Applied Psychology: Psychology and Daily Life
Introduction to Psychology with an Emphasis in Counseling and Coaching
Taught by Laura De Pretto or Aiching Liu.
Click here for Laura's profile.
Click here for Aiching's profile.

The goal of this course is to allow students to acquire knowledge of psychology and to learn how to turn it into a tool for managing their daily lives.

Course Organization:

1) Psychology in Daily Life

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior and it can be applied in almost every aspect of life to enrich our experiences and to make our daily adaptation processes more efficient and effective.  Although everyone has a brain, each brain has a distinct mapping system that produces the uniqueness present in each individual.  The more we learn about how to train our brains to function and process information correctly, the better self-esteem, self-image, and self-identity we will have.  Students will learn how to observe human behaviors, analyze the human mind, learn about self-searching, and integrate the tenets of psychology.

2) Developmental Psychology

The family we grew up in shapes our personality, defines our sense of self, and gives us a feeling of belonging.  Therefore the knowledge of one's family of origin is therapeutic and useful in self-reconstruction, which makes developmental psychology a valuable resource in building relationships and raising children.  Students will learn the 8 stages of Ericson's theory of psychosocial development and its application in knowing self, clearing up emotional residue, and setting up appropriate boundaries to pursue excellence in life.

3) Motivation

Motivation or motive is the inner force that our desires, interests, expectations, attentions, decisions, wants, or needs are transformed into.  The knowledge of motivation helps us to build up momentum in daily activities and in managing emotions.  Students will learn Freud's theory on id, ego, super ego, defence mechanisms, and the manifestation of the states of consciousness.  Maslow's motivational theory will be introduced to help students understand the hierarchy of human needs and how to turn each need into moving power toward self-actualization.

4) Emotions

Emotion is how our internal states communicate outwardly.  Every emotion has a rationale behind it and the more we know about it, the better we can manage our emotions.  Therefore we need to be able to identify and analyze each emotion, such as anger, sadness, depression, joy, anxiety, and jealousy, to benefit from having emotions in a constructive way.  Students will apply the principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) developed by Albert Ellis to understand different emotions and how to manage each one they identify.

5) Personalities in Relationships

We may wonder why an adult behaves like a child, why a seemingly nice person may suddenly turn into a monster, or why a person feels the need to repeat daily rituals.  All these instances remind us to look more deeply into personality issues.  Because the more we know our own personality tendencies, the less we are influenced by uncontrollable circumstances.  The better we know about other's personalities, the easier we can interact with them.  Students will learn different personality attributes based on Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition (DSM IV) and how to interact with people of different personalities.

6) Counseling I: Psychopathology and Psychotherapy

Students will learn about mental illnesses and various disciplines of psychotherapy.

7) Counseling II: Counseling Skills

Students will learn effective listening, how to express empathy, how to apply counseling skills and how to do self-counseling through role plays.

8) Coaching

Coaching is a process to bring up a person's potential by capitalization of resources.  The goal of coaching is to motivate a person through coach and client(s) relationship, focus on reaching primary goals first, analyze a person's current state, prioritize resource allocations, help doing time management, remove blind spot in problem solving and control the circumstances instead of being trapped in them.  Students will learn how to integrate psychology and counseling in doing coaching.

9) Cross-Cultural Psychology

When globalization becomes a trend and internationalization becomes a norm, being sensitive to cultural differences is the prerequisite to adapt to this new world phenomenon.  Not only in business practice but also in relationships, individuals are facing challenges in how to cross cultural boundaries to form partnerships.  Students will learn how to identify cultural differences and deal with cultural shocks, especially for those entering China market and Chinese society to be equipped with cross-cultural sensitivity.

10) Psychology in the area of daily life applications

Students will learn how to apply psychology in friendships, dating, marriage, parenting, family life, social life, personal life, professional life, and for self-enrichment.

Course Title: Applied Psychology
Tuition Fee: RMB 3200

Spring Session 2012: March 5th to May 12th

Section A: Monday afternoons (1:00 PM - 3:30 PM)
10 weeks from March 5th to May 7th (Course Code: APP103)
Location: ELC Learning Center

Section B: Saturday afternoons (1:00 PM - 3:30 PM)
10 weeks from March 10th to May 12th (Course Code: APP104)
Location: ELC Learning Center

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE

Registration Procedure:
Please register online first to reserve your place.  You will then receive a confirmation email with further details.  Next, payment must be made on site at the ELC Learning Center during the payment dates shown below (you can come in person or send someone).

Tuition payment for the Spring Session 2012 will take place from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM, from Monday, February 20th through Monday, February 27th, 2012.  Payments will be received in the Registration Office at the ELC Learning Center.  Click here for map.

Please note: classes are kept small for the students' benefit (generally between 8 and 12 people).  Register early to reserve your place.  Payment must be received on time to complete your enrollment and maintain your reservation in the class(es) for which you have registered.  (Any course that does not meet sufficient enrollment may be cancelled and a full refund provided upon presentation of your original receipt.)