Intro Introduction

Hi, everyone. My name is Andy Tix,

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

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

I also want to welcome you to my home

and I want to point out some things

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

So you can see behind me,
some bookshelves,

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

but that is true for me.

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

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

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

are both from small rural
areas in Minnesota.

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

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

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

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

this is definitely a possibility.

In online courses,

there are opportunities to connect,

to get to know each other at a deeper level,

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

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

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

You will probably notice that
this is common in this course

and that, rather than
just a select few sharing,

kind of everybody shares
because the setup allows for that.

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

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

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

and really get us thinking and sharing

and thinking through kind of
how to approach life,

so something to look forward to.

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

I've been reading through
some of the initial work

through the this first week's
application assignment

and reading through stories and questions,

and I thought I'd take this
opportunity here today

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

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

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

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

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

So psychology is, by definition,

the scientific study of behavior
and mental process.

And as such, in psychology,

we address some really
fascinating questions,

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

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

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

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

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

It's a really essential question,

and you know, when you think about

all the different claims about
what is true in the world

and all the different things
people believe,

how do you figure out what is true?

It's really core to us as people

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

Because of that, there --

Because, of course,
there are all sorts of ideas

about what is true about behavior.

And so we need a method
to determine for ourselves

and also in the discipline of psychology

what is true so that we can start to create

knowledge and have a firm
foundation to base our lives and

our applications of knowledge off of.

So we're going to start there.

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

How can students thrive in school?

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

I know some students
have struggled in school

and some students have done really well,

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

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

versus those who thrive in school.

And so, as a part of that,

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

and we'll be studying topics
such as motivation

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

as well as memory, human memory,

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

and so, students who have a better memory

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

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

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

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

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

And so, we'll be considering

how some people can respond
more effectively to stress than others

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

The third question is kind of

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

"Why do people do what they do?"

And maybe you've thought
about that for yourself.

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

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

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

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

or "Why are some people
more likely to be depressed

and other people less likely
to be depressed?"

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

or why people are who they are

or why people have the traits that they do.

And so, we'll be looking at this

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

nature having to do with biology,

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

and then nurture has to do
with life experience back,

early childhood factors, situational
factors that elicit behavior --

and we'll be trying to understand

how nature and nurture
come together and interact

to ultimately influence
why people do what they do.

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

Of course, happiness is something

that humans often almost
universally strive for in their lives.

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

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

and then to apply that knowledge

to hopefully increase happiness
in ourselves and others.

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

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

We'll be discussing things
like gratitude and exercise

and how people respond to stress.

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

about what we can do with our own lives

to bring about more happiness
for ourselves and others.

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

you'll agree, these are
intriguing questions.

These are questions that you
think about outside of school.

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

more systematically
through the help of,

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

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

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

I was actually an accounting major
going into business school,

and I needed to take Introduction
to Psychology as a prerequisite

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

for some other program).

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

I had fallen in love with
psychology and these questions,

probably because, more than anything else --

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

Introduction to Psychology
was the one course I ever took

where every single class
and every single topic

seemed to relate to my life

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

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

and I loved that.

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

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

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

or go into psychology like I did.

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

and so I've organized the course

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

And so, you'll be hopefully exposed

to some of the best thinking
and the best research,

hopefully really engaging discussion,

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

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

and relate it back to your life

and hopefully leave the
course a little bit better,

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

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

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

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

that will help you, that are relevant.

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

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

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

So I have written personal
reflections for different topics

about what studying that material
has meant to me personally,

which I hope you'll enjoy.

I will be producing some audiovisuals,

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

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

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

TED Talks and podcasts --

that will give you different
way of learning material

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

maybe you'll like the
TED Talks or the podcasts

or you know, there's kind of a diversity

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

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

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

And so, hopefully,
all of this will come together

and really make for an
engaging experience for you

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

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

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

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

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

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

you'll probably see the word "Announcements,"

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

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

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

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

Check D2L in the Announcements regularly,

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

including the links and
where to go and everything.

Oftentimes, I'll be referring to the syllabus,

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

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

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

You can see it in my previous announcements,

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

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

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

At the very end of the syllabus

is a schedule where I list in order --

basically in a recommended
order of what to do --

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

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

just check off one thing after
the other in the schedule

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

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

I would just do one thing
after the other,

and before you know it,
the semester will be over

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

Finally, I just want to close by mentioning,

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

And so, it is possible to
go through this course

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

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

really make a decision to be vulnerable

and to share and to ask heartfelt questions

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

to really thrive in this course.

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

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

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

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

And if you ever have
thoughts or questions to share,

I really hope that you will reach out to me.

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

as we go through the course,

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

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

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

So I hope you'll be in touch,

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