Module 1: Introduction to Psychology
You may not realize it, but you have already started your study of psychology. Have you ever asked yourself why people behave as they do? Maybe you have asked yourself questions such as:
- "Why does my friend seem outgoing when he is alone with me, but not in school around other people?”
- “Why can’t I seem to get motivated today?”
- “My older sister acts sad one day and energetic the next. Is that normal behavior?”
Whenever you have been curious about your motives and behaviors or the motives and behaviors of others, you were exploring questions related to psychology. Psychology is the study of human behavior and mental processes. Throughout your education, you have taken courses about human history, language, and biological processes. This course will study the complexities of human thought and behavior. It is really a course about you and the people you know. Psychology is a very broad field of study, and it is likely that it covers much more than you ever imagined.
Getting Started
Some believe that psychology is mostly common sense. Use this non-graded interactivity to see if you agree. Read each statement and determine whether you think it is True or False. Then click SUBMIT to check your answer. Click on the player button to get begin.
Key Vocabulary
To view the definitions for these key vocabulary terms, visit the course glossary.
| Abraham Maslow | empirical | placebo |
| American Psychological Association | ethics | placebo effect |
| APA | evolutionary perspective | psychoanalysis |
| B. F. Skinner | experimental group | psychoanalytic perspective |
| behaviorist perspective | experimental method | psychology |
| biological perspective | functionalism | replication |
| Carl Jung | Gestalt psychology | scientific method |
| Carl Rogers | humanistic perspective | Sigmund Freud |
| case study | hypothesis | sociocultural perspective |
| cognitive perspective | id | structuralism |
| control group | independent variable | superego |
| correlational study | informed consent | survey |
| debriefing | introspection | theory |
| dependent variable | John B. Watson | Wilhelm Wundt |
| double-blind procedure | naturalistic observation | William James |
| eclectic | perspective | wording effect |
| ego |