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Hi, everyone. My name is Andy Tix,

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and I am really honored and thrilled 
to be your professor for this course,

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and I'm really excited to welcome you
to Introduction to Psychology.

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I also want to welcome you to my home

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and I want to point out some things

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to help you to maybe get
to know me a little bit better.

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So you can see behind me,
some bookshelves,

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and I guess it's not that surprising 
that a professor would love books,

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but that is true for me.

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And you can see some pictures of
people that I love, my family and friends.

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You can see there's kind of a farm feel here,

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and in the back, we've got a windmill,
which reflects the fact that my wife and I

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are both from small rural
areas in Minnesota.

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I'm from a small town of 300,
my wife is from a farm and so,

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you know, I just want you to
start to get to know me in ways

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that my face-to-face students probably won't.

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And the reason why I bring this up at
the outset is that, in an online course,

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this is definitely a possibility.

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In online courses,

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there are opportunities to connect,

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to get to know each other at a deeper level,

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to share stories and questions
that reflect, in some ways,

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more of where we're really at as people 
and to be kind of more honest and raw

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in how we're trying to work through
the material for the course.

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You will probably notice that
this is common in this course

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and that, rather than 
just a select few sharing,

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kind of everybody shares
because the setup allows for that.

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And so, this promises to be really
an adventure here this term

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and you'll be surprised at how the ideas 
and the concepts relate to your life

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and relate to other people's lives in
ways that really bring out our humanity

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and really get us thinking and sharing

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and thinking through kind of
how to approach life,

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so something to look forward to.

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And this really promises to be
a terrific experience for all of us.

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I've been reading through
some of the initial work

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through the this first week's 
application assignment

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and reading through stories and questions,

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and I thought I'd take this
opportunity here today

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to just address some preliminary concerns
and questions that seem to be bubbling up.

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So the first question I see coming
up in different forms is:

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"Can this really be an engaging course, 
given that it's completely online,

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given that we will never meet as 
a class together all at the same time?"

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And so, I want to address that 
question in a couple different ways.

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So psychology is, by definition,

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the scientific study of behavior
and mental process.

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And as such, in psychology,

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we address some really 
fascinating questions,

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and I've organized this course around
four of those questions, and I thought,

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kind of as a way to introduce a course, 
I could mention those questions

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and give you kind of a sense for what
we're going to be doing in this course.

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So the first question we're going to discuss
in this course after we get through

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some of this preliminary getting used to things
kind of stuff is: How do we know we know?

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It's a really essential question,

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and you know, when you think about

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all the different claims about
what is true in the world

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and all the different things
people believe,

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how do you figure out what is true?

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It's really core to us as people

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and it's really core to the 
discipline of psychology.

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Because of that, there --

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Because, of course, 
there are all sorts of ideas

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about what is true about behavior.

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And so we need a method 
to determine for ourselves

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and also in the discipline of psychology

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what is true so that we can start to create

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knowledge and have a firm
foundation to base our lives and

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our applications of knowledge off of.

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So we're going to start there.

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The second question we're going to
go into pretty shortly after that is:

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How can students thrive in school?

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And this is maybe something
you have wondered about in the past.

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I know some students 
have struggled in school

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and some students have done really well,

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and in this unit, we're going to reflect 
on what might contribute to that,

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what might distinguish between 
those who fail versus those who get by,

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versus those who thrive in school.

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And so, as a part of that,

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we're going to be looking at 
the science of student success,

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and we'll be studying topics
such as motivation

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(what motivates students and how those
motives might affect student success)

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as well as memory, human memory,

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because a lot of what happens in
school actually are memory tests,

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and so, students who have a better memory

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(who know how to study better to have an 
accurate detailed memory for tests) do better,

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and based on the science of memory, 
we can apply some of what we know

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to help people to remember better and
hopefully, then, perform better in school.

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Later in the semester, 
we're going to study stress,

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and, of course, stress can interfere
with our ability to do well in school.

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And so, we'll be considering

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how some people can respond 
more effectively to stress than others

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and how we can learn from that to
hopefully do better as students in school.

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The third question is kind of

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the bread-and-butter core question
of psychology, and that is:

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"Why do people do what they do?"

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And maybe you've thought 
about that for yourself.

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You know, sometimes you do something
and you think: "Well, why did I do that?"

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or you observe someone else
and you think: "Why do they do that?"

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And sometimes, this question
takes more specific forms, such as:

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"Why are men and women 
different in certain ways?"

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or "Why are some people 
more likely to be depressed

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and other people less likely 
to be depressed?"

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This all kind of has to do with
why people do what they do

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or why people are who they are

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or why people have the traits that they do.

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And so, we'll be looking at this

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from the classic perspective
of the nature/nurture debate --

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nature having to do with biology,

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so we'll be studying things 
like genetics and the brain;

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and then nurture has to do 
with life experience back,

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early childhood factors, situational
factors that elicit behavior --

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and we'll be trying to understand

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how nature and nurture 
come together and interact

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to ultimately influence 
why people do what they do.

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The fourth question is:
"How can we all be happy?"

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Of course, happiness is something

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that humans often almost 
universally strive for in their lives.

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And so, we're going to be studying 
different kinds of topics that might

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help us understand why some people
are more likely to be happy than others,

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and then to apply that knowledge

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to hopefully increase happiness
in ourselves and others.

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We'll be looking at psychological
disorders and psychological treatment.

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We'll be looking at close relationships
and how that relates to happiness.

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We'll be discussing things 
like gratitude and exercise

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and how people respond to stress.

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And so, all of that hopefully will lead us
in the end of the course to some ideas

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about what we can do with our own lives

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to bring about more happiness 
for ourselves and others.

