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Students Use Intorduction To Psychology As A Jumping-Off Point For Their Psychology Degree

Article by Natasha Bright

Many different students are eager for the chance to learn about psychology. They come to college with dreams of learning about the many different experiments and personalities who have contributed to the study of the human mind. Introduction to Psychology is a great course for students who are amateur psychologists with dreams of becoming professional psychologists as they will learn about the many different issues that are important to learn about in today’s psychological world.

Introduction to Psychology introduces students to many different personalities who have contributed countless hours of research to the study of the human mind. Many of these researchers have outsized personalities and generate controversy long after their days on this earth have ceased. Some of the most famous people who have contributed to the world of psychology are Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud.

How many times have people tossed around the phrase “identity crisis” without knowing exactly how that phrase was originated? For those who would like to know the answer, they should ask an Introduction to Psychology student. That student will tell the person who has the question that the phrase was coined by a Danish psychologist named Erik Erikson who believed that people must go through different stages of growth in order to develop their identity. This set of theories is called,”Erikson’s Stages of Development”.

Sigmund Freud is known as the “Father of Modern Psychology” due to his impressive role in contributing to the study of the human mind. Freud is the person who is responsible for pioneering the thought of the different levels of consciousness, the Id, Ego and Superego and dream analysis. Freud is a figure that generates a lot of controversy to this day and Introduction to Psychology students will certainly not be ambivalent about Freud.

There are many different subgroups that dominate the field of psychology. The study of the human mind is a complex endeavor and because of this there are many avenues in which people choose to study. Some ideas that people study are theories on why people learn the way they do and what happens when people do not learn in conventional ways and react to stimuli in far different ways than normal. Examples of these groups of study are the debate of nature versus nurture and abnormal psychology.

Nature versus nurture is a debate that exists within psychological circles as to which of the factors is the driving force in the development of an individual. Proponents of the idea of nature state that identical twin studies are the key evidence that genetic coding is most influential. Nurture enthusiasts counter with studies of feral children; these studies indicate that environment is the critical factor for development.

Abnormal psychology is the area of psychological study that deals with the many different disorders that can affect a person’s cognitive and emotional development. Some examples of mental disorders falling under the umbrella of abnormal psychology are schizophrenia, autism and bi-polar disorder.