Week 3 · Readings & resources

Week 3 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Psychology Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 3 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 66–82 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more depth, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (17–20 min total)

① How does one neuron send a message?

Chapter 3, Section “Follow the impulse: all-or-none firing” · Session 1, Segment 2, “The neuron fires” · Remember: an action potential is all-or-none, so a stronger push changes how often a neuron fires, not how big each impulse is.

2-Minute Neuroscience: Action Potential — Neuroscientifically Challenged — a two-minute animation that walks from the resting neuron to threshold to the impulse racing down the axon; watch it twice if the steps blur together. (video, 2 min) (captions: creator)
Action potentials and synapses — Queensland Brain Institute — a brain research institute explains the resting charge, the threshold, and how the impulse hands off to the next cell; read the key facts box and the synapse section, and skip the research news at the end. (reading, 7–10 min)
The Chemical Mind: Crash Course Psychology #3 — CrashCourse — a fast, friendly tour of the neuron's parts, the impulse, and the chemical messengers that cross the gap between cells. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)

② Which chemical does what, and how sure are we?

Chapter 3, Section “Cross the synapse: chemical messengers and reuptake” · Session 1, Segment 3, “Crossing the gap” · Remember: each neurotransmitter is associated with several functions, and none is the single cause of a mood.

Classical Neurotransmitters: Brain Communicators — BrainFacts.org (Society for Neuroscience) — a neuroscience society's tour of acetylcholine, GABA, glutamate, dopamine, and serotonin. This builds on Week 2's work with correlation and causation: when a sentence says a chemical controls a feeling, rewrite it in your head as "is involved in." (reading, 7–10 min)

③ Where is everything? The nervous system and the brain

Chapter 3, Section “Tour the brain: structures and lobes” · Session 2, Segment 6, “A tour of the brain” · Remember: each structure and lobe has known jobs, and the brain works as a network rather than a set of single switches.

2-Minute Neuroscience: Divisions of the Nervous System — Neuroscientifically Challenged — the central and peripheral systems, then the somatic and autonomic branches, sorted in two minutes; use it as a quick check before the Week-3 module overview. (video, 2 min) (captions: creator)
Meet Your Master - Getting to Know Your Brain: Crash Course Psychology #4 — CrashCourse — a guided tour from the brainstem up through the lobes, with the brain structures this week names. (video, 13 min) (captions: creator)
Lobes of the brain — Queensland Brain Institute — one section per lobe, each naming the jobs it is involved in; notice how many jobs each lobe shares with its neighbors. (reading, 7–10 min)

④ Do we really use only 10 percent of our brains?

Chapter 3, Section “Rewire for life: neuroplasticity and the 10 percent myth” · Session 2, Segment 8, “Neuroplasticity and the myth” · Remember: the brain rewires with practice all life long, and we use all of it.

Do I Only Use 10% of My Brain? — SciShow — a short, lively look at where the myth came from and why the evidence rules it out. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)
Neuroplasticity — Sentis — a two-minute animation on how practice strengthens some connections and lets others fade. Stop here before sensation and perception; next week takes that up. (video, 2 min) (captions: creator)
The Ten Percent Brain Myth — Dana Foundation — a brain-science foundation's short answer to the myth, including why it keeps coming back. (reading, 2–4 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Brain Basics: Know Your Brain — National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke — a federal health agency's plain-language guide; open The Structure of the Brain, The Inner Brain, The Neuron, and The Synapse, and skip the section on disorders. (reading, 10–15 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com