Hi there, I'm Dr. Chris Dula, a licensed clinical psychologist, and I teach
introductory
psychology, better known as Intro to Psych at East Tennessee
State University, better known as ETSU. My entire Intro Psych course is now
available for free to anyone in the world with an Internet connection to what we call the
ETSU OpenBucs program,
and ETSU is fully credited by SACS. I've only got a few minutes to make this
pitch, so let's do it.
Packed in a hundred percent online platform you can access an entire
semester's worth of classes at your own pace and convenience,
whenever you want. It's now online perpetually, and you can access all the material as you
have the time and interest.
And again, if you only want to increase your personal knowledge; its absolutely free,
but if you also want to get college credit at ETSU
you can do so at a substantial discount. Real psychology is a science;
not some touchy feely BS. It's relevant to many aspects of
everybody's lives. The knowledge that's generated has the power to change your life and
our world for the better.
This course isn't pop psychology; we cover some of the soundest scientific findings of
an academic discipline found well over a hundred years ago,
and in devoting much of my life to learning psychology I've become a better father,
a better family member, a better friend, a better employee, a better citizen, and a
better person in general,
and if you truly learn this material you can improve your world as well.
And thus, I have a passion for connecting people with this important
information,
and we're going to cover lots of subjects in this course, fascinating
topics. We'll talk about research methods and some basic statistics that
every citizen should understand. We discuss neuroscience and look at how a
brain processes, and nervous system structures are
fundamental to every facet of our lives. We'll talk about brain related health
problems such as: epilepsy, paralysis, alzheimer's, and
ALS. We go into development looking at lifespan from conception to the end of life.
Addressing parenting issues, discussing sex differences, the emergence of
physical abilities,
cognition, personality, and even morality. We look to the building blocks of
learning.
How we learn at all, why some people develop phobias, or aversions to certain
tastes or smells,
why some people develop aversions to health disciplines like: dentistry,
physical therapy, or cancer treatment. We'll explore aspects of human motivation
in a context of reinforcement and punishment.
We'll cover memory and how to improve it, why it's so hard to remember some things, and
it seems we never forget other events in our lives. We talk about thinking, and
problem-solving,
cognitive biases, types of intelligence, and intelligence testing.
We investigate models of personality covering Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung,
Karen Horney, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and others.
We'll also learn about concepts such as: self-esteem, self-efficacy,
trait theory, and personality testing. We'll spend time discussing why it is so
hard to rid our human race of group-based hatreds,
suspicion and violence. We'll talk about the basis of stereotypes, prejudice, and
discrimination.
And we'll cover why some of our attitudes are so easy to change, while others are so difficult to
change.
We'll examine cognitive dissonance and social influences
such as: authority, consistency, conformity, reciprocity, ingratiation, and scarcity.
We're gonna dive into group information processing
and see how this affects areas such as: criminal justice, businesses, and
other organizational dynamics. Why we even help
some people and fail to help others. Of course, we'll discuss what's often
called abnormal psychology, but what I prefer to think of as people
having difficulties. We'll visit topics like anxiety disorders
such as: OCD, PTSD, panic, and phobic disorders,
and mood related problems such as: depression and bipolar disorders.
We'll explore issues pertaining to the prevention of suicide, and we'll cover
other issues like: personality disorders, substance abuse, and schizophrenia.
We'll talk about risk factors, and maintenance factors, and especially
we'll talk about effective treatments. And, as you can gather this is a fascinating
list of topics.
As for my qualifications to teach, I've been a college-level instructor since 1999.
I got my master's in clinical psychology from Appalachian State University where
I first taught,
and I received my doctor in clinical psychology from Virginia Tech,
where I also taught. I also did a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University
of Memphis, and I taught there as well.
I've been at ETSU since 2004, and since then
I've received several teaching related awards; which come from my department
my college of Arts and Sciences, the University, and most humbling to me
directly from ETSU students.
I was also honored to be named a top 25 professor on MTV U's ratemyprofessor
.com,
where students anonymously and spontaneously rate their instructors.
I hope you'll join me on this journey learning discovery, whether you just want
to gain knowledge to apply to your own life, or whether you'd
also like to obtain quality college credit
at a reduced price, and I hope you're gonna share this video and this opportunity with
friends,
family, coworkers, and others in person
and by social networks. For more in depth introduction to class,
or more information on OpenBucs just click on the link below, visit ETSU's office of
elearning online,
or call them toll-free at 855-590-ETSU
which is, 855-590-3878. Thanks a lot for your time
and Go Bucs.