This course will provide a broad overview of the field of psychology. Throughout the course you will be introduced to many theories, findings, and research devoted to a broad range of topics such as: the biological basis of human behavior, perception, learning, memory, thinking, intelligence, motivation, emotion, human development over the life span, individual differences, psychological disorders and psychotherapy, and finally social influences on behavior, cognition and emotion. But the purpose of this course, however, is not merely to familiarize you with the field of psychology. The purpose is also to help you learn how theories (explanations) about human behavior, cognition, and affect are translated in to hypotheses (testable predictions), how these hypotheses are evaluated by conducting studies and experiments, and how the findings from research are then used to refine theories. In one sense, perhaps the most important objective of this course is to foster the skills and knowledge that will enable you to become a good consumer of research, so that you can critically evaluate for yourself research claims made about psychological issues that affect us all.