Please note this course is only available to students of the Leiden University College The Hague.
Introduction to Psychology offers a representative and coherent overview of the entire discipline. It is representative because it constitutes a first acquaintance with the main currents and themes within psychology. The Introduction is coherent in that it introduces students to the different psychological sub-disciplines emphasizing their common elements.
Basic knowledge of the historical developments that have contributed to what has become the academic discipline of psychology and of the main theories within the different branches of psychology, with an emphasis on how these are related.
Understanding of the way in which empirical research within psychology leads to the formation of theories; of the way in which psychological theories are tested via research; and of the practical applications of psychological theories.
Gray, P. and Bjorklund, D.F. (2014), Psychology (7th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers. ISBN-10: 1464141959 ISBN-13: 978-1464141959
Week 1: A brief history and introduction to the Science of Pscyhology
Week 2: Genetics, evolution and basic processes of learning
Week 3: Neural control of behavior; motivation and emotion
Week 4: Smell, taste, pain, hearing and psychology of vision
Week 5: Memory, reasoning and intelligence
Week 6: Developmental psychology
Week 7: The social mind and influences of behavior
Week 8: Personality and mental disorders