Course: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Bennett
Module: Week 1 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions
Objective covered: Objective 1 — Explain what makes psychology a science and compare its major theoretical perspectives.

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 1 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that drips out when the module opens. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday session pattern with Week 1 meeting Tue Sep 1 and Thu Sep 3, and end-of-week work due Sunday Sep 6, 11:59 p.m. Adjust the day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 1 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 1: The Science of Psychology

This is your home base for the week. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything you need is linked inside the module.

This week is the foundation the whole course is built on. Before we explain a single behavior, we have to answer two basic questions: what does psychology actually study, and why do we trust evidence over the things that just "feel" true? You have intuitions about people all day long — why your friend is quiet, why you procrastinate, why a stranger was rude. Psychology is the discipline that takes those intuitions and tests them, and it gives you six different lenses for looking at any human behavior.

The week's big question

"What makes psychology a science — and how can six very different perspectives all be 'right' about the same person?"

By Friday you'll be able to define what psychology studies, place its big ideas in history, and read any behavior — a craving, a fear, a kindness — through six perspectives at once.

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all four out loud, you're ready for the quiz.

• [ ] Define psychology as the science of behavior (what we can observe) and mental processes (what we infer) — and explain why each word matters.
• [ ] Sketch the field's history — from Wundt's 1879 lab and introspection, through behaviorism and Freud, to the cognitive and biological eras.
• [ ] Name and contrast the six perspectives — biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, sociocultural — and group them into the biopsychosocial levels of analysis.
• [ ] Explain why psychology is a science — empiricism over common sense, what hindsight bias is, and how a theory differs from a hypothesis.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one gets you ready for the next.

Heads-up on the AI tutorial: you'll use a chatbot to draft and explain, and then you judge its work against what we cover in class. Chatbots routinely blur this week's history — they'll credit functionalism to Wundt (it's William James) or call Freud the founder of scientific psychology (it's Wundt, 1879). Catching the model is the point.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. If life happens, reach out before the deadline — I'd much rather hear from you early.

How to succeed this week

• Lead with the idea, not the jargon. Every term this week is a plain-English idea first (a perspective is just a lens; a theory is a well-tested explanation). The vocabulary comes after the idea clicks.
• Memorize two tiny hooks. "Behavior = see it; mental processes = infer it." And the three levels of analysis: "Bio – Psycho – Social — one person, six lenses."
• Practice the six-lens move. Pick any behavior (procrastinating, a craving) and force one sentence per perspective. Filling every row — even when one feels like a stretch — is the whole skill.
• Remember the headline lesson: evidence beats intuition. "Common sense" explains everything after the fact and predicts nothing before it. (Ask me in class which famous "obvious" findings turned out to be false.)
• Treat the chatbot as a smart intern, not an oracle. It drafts; you check. That habit is the whole semester in miniature.

You don't need any background for this week — just curiosity and a willingness to question your own intuitions about people. Come to class ready to argue about whether "opposites attract." See you Tuesday.

(B) Welcome Announcement — Module 1

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 0 days), i.e., Tue Sep 1, 2026 — not before. If your platform won't preserve the scheduled date on import, post this as a draft labeled "Release: Tue Sep 1."

Subject: Welcome to Week 1 — let's question what you think you know about people 👋

Hi everyone, and welcome to Introduction to Psychology!

Quick warm-up before we start: true or false — opposites attract, we only use 10% of our brains, and venting anger gets it out of your system? Most people say "true" to at least one. All three are false or unsupported. That gap — between what feels obviously true and what the evidence shows — is the entire reason psychology is a science and not just opinions about people.

This week — The Science of Psychology — we tackle the big question: What makes psychology a science, and how can six very different perspectives all be "right" about the same person? By Friday you'll be able to define what psychology studies, place its big ideas in time, and read any behavior through six lenses at once.

Three things not to miss:
1. Lecture Tutorial 1 — work through the week's ideas with one approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) and submit the share link. You'll catch the model's history mistakes, not just trust it. Due Sun Sep 6.
2. Quiz 1, Discussion 1, and Assignment 1 also close Sun Sep 6 — the discussion is a quick AI dialogue you summarize and post, so start early and leave time to reply to classmates.
3. Open the Start Here page first — it lays out everything in order with due dates.

One promise: this is a course about thinking clearly about people, not about memorizing definitions. We lead with plain-language ideas every single week. By Friday, the next time someone tells you what "obviously" makes people tick, you'll know exactly what to ask.

Bring your curiosity (and maybe a strong opinion about whether "opposites attract") to class on Tuesday.

See you soon,
Prof. Bennett