PSY 100 General Psychology

Overview of Course

What drives human behavior? Why do people think, feel, and act as they do, and what does science reveal about who we truly are? This course invites students to explore the full spectrum of the human mind through rigorous empirical inquiry. From the architecture of learning and the science of perception to the forces shaping social behavior and individual differences, this course builds a conceptual foundation.

But this is not your typical introductory course. While most students encounter psychology only through a textbook, students in this course will also encounter it in the world itself. Immersive field experiences across Asia, Africa, and Europe place students in living laboratories of human behavior, where they observe how culture shapes cognition, how communities construct social norms, and how vastly different environments produce distinct psychological realities. Whether navigating bustling urban centers in Asia, engaging with community life across Africa, or tracing the roots of psychological thought in Europe, each experience transforms abstract theory into concrete understanding.

Students will return to the classroom with something no lecture alone can provide: a firsthand, cross-cultural lens through which to examine the very concepts they are studying: perception, learning, motivation, identity, and social influence.

Grounded in empirical methods and driven by genuine curiosity about what makes us human, this course invites students to question assumptions, cross borders, and discover that the most fascinating subject they will ever study is the one looking back at them in the mirror.