Psychology and Sociology

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

2 days 10 hours 59 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

English

Found in

Part of

Nursing Prerequisites: Essential Sciences for Future Nurses

Overview

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Understand human behavior, mental health principles, and social determinants that influence patient care outcomes through comprehensive exploration of psychological and sociological concepts. Develop therapeutic communication skills and cultural competency essential for compassionate, effective nursing practice. Build empathy and professional skills needed to support patients from diverse backgrounds while understanding the complex interplay between individual psychology and social context in healthcare settings. By the end of this course, you will be able to: Analyze sensory processing, perception, cognition, and consciousness to understand patient behavior and neurological conditions Evaluate psychological disorders, stress responses, and biological bases of behavior Apply social psychology principles including group dynamics, prejudice, and social identity to improve patient interactions and cultural competency Examine social institutions, health disparities, and demographic factors that influence healthcare access and patient outcomes in diverse populations Skills: Psychological Foundations, Cultural Competency

Syllabus

Sensing the Environment

Our sensation and perception of the world are determined by biological, sociocultural, and psychologic factors. It begins with the detection of an environmental stimulus via the sensory cells in our body. This stimulus makes its way through sensory receptors and complex biologic pathways before culminating in our cognitive centers, allowing us to interpret and make sense of it. Sensation and perception, although distinct, are both influenced by a complex interplay of the aforementioned factors, and therefore become almost indistinguishable in practice. Examples of sensation that demonstrate just how complex this functioning is are our senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. This course provides deeper insight into human sensory processing and perception.

Making Sense of the Environment

Our approach to thinking about the world is influenced by a number of factors—our ability to form judgements, solve problems, and communicate, as well as our memories, thoughts, and knowledge. Each of these processes, despite being different, converge to create our understanding of our surroundings. Underlying our perception of reality are biological factors that heavily influence these processes. This course will cover topics such as attention, cognition, consciousness, memory formation and forgetting, and language, to provide a comprehensive overview of how we make sense of our environment.

Responding to the World

We experience a barrage of environmental stimuli throughout our lives. In many cases, environmental stimuli trigger physiological responses, such as an elevated heart rate, increased perspiration, or heightened feelings of anxiety. How we perceive and interpret these physiological responses is complex and influenced by psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors. Emotional responses, such as feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, or stress are often born out of our interpretation of this interplay of physiological responses. Our experience with emotions and stress not only affects our behavior but also shapes our interactions with others. This course will provide a comprehensive overview of theories of stress and the nature of communication, to provide greater insight into how we respond to the world around us.

Individual Influences on Behavior

Human behavior involves a complex interplay of biological, sociocultural, and psychological factors that cause behavior to differ across individuals in different situations (or even in the same or similar situations). Understanding these factors can lead to a better understanding of why and how we change our behaviors. Biological structures and processes serve as the pathways by which bodies carry out activities, crafting personalities and affecting propensities to behave in a particular manner. Importantly, they also influence the probability of developing psychological disorders. Psychological factors also affect behavior and, consequently, health and well-being. This course takes a deep dive into the biological influence on behavior, psychological disorders, and theories of motivation and cognitive dissonance.

Social Processes That Influence Human Behavior

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience. People learn new behaviors and change their attitudes constantly, but the persistence of these changes may be influenced by both the method of learning as well as other environmental, biologic, or psychological factors. Understanding how people learn new behaviors and change their attitudes, as well as the conditions that affect learning, helps us better understand our interactions with others.

Attitude and Behavior Change

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience. People learn new behaviors and change their attitudes constantly, but the persistence of these changes may be influenced by both the method of learning as well as other environmental, biologic, or psychological factors. Understanding how people learn new behaviors and change their attitudes, as well as the conditions that affect learning, helps us better understand our interactions with others.

Self-Identity

Content Category 8A includes the topics self-identity, self-concept, and social identity. These belong to both psychology and sociology. One´s own belief about oneself is called self-identity and includes elements such as gender role, racial identity or sexuality. Terry Ahuja teaches you the different types of identities and the theories of identity development. Other topics covered are the influence of social factors as well as culture and socialization on identity formation.

Social Thinking

Social thinking describes how humans view their environment, including other people and their behaviors. Many variables, such as culture and personality, factor into the beliefs and attitudes we develop, which also shape the way we interact with one another. To interact with others, we need to interpret different aspects of a situation, including our perceptions of ourselves, the behaviors of those we observe, and the environment. The content in this course covers processes that contribute to prejudice, stigma and ethnocentrism, and processes related to stereotypes. It also covers our attitudes about others and how those attitudes develop, including how perceptions of culture and environment affect attributions of behavior.

Social Interactions

Humans are social beings, and the underpinnings of social behavior—although, externally, they may seem rather simple—are amazingly complex. The changing nature of social interaction is important for understanding the mechanisms and processes through which people interact with one another, both individually and within groups. A variety of factors―environment, culture, and biology―affect how we present ourselves to others and how we treat them. For example, perceptions of prejudice and stereotypes can lead to acts of discrimination, whereas positive attitudes about others can lead to the provision of help and social support. To better understand social interaction, it is important to grasp the mechanisms of self-presentation and social interaction, including expressing and detecting emotion, impression management, communication, the biological underpinnings of social behavior, and discrimination, all of which are covered in this course.

Understanding Social Structure

In this course, you learn everything you need to know about the topics of social structures, institutions, and culture necessary for passing the MCAT. Whether this involves diversity in family forms or the elements of culture, Dr. Tarry Ahuja will give you a well-structured overview and introduce you to the most important topics according to Foundational Concept 9 (Content Category 9a) such as: Theoretical Approaches Social Institutions Culture Besides Dr. Ahuja’s online video lectures, we offer slides and articles to give you the basis for a well-rounded understanding of these topics. Quiz questions will help you to check on your learning progress, for effective MCAT preparation.

Demographic Characteristics and Processes

What is the social construction of gender? What are the characteristics of gentrification and what are the patterns of immigration? This material is covered on the MCAT and you will get the content you need by watching this lecture with Dr. Tarry Ahuja. Our expert will give you a structured overview and cover all topics concerning Foundational Concept 9 (Content Category 9b): Demographic Structure of Society Demographic Shifts and Social Change The video courses are complemented by scripts and matching articles. Quiz questions guarantee an excellent and easy preparation for the MCAT. Isn't it time you became an expert?

Social Inequality

Want to know all about the aspects of stratification and the patterns of social mobility? This is the right course for you! Dr. Tarry Ahuja introduces you to the subject of social inequality topics covered by Foundational Concept 10 (Content Category 10a) which also include: Spatial inequality Social class Health and healthcare disparities You will find quiz questions at the end of every video course which will enable you to check on your learning progress. Complementary articles and scripts will deepen your understanding of the content. Start now and get ready for the MCAT!