Psychology 101: Introductory Psychology
Professor Geoffrey T. Fong--Fall 2006

A. What do people think psychology is? Examples from interviews, books, quotations
B. Examples of psychological phenomena

1. Which works best: punishment or encouragement?
2. The extreme range of memory: S. vs. H.M.
3. Nonadherence to health advice
4. The case of Eileen Franklin: repressed memory?
5. Kitty Genovese murder
6. Other examples
C. What do these examples have in common?
D. Definitions of psychology
E. Different approaches to understanding behavior and mental processes:

1. Locus of explanation: Internal (within the person) vs. external influences
2. Perspectives: biological, psychoanalytic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive
3. The model of the individual in psychology (see figure on other side of page)
F. Psychology in the context of other scientific disciplines

1. Levels of analysis
2. Implications--personal; societal
G. Isn't psychology just common sense?
1. Intuitions and reality: Psychology Pre-Test
2. The hindsight bias (Fischhoff, 1975)

A. Introduction to a way of thinking about behavior
B. Human behavior can be explored in a systematic, scientific way
C. Practical implications

A. Lectures
B. Textbook + study guide: excellent combination
C. Midterms and final examination
D. Participation in psychological research; summaries of articles

Notes

1. There are three main categories of psychological phenomena (the "effects"):

Cognition (Thinking), Affect (Emotion), and Behavior (Action).

2. There are three main categories of "causes" for these psychological phenomena:

Historical, Contemporary, and Personal Determinants (which, in some ways, are similar to historical). Any one, or more than one, of these factors could be responsible for any given effect...

3. ...Thus, psychological phenomena are multi-determined--there are potentially many different causes of any given phenomenon (but this doesn't mean that each cause is equally important).

4. No one study can address all possible causes; the choice of which cause(s) to focus on in a particular study is heavily dependent on the investigator, for example, his/her training and background.

5. This is a feedback model: the effects have consequences, which then affect the causes.