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So, I think, when you think 
about those four questions,

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you'll agree, these are 
intriguing questions.

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These are questions that you 
think about outside of school.

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And so, in this course, we're just
going to be looking at those questions

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more systematically 
through the help of,

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really, the best thinking and the best
science in the history of psychology,

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and then looking at our own experience and
considering how that relates to all of that.

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My story is that when I was an undergraduate
at the University Wisconsin,

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I was actually an accounting major
going into business school,

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and I needed to take Introduction
to Psychology as a prerequisite

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(like I imagine a lot of you are 
taking this course as a prerequisite

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for some other program).

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But what I found was that maybe 
a month or two into the course,

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I had fallen in love with
psychology and these questions,

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probably because, more than anything else --

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and I would still say this after having 
went to school for many years --

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Introduction to Psychology 
was the one course I ever took

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where every single class
and every single topic

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seemed to relate to my life

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and I would always leave thinking to myself:
"I have a slightly different perspective now"

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or "I have a different idea about how to
approach something more effectively,"

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and I loved that.

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I loved being able to apply
material to life, to think differently,

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to act differently, 
to kind of be a better person.

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Now, I don't suspect that you 
will become a psychology major

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or go into psychology like I did.

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I assume that this will be the only
psychology course you ever take,

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and so I've organized the course

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to give everybody kind of a 
sense of the best of psychology.

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And so, you'll be hopefully exposed

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to some of the best thinking
and the best research,

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hopefully really engaging discussion,

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that will have you have a 
similar experience that I did,

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where you feel like you can really 
connect with what we're studying

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and relate it back to your life

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and hopefully leave the 
course a little bit better,

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a little bit more likely to live well,
which is kind of the ultimate hope.

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Now, another way of answering this question
about whether this can be an engaging course

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is to kind of think about how I 
have organized the course for you.

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And so, I just want to mention briefly, 
I've really tried carefully to select readings

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that will help you, that are relevant.

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I've tried to eliminate anything from the book
that might not be as helpful or relevant,

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so you'll see that I've only actually
assigned a portion of the book

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and decided instead to supplement
with a lot of additional resources.

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So I have written personal 
reflections for different topics

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about what studying that material
has meant to me personally,

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which I hope you'll enjoy.

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I will be producing some audiovisuals,

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I'll be producing videos, I'll be creating
podcasts (audio-only podcasts)

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where I reflect also and answer 
common questions that students have.

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I've assigned, I think, some of the
best audiovisuals in psychology --

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TED Talks and podcasts --

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that will give you different 
way of learning material

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so that if you don't like to read as much,

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maybe you'll like the 
TED Talks or the podcasts

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or you know, there's kind of a diversity

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of ways we'll be approaching 
this in this course.

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You have assignments -- reflection assignments,
application assignments, dialogue assignments --

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that will encourage you to get 
more deeply involved in the course.

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And so, hopefully, 
all of this will come together

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and really make for an 
engaging experience for you

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where you will leave the course somehow
different and better than you are now.

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The second question that I see kind of
bubbling up in the discussions is just:

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"What exactly do I do here? 
How do I know what to do in this course?"

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And there's a couple sources
I'll point you to.

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So first of all, on D2L in the Announcements
section, there will be updates.

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And so, if you're watching this 
video on D2L now, if you look up,

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you'll probably see the word "Announcements,"

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and so, if you scroll down, you'll see
previous announcements I've made.

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If this happens to be the first 
announcement you've seen,

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go down, and I've been writing 
about what to do and when to do it.

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This is what I'll be doing
throughout the term.

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Check D2L in the Announcements regularly,

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and I will be posting 
what to do, when to do it,

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including the links and
where to go and everything.

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Oftentimes, I'll be referring to the syllabus,

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and really, the syllabus is the most
important document for the course.

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In fact, if you haven't already
read the syllabus,

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the first thing I would do when finishing
this video is, go to the syllabus.

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You can see it in my previous announcements,

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Or if you go under Content and then Course 
Information, you'll see a link to the syllabus.

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Read the whole syllabus through
in its entirety, in detail, and it will

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answer a lot of your questions about
what to do, what's going to be coming.

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At the very end of the syllabus

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is a schedule where I list in order --

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basically in a recommended 
order of what to do --

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what you'll need to do,
and when you need to do it by.

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And in fact, maybe you could
even print off the syllabus and

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just check off one thing after
the other in the schedule

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so that you can keep up on 
what you're supposed to be doing.

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So that's the way I would 
kind of approach that.

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I would just do one thing
after the other,

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and before you know it,
the semester will be over

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and hopefully, it'll be a 
very meaningful experience.

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Finally, I just want to close by mentioning,

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especially in an online course, I think 
you really get out of it what you put in.

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And so, it is possible to 
go through this course

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and kind of just do the minimal 
work and get the points,

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but it's also possible to go above and 
beyond and really invest yourself,

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really make a decision to be vulnerable

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and to share and to ask heartfelt questions

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and sometimes even post 
more than you're expected to,

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to really thrive in this course.

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I'm hoping that each of you will
connect with me somehow or other --

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face-to-face, over the phone, Skype --
there's different ways we can do that.

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You'll see my contact information 
at the top right of D2L always,

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and that provides when I'm available
and how I'm available.

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And if you ever have 
thoughts or questions to share,

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I really hope that you will reach out to me.

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I want to know how the course
is affecting you, and I want to know,

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as we go through the course,

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what you're thinking and 
what questions you're having

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above and beyond just what you're
posting and doing for assignments.

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I want to kind of check in and help you
to get the most out of this course as you can.

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So I hope you'll be in touch,

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and if you ever have any questions,
please let me know. END