PS111 Introduction to Psychology

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PS111Introduction to Psychology
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PS111Introduction to Psychology

• Who we are
• What we do
• Approach to this class

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Levels of Analysis

• Across Disciplines
• Within Disciplines

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Levels of Analysis

• Tension between
• Attempting to find a single level of analysis
• Reductionism
• Occams Razor
• "It is vain to do with more what can be done with
  less."
• attributed to William of Occam (c. 12851349)
• Using multiple levels of analysis
• Developing efficient and meaningful frameworks of
  understanding for each particular level of
  analysis
• Appreciating that different levels of analysis
  each have advantages and drawbacks to their
  approach
• "There is always an easy solution to every human
  problem - neat, plausible, and wrong."
• H. L. Mencken (1949), p. 443

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Levels of Analysis in Psychology

• Physiology
• Professor Jennifer Yates
• Sensation and Perception
• Professor Michael Richardson
• Cognition (Memory)
• Professor Ayanna Thomas

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Levels of Analysis in Psychology

• Development
• Professor Tarja Raag
• Emotion, Culture, Personality and Psychopathology
• Professor Yulia Chentsova Dutton
• Social Psychology
• Professor Thane Pittman

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Psychology and Life Seventeenth Edition
Richard J. Gerrig, Ph.D.Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D.
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Course Elements

• Broad reading from the textbook that covers the
  full range of the study of Psychology
• Study aids in Grade Aid with Practice Tests, and
  online at MyPsychLab
• Some of this material is covered in class, but
  not all
• You are responsible for the readings, whether
  they are covered in class or not
• Each instructor will provide a study guide to
  help you to focus on what is important in the
  readings
• Lectures that present material in depth
• Including material that is, and is not in the
  text
• Findings from research done by your instructors

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Course Elements

• Opportunities to show what you know
• Three hourly tests, including multiple choice
  questions on text material and short essay
  questions on lecture material Cumulative portion
  on the final exam
• Opportunities to participate in research projects
  to learn what it is like to be in various kinds
  of psychological investigations
• Experimetrix on the department web site