when we are conscious and have a sense of what it is... but try to define it... and arguments ensue.  Do animals have it?  Could I create a computer that has it?  What about the 1/3 of our life on earth when we are not conscious (i.e., when we sleep)?  Why does EVERYBODY dream half a dozen times a night?  Moreover, you may have heard that some people alter their state of consciousness by consuming substances that have an interesting effect on their outlook.  How do drugs change our state of consciousness?  Why are they addictive?  (!!! see the first topic).  Finally, just to make sure somebody will argue, we will discuss the SCIENTIFIC question of psychic phenomena.

After the midterm we discuss Learning.   That's a fine time to begin to talk about learning... but I do give a crash course overview on the second day of lecture so that students have some of the tips that arise from the scientific study of learning.   In this section we focus on simple learning like Classical and Operant conditioning.  Students see how a salivating dog can explain many things about a human, such as why we play the music we do, why we like the people we like, why we like casava pie, and why some people  nearly have a heart attack when a frog is spotted on the lawn.  And just in case you've forgotten how to argue, we'll discuss the pros and cons of physical punishment.

Humans have abilities to learn that seem to go well beyond even the smartest animals.  Some people argue that Language is the reason for this; others argue that language is simply the evidence of this.  At any rate, the ability to use and communicate with language opens up tremendous possibilities and allows us to both discuss profound aspects of our life and to tell lies.  Now that you've become accustomed to arguing we'll discuss whether animals can be taught to use a language. 

Memory is one of my favourite topics.  I think our memory system is fascinating in that we can easily bring to mind memories of long ago times and people.  How could we explain a memory system that can hold SO MUCH information?   Our computers quickly get filled up as we add data and software.  Yet humans just keep on cramming more and more stuff into our little old brains.  How?  Well, we'll discuss some of the theories and talk about the trade-off between the capacity humans seem to have and the little problem of "accuracy".  Ooops,  yes, we forget and we misremember and studying those phenomena can be very enlightening. 

And yet there is even more to cover this term... Intelligence and individual differences.   Can we measure Intelligence?  What do we mean by intelligence?  Does my grade in this course reflect my intelligence?  (the answer is not necessarily). 

Motivation and Emotions close out this course.  Why do we do anything at all?   Well, our brains have wonderful mechanisms for making us feel uncomfortable when we NEED to do something (like eat, sleep, or get warm).   So our emotions are an important part of regulating our needs.  We will close out the course talking about good emotions:  Happiness and humour.   Next term we will be studying the other side of emotional experience (Stress, depression and anxiety...).  I bet you hope you pass this course so you can take the next one!