OERu/Planning/OERu 2012 Prototype/General and Applied Psychology/Complete outline for materials

High level structure
After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 1) Psychology: The study of mental processes and behaviour
 * 1) define psychology
 * 2) outline the history of psychology
 * 3) distinguish between different perspectives in psychology
 * 1) Research methods in psychology
 * 2) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 3) **describe characteristics of good psychological research
 * 4) **outline the steps involved in conducting an experiment
 * 5) **describe general types of research methods and understand basic statistics
 * 6) **summarise the ethical principles of psychological research
 * 7) **outline the procedure for critically evaluating a study.
 * 8) Memory
 * 9) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 10) **diagram the standard (information processing) model of memory, explaining each box and arrow
 * 11) **define working memory, name and describe its components, and explain its relation to long-term memory
 * 12) **name and explain varieties of long-term memory
 * 13) **explain some of the causes of misremembering and forgetting, as well as some techniques for improving memory.
 * 14) Thought and language
 * 15) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 16) **name and explain units of thought (representations, concepts, categories)
 * 17) **explain theories and research results on reasoning, problem solving and decision making
 * 18) **describe the basic elements of language and how language develops.
 * 19) Biological bases
 * 20) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 21) **describe the basic units of the nervous system
 * 22) **describe the major structures and functions of the endocrine system
 * 23) **explain the major subdivisions of the peripheral nervous system
 * 24) **describe the major structures and functions of the central nervous system
 * 25) **describe the relative roles of genetics and environment in psychological functioning.
 * 26) Sensation and perception
 * 27) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 28) **outline the basic principles and processes that apply across all senses (detecting a signal, absolute threshold, transduction, transmission from receptor to brain, effects on perception of the perceiver and of the environment)
 * 29) **explain how light is transformed into visual experiences such as colour perception
 * 30) **explain how sound is transformed into auditory experiences such as pitch perception
 * 31) **distinguish the perception of smell, taste, touch, and proprioception
 * 32) **describe ways in which perception is organised, and give examples that demonstrate perceptual organisation.
 * 33) Consciousness
 * 34) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 35) **describe some of the functions of consciousness
 * 36) **explain several different theoretical perspectives on consciousness
 * 37) **describe the functions of sleep and explain several psychological views of dreaming
 * 38) **describe some altered states of consciousness and how people experience them.
 * 39) Learning
 * 40) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 41) **define learning
 * 42) **describe the basic principles of classical conditioning
 * 43) **describe the basic principles of operant conditioning
 * 44) **describe the basic principles of cognitive-social theory and the nature of social learning.
 * 45) Intelligence
 * 46) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 47) **describe the nature of intelligence, as studied by psychologists
 * 48) **explain how intelligence is measured
 * 49) **review the concepts of standardisation, norms, reliability, and validity, and explain why each is important in creating and using psychological tests
 * 50) **understand the different approaches to intelligence
 * 51) **discuss the extent to which intelligence is inherited or learned
 * 52) **discuss criticisms of intelligence testing.
 * 53) Cross cultural and indigenous psychology (TBC)
 * 54) *After completing this module, you should be able to:
 * 55) **define culture and outline some of the difficulties in studying cultural influences in psychology
 * 56) **outline the characteristics which distinguish cultural groups
 * 57) **describe the study of cross-cultural relations in multicultural societies
 * 58) **better understand psychology in Aotearoa, and the relevance of Māori history and culture and of the Treaty of Waitangi to the study of psychology
 * 59) **discuss the approaches taken by psychologists to improve cross-cultural interactions.