Psychology Assignments

The central question addressed in Psychology is: “How do psychologists think?” The psychologist David Myers wrote that to think as a psychologist, one must learn to “restrain intuition with critical thinking, judgmentalism with com­passion, and illusion with understanding.” (Sternberg, 1997). Whether students choose to pursue a career related to psychology or one in some entirely different field, this habit of mind will be of great value.

This psychology course is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings.

• Students learn about some of the explorations and discoveries made by psychologists over the past century.
• Students assess some of the differing approaches adopted by psychologists, including the biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives.
• Most important, students come to an appreciation of how psychologists think (or at least an appreciation of the kind of critical analysis that psychologists espouse and hope to model in their words and actions).