This course is an introduction to the fundamental principles of psychology. It begins with a short overview of the discipline's development and principal methodologies. The subsequent units are arranged around broad areas of research, including emotion, development, memory, and psychopathology. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Identify the steps of the scientific method and explain how this method applies to psychological research methodology and statistical analyses; Demonstrate an understanding of the general history of the field; Explain the nature versus nurture argument and the current status of thinking regarding gene-environment interaction; Identify the basic components and mechanisms of the major biological systems often studied in psychology; Demonstrate an understanding of the basic findings within a variety of areas of psychology, including sensation and perception, memory and learning, development, social psychology, and psychopathology. (Psychology 101)

Noba is a high-quality, flexibly structured digital introduction to psychology resource for higher-ed classrooms and virtual classrooms. Noba consists of nearly 90 short (2500-4000 word) chapters authored by leading instructors and researchers including 7 winners of the William James Award. Chapters are organized in familiar categories (Development, Learning & Memory, Personality, etc.) for easy reference. All Noba materials are licensed through Creative Commons under the CC BY-NA-SA license terms.

The Noba website allows anyone to combine chapters in any order to create unique psychology textbooks to suit virtually any curriculum. In addition to allowing users to build their own customized collections, Noba provides a series of "Ready-Made" digital textbooks curated from the Noba chapters to conform to the scope and sequence of some of the most commonly taught 100/200-level psych courses (Intro-to-Psych, Psych as a Biological Science, Psych as a Social Science, etc.). The Ready-made books can also be edited to add or remove chapters, or sections so that they better conform to the specific course an instructor will teach.

Custom-made books, Ready-made books, or even individual chapters can be used online, downloaded as PDFs or shared withe learners via email and social media using easy-share tools built in to the website.

Psychology is designed to meet scope and sequence requirements for the single-semester introduction to psychology course. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of core concepts, grounded in both classic studies and current and emerging research. The text also includes coverage of the DSM-5 in examinations of psychological disorders. Psychology incorporates discussions that reflect the diversity within the discipline, as well as the diversity of cultures and communities across the globe.Senior Contributing AuthorsRose M. Spielman, Formerly of Quinnipiac UniversityContributing AuthorsKathryn Dumper, Bainbridge State CollegeWilliam Jenkins, Mercer UniversityArlene Lacombe, Saint Joseph's UniversityMarilyn Lovett, Livingstone CollegeMarion Perlmutter, University of Michigan

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Distinguish between sensation and perception
Describe the concepts of absolute threshold and difference threshold
Discuss the roles attention, motivation, and sensory adaptation play in perception

The first chapter provides an overview of the textbook and reviews the history of psychology and its methodology. Psychology is described as a science studying how hereditary (nature) and experiential (nurture) variables interact to influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals. The remainder of the text will be organized in sections entitled “Mostly Nature” (Biological Psychology; Sensation & Perception; Motivation & Emotion), “Mostly Nurture” (Direct Learning; Indirect Learning (i.e., observational learning and language); Cognition), and “Nature/Nurture” (Human Development; Personality; Social Psychology; Maladaptive Behavior; Professional Psychology and Human Potential).

"This course provides an introduction to important philosophical questions about the mind, specifically those that are intimately connected with contemporary psychology and neuroscience. Are our concepts innate, or are they acquired by experience? (And what does it even mean to call a concept 'innate'?) Are 'mental images' pictures in the head? Is color in the mind or in the world? Is the mind nothing more than the brain? Can there be a science of consciousness? The course will include guest lectures by Professors."

The topics of sensation and perception are among the oldest and most important in all of psychology. People are equipped with senses such as sight, hearing and taste that help us to take in the world around us. Amazingly, our senses have the ability to convert real-world information into electrical information that can be processed by the brain. The way we interpret this information-- our perceptions-- is what leads to our experiences of the world. In this module, you will learn about the biological processes of sensation and how these can be combined to create perceptions.

Sensation and perception are the processes by which we absorb information from environmental stimuli and convert it into data that our brains and bodies use to modify behavior. This course begins with sensation, the physical process by which we use our sense organs to respond to the environmental stimuli around us. Perception refers to our interpretation of stimuli. In this course, the student will identify the ways in which these processes can fail, the biology of both the hearing system and the visual system, and how the other senses (smell, taste, and touch) affect perception. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe the sensory systems; distinguish between sensation and perception; explain how sensory and perceptual processes shape our experience of 'reality;' explain the basic principles of classical psychophysics; explain how sensation and perception relate to cognition; explain how human sensory systems respond to energy in the physical environment (i.e. light waves, air pressure, chemical molecules, etc.), transforming it into a perceptual experience that the brain can understand (i.e. sight, sound, smell, etc.); compare and contrast the major theoretical perspectives on sensation and perception, including direct perception, indirect perception, and the information processing perspective; compare and contrast the five sensory systems in terms of their sensory/anatomical set-up and perceptual organization; explain the roles of evolution, development, society, prior knowledge, and inference in our perceptual judgments and our conscious experiences; identify and define the leading terms, concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in the study of sensation and perception; compare and contrast psychological principles, theories, and methods as they pertain to sensory and neurological systems; critically read, understand, and evaluate scientific literature, understand and use scientific and technical vocabulary, and synthesize information from multiple sources. (Psychology 306)