Psychology is…
…the scientific study of BEHAVIOR and MENTAL PROCESSES
Psychology scientifically studies behavior….
 It studies how biological systems connected to your brain behave.
-> How do you see, measure depth, and then send signals from your brain to throw?
-> Why did your pulse quicken when you were called on in class?
 It studies how you learn certain behaviors.
-> How did you learn to throw in the first place?
-> Have you improved at throwing?
-> Would you try harder if you got a grade for throwing or not?
Psychology studies mental processes….
 Psychology studies how you perceive the world around you.
 How did your brain decode the information your eyes and ears received?
 Psychology studies something called cognition (how you think).
-> What were you thinking about when you did this?
-> Were you fully focused on the task at hand?
 Psychology studies what motivates you to act out a certain behavior.
 Why did you signed up for AP Psychology? Are you interested in learning the content? Are
you trying to improve your transcript? Is it both?
 Psychology studies people’s personality.
 Are you generally an organized person? Do you get along well with others? Why is that?
 Psychology studies how we learn and process language.
 How did you decode the words on this paper, and then form a spoken response?
 Psychology studies how our memory functions.
 How are memories formed? Are you sure you recalled that event accurately?
 Psychology studies our emotions.
 Are you happy that you signed up for Psychology? Are you regretting it? Do you think your
classmates might be feeling the same?
 Psychology studies how the group can
affect the individual.
 Catch anyone rolling their eyes? If so, did
that impact your opinion of this class?
 Psychology studies dreams.
 Why do we dream? Will you dream about
Psychology class tonight?
A few things to keep in mind this year……
1. Definitions are useful, but can often end up just being words on a page. The point
of Psychology is not just to pass tests, but to APPLY what you’ve learned to your
everyday life. You might be surprised how much information you can learn if you
make it meaningful.
2. There will be questions that have several different correct answers. There will also
be correct answers to questions that will seem to be incorrect. If you are a very
logical thinker, this could be very frustrating for you. My advice is to keep an open
mind.
3. During class discussions, try to get out of the mindset of only learning material for
the sake of doing well on the tests. Ask questions! This stuff is real.
4. Listen to the opinions of others.
5. Disagreeing is ok. Disrespecting is not.