College Psychology Throws Open Door On Human Behavior

There are many different, compelling reasons as to why students would want to take the course that is known as Introduction to Psychology. Intro to Psychology is normally a pre-requisite course for students who are enrolled in college as psychology majors. This is a course that deals with how the human mind works, as well as the different responses that different people have to certain stimuli. This course will also explore the important personalities who have affected the development of psychology throughout the years.

There are many different personalities who have influenced the study of psychology throughout the years. While an introductory course in psychology will not give complete and total histories on these contributors, it will allow students to obtain a working knowledge of how each of these forebearers contributed to the development of psychology. Two important people are Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud.

Jean Piaget is the Swiss psychologist who is responsible for much of the initial study of how children develop psychologically. Piaget's greatest claim to fame is his "Theory of Cognitive Development". This theory is meant to be a blueprint of how children learn to assimilate both socially and intellectually. Thanks to Piaget's work, many theorists have followed, building upon his work.

Sigmund Freud is possibly the most influential figure in the history of psychology. His methods were unconventional at the time and to this day he still generates controversy, not only to those students in an intro class who are just learning about his influence, but in classes where further exploration takes place. Some of his most famous works deal with dream analysis and the Id, Ego and Superego, as well as how the Oedipal Complex affects conscious development.

The other area of psychology that students will study is the different work that goes into how the psychological process works. Students will learn how the mind learns the many of its most basic and complex functions. The other usual point of interest to psychology students is abnormal psychology. This is the area in which students learn about people who have many different mental disorders that cause them to process stimuli differently.

There are many different ideas as to how people learn not only the concepts of abstract knowledge, but socialization processes as well. There are many different schools of thought that speak to the different ways one can learn. One of the most famous of these is the school called behaviorism. This school basically states that positive behaviors associated with a positive reward will lead to these behaviors being repeated.

Many students are drawn to studying psychology due to the abnormal elements that can color the study of psychology. Some disorders that are profiled are dissociative disorder, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia and autism. The study of these disorders is ever-evolving and many students who really are interested in learning about these disorders sometimes have personal experience with one or more.

There are many compelling reasons to choose to take an introductory college psychology class. One that many students might not know about is that it is offered as an online college course. Working while learning seems to be more the norm these days and this is where distance learning shows its advantage. In order to better learn how the human mind works students are encouraged to take this course and learn about themselves and their peers.