General Psych - Explaining Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviors

Class Experience
Week #1 – Introduction to the Science of Psychology - Psychology Defined; Research Methods; Careers in Psychology
Week #2 -  Biological Aspects of Psychology - Discussion of the Central Nervous System and Peripheral Nervous System; Neurotransmitters and Functions of Parts of the Brain
Week #3 -  Biological Aspects of Psychology Continued. Role of the brain in medical issues such as Traumatic Brain Injury, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, CTE and Mental Health Issues such as Depression and Anxiety. 
Week #4 - Consciousness - Continuum of Consciousness, Stages of Sleep and Dreaming, Sleep Disorders
Week #5 - Consciousness Continued - Hypnosis, Drugs
Week #6 - Health, Stress and Coping - Identifying Physical and Psychological Effects of Stress on Body and Coping Strategies
Week #7 - Personality - Theories of Personality including Psychoanalytic, Cognitive, Humanistic, and Behavioral and Famous Theorists
Week #8 - Psychological Testing and Assessment - Subjective (MMPI and Five Factors) and Projective Personality Testing (TAT, HTP, Rorschach Inkblot)
Week #9 - Psychological Disorders - Anxiety Disorders and Schizophrenia (Etiology, Symptoms and Treatments), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder and Phobias.
Week #10 - Psychological Disorders - Mood Disorders and Personality Disorders; Childhood Disorders - Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Autistic Spectrum 
Week #11 - Social Psychology - Part I - Compliance, Conformity and Obedience, Aggression and Frustration
Week #12 - Social Psychology - Part II - Group Processes - Deindividuation, the Bystander Effect, Diffusion of Responsibility, Prosocial Behavior/Altruism, Groupthink

Extra Notes Provided in the Form of Hand-Outs for Forensic Psychology 

Course Structure:

This class will be self-paced and will not have live classroom meetings. Students will have pre-recorded lectures of the lesson which covers the topic of the week and will have questions to answer following each lecture. Powerpoints and hand-outs of vocabulary and notes will supplement each video. The instructor will provide feedback on activities and will respond to any questions in the Outschool classroom. 

Discussion question prompts will be posed to the learners in the Outschool classroom for each lesson. Learners will be asked to answer questions relevant to the topic for each lesson, based on their opinion and what they reviewed in the materials for that lesson.

This class is a self-paced class set up and all posts/communication will be made directly in the Outschool Classroom. We will interact directly on the Outschool Classroom and use other resources as supplementary tools. 

Students will participate in each lesson by watching the video lesson, engaging in interactive activities and participating in discussion questions on the classroom page.   

Prior experience in psychology will not be necessary. Because this class is for a grade, assessments will be given in the form of three quizzes, a final paper and discussion questions.