PSY 102 – General Psychology II:  Physical and Sensory Aspects

Course Outline 

Course Number & Name:  PSY 102 General Psychology II:  Physical and Sensory Aspects


Prerequisites:  Grade of “C” or better in PSY 101

Co-requisites:  None                                                      Concurrent Courses:  None

Course Description:  This course examines the structure and function of our various senses as starting points for all human knowledge.  Visual perception and illusions, along with concepts related to human learning and forgetting is studies.  An understanding of the nature of thinking, problem solving, and language is developed.

General Education Goals:  PSY 102 is affirmed in the following General Education Foundation Category:  Society and Human Behavior.  The corresponding General Education Goal is as follows:  Students will use social science theories and concepts to analyze human behavior and social and political institutions and to act as responsible citizens.  PSY 102 also addresses the General Education Integrated Course Goals: Ethical Reasoning and Action and Information Literacy, which are respectively as follows: Students will understand ethical issues and situations; and Students will address an information need by locating, evaluating, and effectively using information.


  1. apply critical thinking guidelines to assess claims and make objective judgments on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence rather than emotion and anecdote;
  2. identity the different research methods in psychology, as well as their advantages and disadvantages;
  3. differentiate the activities of psychologists who conduct basic or applied psychological research from those who practice psychology;
  4. identity the major and minor psychological perspectives that predominate modern psychology, with particular attention devoted to the terms, definitions, and theories associated with the biological and cognitive perspectives;
  5. examine the contributions of evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics in shaping human commonalities and individual differences;
  6. describe the function of the nervous system, communication in the nervous system, and the major brain structures;
  7. describe the various body rhythms and how mental states may affect them;
  8. discuss the relationship between how one’s senses take in information from the environment and how one’s brain uses this information to construct a model of the world;
  9. distinguish the prevailing views about memory; and
  10. describe how people reason, solve problems, and grow in intelligence and sources of mental shortcomings.