Udacity: Intro to Psychology

Intro to Psychology

https://www.udacity.com/course/ps001

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>> Welcome to Intro to Psychology. I'm Lauren.

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>> I'm Susan.

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>> And I'm Greg.

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>> We're your instructors for this course. We're going to take you on your journey

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through psychology. We'll go over different areas of psychology and how

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different psychologists examine and explain thought and behavior.

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>> We are all very different. We like different things. We think differently. We

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even react differently.

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>> So for instance, I have something here that might create different reactions in

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people.

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>> Ooh. Look at this guy.

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>> My snake Tickles. I've come to really enjoy him. He's a nice snake.

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>> I wouldn't mind holding Tickles or touching him but I certainly wouldn't want

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him as a pet.

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>> Lauren?

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>> No, no, I don't do snakes.

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>> You don't do snakes.

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>> No. I don't do snakes.

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>> The perfect example of how people react differently to different situations.

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>> So, there's many different areas of psychology, for instance, personality

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psychologists would look at what's going on here and try to really understand

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the individual differences in the fear and why I'm not really afraid, you're

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fine and she's more or less terrified.

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>> behavioral Psychologists might look at an individual's learning history. So,

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for example I was exposed to a lot of snakes when I was growing up. So, perhaps

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I've learned that snakes aren't dangerous for me. And a Social Psychologist may

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look at how other people's behavior influences our own. So, for example,

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looking at other people's reactions may influence our own reactions. A

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biological psychologist, perhaps, may look at Lauren's fright response in terms

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of increase in heart rate, or even sweating. And a neuroscientist. They may

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look at the areas of the brain that are activated during the fear response,

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such as the amygdala. But for now, I think it's time for Tickles to head home.

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>> Even though this example exploited my fear of snakes. Thanks a lot Greg. It was

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a really effective tool for Susan and Greg to use to show you just how diverse

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psychology can be. Now psychology is defined as a study of thought and behavior

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and is an amazing way to make sense of our world

LESSON 1

• Behavioral Neuroscience
  • The study of links among brain, mind, and behavior
• Biological Psychology
  • The study of the relationship between bodily systems and chemicals and how they influence behavior
• Clinical Psychology
  • The diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.
• Cognition
  • Mental activities involved in acquiring and processing information
• Cognitive Psychology
  • The study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, solve problems, and make decisions. This branch of psychology is concerned with all forms of cognition.
• Developmental Psychology
  • The study of how thought and behavior change or remain stable across the lifetime
• Evolutionary Psychology
  • The study of human behavior by asking what adaptive problems it have solved for our early ancestors
• Experimental psychology
  • The study of psychological processes through controlled experiments
• Forensic Psychology
  • Field of psychology that blends law, criminal justice, and psychology
• Health Psychology
  • The study of the role psychological factors play in our health and illness
• Humanistic Psychology
  • A theory of psychology that focuses on personal growth as a way of reaching one’s highest potential
• Industrial /Organizational (IO) Psychology
  • Application of psychological concepts and questions to the work setting
• Personality Psychology
  • The study of individual differences. The branch of psychology studies what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations
• Personnel Psychology
  • A branch of Industrial/Organizational psychology devoted to job analysis, job satisfaction, personnel selection and placement, and training employees
• Phobia
  • An anxiety disorder: an ongoing and irrational fear of a particular object, situation, or activity.
• Positive Psychology
  • Scientific approach to studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning
• Psychology
  • The scientific study of thought and behavior.
• Social Psychology
  • The study of how living among others influences thought, feeling, and behaviors.
  • Areas of interest include but are not limited to attitudes, social compliance, conformity, obedience to authority, interpersonal attraction, group processes, and non-verbal communication
• Sports Psychology
  • The study of psychological factors associated with athletic performance.