Students deciding to take an Intro to Psychology course do so for any number of reasons. They are either interested in why people behave the way they do, or they want to help people with psychological problems. In either scenario, this field is a fascinating one. Students will also learn the differences between general psychology and physiological psychology.
With the introductory course, students will learn about the history of the field of psychology. It will also uncover the subjects that are of the utmost concern to psychologists. These include the biological make-up of humans, how humans experience the world around them, and how the body's mechanisms work together to influence human behavior.
Psychology courses help students understand how the brain works, how the nervous system functions, and what part heredity plays in all of it. Students will also learn about the five senses and what part each one has in conjunction with how we take in the world around us.
Other areas covered in the courses deal with our perception, memory, awareness, and conditioning and learning. Students will learn which areas of the brain enable us to be aware of our surroundings and how outside influences affect learning and condition us in certain ways. They will also understand what part of the brain is responsible for holding our memories, and how the brain stores those memories. Other general areas covered in an Intro to Psychology course are human language and thought processes and intelligence.
Another fascinating subject psychology students will experience in class is the biological bases of motivation prevalent in animals as well as humans. There are two types of motivations. One is physiological, and the other is psychological. Physiological motivations include hunger, thirst, body temperature regulation, as well as sexual motivation, aggression, parenting, and our desire to mate.
Two other types of motivations are parenting and aggression. Psychology students will discover what role emotions play in human motivation. They will learn what constitutes primary motivation and secondary motivation. Primary motivation deals with our survival, in that we need food, water, and air to survive. Secondary motivation derives from conditioning through experience and/or training. One important example of secondary motivation is the desire to become rich.
We do not start out as infants or small children with the need for money. As we age, we learn that we need money to buy the things we need to survive, like food, clothing, and shelter. Another form of conditioning associated with money has to do with those who grew up in wealthy families where the children never worried about needing or wanting anything. These children may grow up with no motivation to earn what they need or want. With no basis for motivation, some could experience problems in adulthood when they discover that their needs go unmet without any motivation on their part.
With tons of examples of different scenarios that make humans behave the ways they do, a course in psychology is a fascinating journey in the discovery of human behavior and conditioning. You can even take a class online and choose to earn an online psychology degree. Students considering a career in this field may choose to study human behavior further. They may also decide to opt for a career that will help people with problems related to psychological or physiological behavior.
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