Running Head: THEORY AND CONTENT OF PSYCHOLOGY 1

MLO #1: Theory and Content of Psychology

Kayleigh Yaxley

California State University, Monterey

Bay
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MLO #1 : Theories and Content of Psychology

Students earning their bachelor’s degrees are expected to graduate with a good

knowledge of the root principles of the major they are going into. California State University,

Monterey Bay is no different and for psychology, there are a total of five major learning

outcomes a student is expected to have once they have completed their studies at the school. The

first major learning outcome of theory and content of psychology means a basic understanding of

human behavior. It sheds light on the wide-ranging concepts that behavior can easily be

influenced and shaped by the environment and experiences one goes through in life. This factor

results in people having different personalities and perspectives of the world. Since this major

learning outcome gives a fundamental structure of psychology, it is able to provide students at

California State University, Monterey Bay a general footing of information on the numerous

topics psychology has to offer. This readies students for when they later focus their

psychological studies on a particular field of the area. I was able to receive this knowledge

through my studies at several schools, including California State University, Monterey Bay,

Citrus College, and the University of London.

I have completed several different psychology courses at a variety of schools. Originally,

I was attending a community college in my hometown of Glendora, California called Citrus

College where I took a ​Developmental Psychology​ class for my general education credits. This
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course ignited a passion for psychology. I learned how a person can continuously change and

grow throughout their lifespan. Specifically, it focuses on the age groups of humans and how

they think and feel during those certain life stages. My professor told the class to relate our lives

to Jean Piaget’s developmental stages. Considering I was eighteen while taking that class, I

compared my experiences with the formal operational stage, which states that humans are able to

think logically and abstractly. (Huitt) I learned that many of developmental theory stages show

the delicacy of childhood, and how it is a crucial stage during mental growth. It explains how

challenges one may face in these developmental stages can cause a sort of butterfly effect on

their behavior and personality later on in their lives. It also makes clear that there are sorts of

normal changes that everyone goes through and then there are individual changes to people

which come from their surroundings.

I took the courses ​Biological Psychology​ and ​Cognitive Neuroscience​ simultaneously at

California State University, Monterey Bay. They really coincide with how biological functions

also have an impact on human behavior, alongside the environment and experiences. ​Biological

Psychology​ goes into the broad connection between the mind and the body. One of the biggest

psychological debates, nature versus nurture, really comes into this field where some believe that

the environment plays a huge role in shaping a person, or nurture, while others believe that

biological make-up force people to think and behave in a certain way. Furthermore, this subject
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explains how bodily systems can control human cognition and behavior. (Rosenzweig) It is not

only genetics but biochemicals within our body systems, such as the nervous system or immune

system, that are majorly involved in one’s psychology. The course ​Cognitive Neuroscience​ was

similar in the way that it described the biological and environmental relationship in human

behavior. However, instead of broadly talking about the whole body, this class is centered on the

brain and how biological processes have an affect on cognition. I was able to learn how neural

connections in the brain are involved in mental processes and different types of stimuli can

adjust behavior. Additionally, this class greatly expressed the important role of the cerebral

cortex and how any problems with the lobes can cause cognitive disabilities especially in

memory and learning. This course also gave knowledge how brain deficiencies in the early

stages of brain development can sometimes be detrimental, but can also become better where

children can reshape and relearn what they lost through the process of plasticity.

Another course I took at California State University, Monterey Bay that assisted in me

obtaining my basic knowledge of the theories and concepts of psychology is ​Theories of

Personality.​ I took this course at the end of my psychological studies and I was able to review all

the famous psychology theories of personality. It was broken up by psychologists and what they

contributed to the field. One for example was Sigmund Freud who is arguably one of the most

well known people for his theory of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is the examination of both
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the unconscious and conscious forces to bring forth the different issues and diminish them in a

healthy and logical way. (Freud) Freud established a basis of personality development and

divided its structure into three parts: the id, which is the aspects of personality allied with

instincts, the ego, which is known as the rational master of personality, and the superego, which

is categorized as the moral aspect of personality.

These courses helped me gain the knowledge and understanding of the concepts and

theories of psychology. Each course was connected to each other in order to provide the

information needed to further follow psychology in later studies.

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Works Cited

Freud, S., & Bonaparte, P. M. (1954). ​The origins of psychoanalysis​ (Vol. 216). London: Imago.

Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Educational

Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.

Rosenzweig, M. R., Breedlove, S. M., & Leiman, A. L. (2002). Biological psychology: An

introduction to behavioral, cognitive, and clinical neuroscience (3rd ed.). Sinauer

Associates.