By Erin I. Smith,California Baptist University.We are bombarded every day with claims about …
By Erin I. Smith,California Baptist University.We are bombarded every day with claims about how the world works, claims that have a direct impact on how we think about and solve problems in society and our personal lives. This module explores important considerations for evaluating the trustworthiness of such claims by contrasting between scientific thinking and everyday observations (also known as “anecdotal evidence”). I. Smith, E. (2021). Thinking like a psychological scientist. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers.
By Robert V. Levine, California State University, Fresno. There are profound cultural differences in how …
By Robert V. Levine, California State University, Fresno. There are profound cultural differences in how people think about, measure, and use their time. This module describes some major dimensions of time that are most prone to cultural variation.
By Guro E. Løseth, Dan-Mikael Ellingson, and Siri Leknes, University of Oslo, University of Gothenburg. The sensory …
By Guro E. Løseth, Dan-Mikael Ellingson, and Siri Leknes, University of Oslo, University of Gothenburg. The sensory systems of touch and pain provide us with information about our environment and our bodies that is often crucial for survival and well-being. Moreover, touch is a source of pleasure. In this module, we review how information about our environment and our bodies is coded in the periphery and interpreted by the brain as touch and pain sensations. We discuss how these experiences are often dramatically shaped by top-down factors like motivation, expectation, mood, fear, stress, and context. When well-functioning,...
By Simona Buetti and Alejandro Lleras, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Vision is the sensory modality that …
By Simona Buetti and Alejandro Lleras, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Vision is the sensory modality that transforms light into a psychological experience of the world around you, with minimal bodily effort. This module provides an overview of the most significant steps in this transformation and strategies that your brain uses to achieve this visual understanding of the environment.
By Edward DienerUniversity of Utah, University of Virginia. Scientific research has been one of …
By Edward DienerUniversity of Utah, University of Virginia. Scientific research has been one of the great drivers of progress in human history, and the dramatic changes we have seen during the past century are due primarily to scientific findings—modern medicine, electronics, automobiles and jets, birth control, and a host of other helpful inventions. Psychologists believe that scientific methods can be used in the behavioral domain to understand and improve the world. Although psychology trails the biological and physical sciences in terms of progress, we are optimistic based on discoveries to date that scientific psychology will make many important discoveries that can benefit humanity. This module outlines the characteristics of the science, and the promises it holds for understanding behavior. The ethics that guide psychological research are briefly described. It concludes with the reasons you should learn about scientific psychology. Diener, E. (2021). Why science?. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers.
This is the full course content for a course on Child Development. …
This is the full course content for a course on Child Development. It contains 14 modules: Introduction to Child Development, Foundations of Growth, Research Strategies, Theories (Part I), Theories (Part II), Language Development, Infancy, Prenatal Development, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolescence, Intelligence and Facilitating Complex Thinking, Frameworks for Maturation, Early Adulthood.
A cognitive bias is an inherent thinking ‘blind spot’ that reduces thinking …
A cognitive bias is an inherent thinking ‘blind spot’ that reduces thinking accuracy and results inaccurate–and often irrational–conclusions.
Much like logical fallacies, cognitive biases can be viewed as either as causes or effects but can generally be reduced to broken thinking. Not all ‘broken thinking,’ blind spots, and failures of thought are labeled, of course. But some are so common that they are given names–and once named, they’re easier to identify, emphasize, analyze, and ultimately avoid
This course explores the cognitive and neural processes that support attention, vision, …
This course explores the cognitive and neural processes that support attention, vision, language, motor control, navigation, and memory. It introduces basic neuroanatomy, functional imaging techniques, and behavioral measures of cognition, and discusses methods by which inferences about the brain bases of cognition are made. We consider evidence from patients with neurological diseases (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Balint's syndrome, amnesia, and focal lesions from stroke) and from normal human participants.
An introduction to human information processing and learning; topics include the nature …
An introduction to human information processing and learning; topics include the nature of mental representation and processing; the architecture of memory; pattern recognition; attention; imagery and mental codes; concepts and prototypes; reasoning and problem solving.
How genetics can add to our understanding of cognition, language, emotion, personality, …
How genetics can add to our understanding of cognition, language, emotion, personality, and behavior. Use of gene mapping to estimate risk factors for psychological disorders and variation in behavioral and personality traits. Mendelian genetics, genetic mapping techniques, and statistical analysis of large populations and their application to particular studies in behavioral genetics. Topics also include environmental influence on genetic programs, evolutionary genetics, and the larger scientific, social, ethical, and philosophical implications.
How do individuals and families interface with larger systems, and how do …
How do individuals and families interface with larger systems, and how do therapists intervene collaboratively? How do larger systems structure the lives of individuals and families? Relationally-trained practitioners are attempting to answer these questions through collaborative and interdisciplinary, team-focused projects in mental health, education, the law, and business, among other fields. Similarly, scholars and researchers are developing specific culturally responsive models: outreach family therapy, collaborative health care, multi-systemic school interventions, social-justice-oriented and spiritual approaches, organizational coaching, and consulting, among others. This course explores these developments and aims at developing a clinical and consulting knowledge that contributes to families, organizations, and communities within a collaborative and social-justice-oriented vision.
This course is an introduction to computational theories of human cognition. Drawing …
This course is an introduction to computational theories of human cognition. Drawing on formal models from classic and contemporary artificial intelligence, students will explore fundamental issues in human knowledge representation, inductive learning and reasoning. What are the forms that our knowledge of the world takes? What are the inductive principles that allow us to acquire new knowledge from the interaction of prior knowledge with observed data? What kinds of data must be available to human learners, and what kinds of innate knowledge (if any) must they have?
Basic principles of learning are always operating and always influencing human behavior. …
Basic principles of learning are always operating and always influencing human behavior. This module discusses the two most fundamental forms of learning -- classical (Pavlovian) and instrumental (operant) conditioning. Through them, we respectively learn to associate 1) stimuli in the environment, or 2) our own behaviors, with significant events, such as rewards and punishments. The two types of learning have been intensively studied because they have powerful effects on behavior, and because they provide methods that allow scientists to analyze learning processes rigorously. This module describes some of the most important things you need to know about classical and instrumental conditioning, and it illustrates some of the many ways they help us understand normal and disordered behavior in humans. The module concludes by introducing the concept of observational learning, which is a form of learning that is largely distinct from classical and operant conditioning.
As within many areas of psychology, the average person holds both accurate …
As within many areas of psychology, the average person holds both accurate and inaccurate beliefs about consciousness. Of course, as psychological scientists, we determine what we know about any topic through empiricism. The purpose of this project is to have you explain how a variety of areas of consciousness could have a positive effect in a student’s life.
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