Psychology is derived from the Greek words Psyche and logos, meaning soul and study respectively. Diverse authors define Psychology in various ways. Robert Feldman defined Psychology as the scientific lesson of mental processes and human behavior. Psychology is considered a science because it’s theories use scientific method to understand why an individual behaves in a definite manner. It is systematic, experiential and reliant upon measurements and observations. General Psychology classes teach students the various components of the scientific method, which commonly involves the following: identification of the problem, formulation of hypothesis, gathering of data, interpretation and analysis of data and generalization of conclusion, and how these techniques can be applied to the realm of Psychology.
While most people have basic knowledge of psychology, many never understand the subject enough to fully realize it’s practical applications nor its complexity. A large portion of psychologists work in some sort of “therapeutic” manner such as counseling, clinical, and school positions. However, a good amount of psychologists also do scientific research and publish papers on a broad variety of topics connected to mental processes and related psychological findings. One thing that all of these psychologists, psychiatrists, and related psychology based occupations have in common is that they require a complete understanding of General Psychology.
General Psychology classes typically involve a series of lectures addressing the basic thoughts of contemporary psychology in the areas of information processing, motivation, developmental processes, social psychology, and personality. At some universities, General Psychology may be split up into different “sub” classes focusing on specific facets of psychology; Biological Psychology: the study of psychological and physiological mechanisms in the human body and how they affect human behavior; Cognitive Psychology: underlying theories of cognitive psychology in areas like language, attention, though perception, and memory; Behavioral Psychology: this subject addressing topics like behavior modification, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning; Social Psychology: topics include behavior in social organizations, attitudes and attitude change, aesthetics, and emotion; and lastly, Developmental Psychology: social changes and cognitive development over the period of a lifetime, and significant theories of child development. Other courses may be included in the General Psychology discipline.
The following are the widely known and accepted text books of the General Psychology field of study. General Psychology: Paradigmatic Approach (by Lambert M Surhone), Experimental Psychology (by Robert L Solso), Approaches to Psychology (by William Glassman), Psychology of Sports: A Social Psychological Approach (by Seppo E Iso Ahola), General Psychology (by Prof Yadav R S), Psychopathology of Childhood: a Clinical Experimental Approach (General Psychology) (By Steven Schwartz James H), General Psychology (By S K Mangal), and many others.
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You can find and instantly access many free General Psychology textbooks in our massive list of social science textbooks here.
A free digital textbook related to General Psychology that might interest you is Introduction to Psychology by Charles Stangor, located here: http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/printed-book/64803