Introduction to Psychology provides a cursory look at the history of the science and its overarching concepts: sensation and perception, motivation, cognition, development, social behavior, learning and memory, etc. The major schools of psychology, such as behaviorism, functionalism, psychotherapy and Gestalt theory are also covered. Intro to Psychology is usually a prerequisite for the majority of higher-level psychology courses.
In most college psychology programs, Statistics and Research Methods are the two classes that complete the core of the Psychology program. The Statistics class covers concepts and issues of importance in the analysis and interpretation of experimental data. These concepts include: hypothesis testing, descriptive statistics, the Gaussian distribution, correlation and regression. The Research Methods class introduces students to the many forms of research used by psychologists, and the most important issues faced when conducting an experiment and writing a journal article.
After becoming familiarized with the core concepts of psychology and the principles of psychological research, students are allowed to explore the many subdisciplines of psychology in much greater depth than found in the Intro to Psychology course. Common courses include: Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Neurophysiology, Animal Behavior. These classes may have a lab component, in which students test the theories found in their textbooks.
Upper-level psychology courses are usually in the seminar format, with a smaller class size and a more discussion-oriented structure. Seminar courses may explore interdisciplinary topics in psychology and biology or psychology and philosophy. Seminar courses usually require one or more prerequisites in their particular field, ensuring that the class is familiar with the basic concepts and can discuss topics on a more advanced level.