<p>I've heard that PSYCH 1101 can be fun and interesting, but that it doesn't really TEACH you psychology, and is very time consuming. I'm thinking that psychology may be something I'd like to major in (though I'm still very unsure at this point) - if I never took psychology in high school, should I still take PSYCH 1101, or is there another class that would be more worth my time? I just feel kind of lost because don't the psych courses become increasingly specialized? So I don't really know where I would start, lacking a general education in psych as I am. Thanks!</p>
<p>I never took a psych course in high school either, and I took Psych 1101 in the fall of my freshman year. It was an extremely interesting course and I loved Maas, but yes, it’s very time-consuming if you’re looking to do well. It gives you a pretty broad overview, going over the important basics across all branches of psych (social psych, biopsych, etc). </p>
<p>Alternatively, you could take an intro course in a more specialized area. I took Psych 2800 (Intro to Social Psych) last spring, and while that was also a lot of work, the material was more up my alley than 1101’s overview.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I’m currently in the process of applying to be a psych major :)</p>
<p>Well, I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable taking a more specialized class without getting the overview first (I’m pretty conflicted on which branch of psychology I’m most interested in). So if I’m willing to work hard for the A, it’ll be perfectly fine for me to go ahead and take PSYCH 1101? Mostly I’m just worried that I’ll regret taking the class, what with all the negative reviews I read :</p>
<p>i would take psychology if it’s offered at your high school…i took it at community college in the summer just because i was interested…</p>
<p>the professor at cornell has been criticized for teaching his book (and making students buy it) than instead of giving a traditional psych101 lecture! </p>
<p>a course like organizational behavior offered at ILR and HOTEL is also a good introduction to psychological methods…</p>
<p>Well, even if he’s criticized for teaching his own book, is there anything fundamentally wrong with the material itself? I’ve been hearing a lot of bad stuff, like how his tests are extremely obscure, and you don’t actually learn anything important. Is that true?</p>
<p>Ultimately what I want to know is: will I learn a lot/learn something valuable through this class? I don’t mind too too much if I have to do a lot of reading in order to achieve that knowledge.</p>
<p>Btw, are his test’s really that obscure? If you just pay careful attention during lectures, will you be fine? Or do you have to write down everything he says.</p>
<p>His exams aren’t really obscure (try taking AEM 1200 with Perez!), but they require you to remember the little details, which can be annoying. It’s also true that he tends to teach straight out of the book, but then again, his lectures are extremely engaging. He used to reuse old prelims which made the class an easy A, but a couple of years ago he started to create new exams. However, I found that quite a bit of questions came straight out of the study guide (which many students never opened).</p>
<p>What I gained from the class was realizing that I actually have a passion for psych and want to pursue it. A lot of the material showed up again when I took Social Psych, and I expect it to keep coming back as I continue taking psych courses. If you never take a psych class again, at the very least you’ll gain a little more insight into human behavior.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks so much for the feedback, I feel better :)</p>
<p>Np! Worst case scenario, you attend a lecture, find that you hate the class, and drop it. No harm done. But I really think that you’re going to love it :)</p>
bump how about pizarro?
^This is a really old thread, but I’ll answer since you raised a new question. Pizarro is wonderful; he’s a really funny guy and his lectures are almost always super entertaining. Test questions were really specific but you’ll be fine as long as you do the readings and don’t rely too heavily on the lectures (which was a big mistake I made!)