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Addis Ababa University

College of Education and Behavioral Studies
School of Psychology
Course Outline
I. Course Information
Course Title: General Psychology
Cr. Hr: 3 (5 ECTS)
Target Group: 1st Year Natural Science Students
Course Code: Psyc 1011
Mode of delivery: Parallel
Class Beginning: Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
Name of the Instructor:
Contact Address of the Instructor:

II. Course Description

The course General Psychology encompasses the fundamental concepts and principles of
psychology which have immense applications to human life. Hence, this course is intended to
introduce students to the basic concepts of psychology and to acquaint them with how to apply
psychological knowledge, principles, and theories to real life situation and problems. So it is of
paramount importance for students of any field of study to be effective in their personal, social, and
professional life. Apart from that, it is to introduce students to the core set of life skills, which are
important in realizing holistic development of students (i.e., sense of well-being, confidence and
academic performance) so that they can lead happy, healthy, successful, and productive life. This
introductory course examines the role of environmental factors and the interaction of nature and
nurture in determining behaviors and mental processes. Areas to be discussed include: the essence of
psychology, sensation and perception, theories of learning, memory and forgetting, motivation and
emotion, psychological disorder and treatments. The course will also focus on how to develop life
skills based on the theories and principles of psychology where self-development, academic and
social skills shall be given due attention.
III. Learning Outcomes
Upon the completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Describe basic psychological concepts.

• Compare and contrast the major theoretical perspectives in psychology.
• Explain the difference between sensation and perception
• Compare and contrast different learning theories
• Summarize motivational and emotional processes
• Demonstrate social and interpersonal skills in everyday life.
• Set an adaptive goal and plan for future.
• Apply knowledge of psychology to one’s own life.
• Explain how self-confidence, self-esteem, self-efficacy, assertiveness, responsible
behaviors, interpersonal skills will be strengthened.
• Apply different stress coping mechanisms.

IV. Course Contents

Week* Contents
Chapter One: Essence of Psychology
1.1. Definition of Psychology and Related Concepts
1.2. Goals of Psychology
1.3. Historical Background and Major Perspectives in Psychology
1.4. Branches/Sub-fields of Psychology
Week 1 & 2 1.5. Research Methods in Psychology
Chapter Two: Sensation and Perception
2.1.The meanings of sensation and perception
2.2. The sensory laws: Sensory Thresholds and Sensory Adaption
2.3.Perception
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Chapter Three: Learning and Theories of Learning
3.1. Definition, Characteristics and Principles of Learning
3.2. Factors Influencing Learning
3.3. Theories of Learning and their Applications
Week 3, 4 & 5
Chapter Four: Memory and Forgetting
4.1 Memory
4.2 Forgetting
4.3. Improving Memory
Chapter Five ፡ Motivation and Emotions
Week 6 5.1. Motivation
5.2. Emotions
Chapter Six: Personality
6.1. Meaning of Personality
6.2. Theories of Personality
Chapter Seven: Psychological Disorders and their Treatment Techniques
Week 7 & 8 7.1 Nature of Psychological Disorders
7.2. Causes of Psychological Disorders
7.3. Types of Psychological Disorders
7.4 Treatment Techniques
Chapter Eight: Introduction to Life Skills
8.1. Nature and Definition of Life skills
8.2. Components of Life Skills
8.3. Goals of Life Skills
Chapter Nine: Intra-Personal Skills
9.1. Self-Concept and Self-Awareness
9.2. Self-esteem and self-confidence
9.3. Self-Control
9.4. Anger Management
9.5. Emotional Intelligence and Managing Emotion
9.6. Stress, Coping with Stress and Resilience
9.7. Critical and Creative Thinking
9.8. Problem Solving and Decision Making
Chapter Ten: Academic Skills
10.1. Time Management
Week 9 & 10 10.2. Note-taking and Study Skills
10.3. Test-Taking Skill
10.4. Test Anxiety and Overcoming Test Anxiety
10.5. Goal Setting
10.6. Career Development Skill
Chapter Eleven : Social Skills
11.1. Understanding cultural Diversity
11.2. Gender and Social Inclusion
11.3. Interpersonal Communication Skills
11.4. Social Influences
11.5. Peer Pressure
11.6. Assertiveness
11.7. Conflict and Conflict Resolution
11.8. Team Work
11.9. Overcoming Risky Behavior
*Note: This week allotment is tentative. Thus, it is mandatory to watch for any changes and adjust the
instructional pace accordingly. The last two weeks are allotted for presentations by the students.

V. Teaching Learning Methods

Classroom lessons will be mainly active lectures preceded by activities (leading questions followed
by brainstorming) and pair or group discussions followed by presentations with amendments by the
instructor. Students will be given cases in light of the topics/theories/ covered and asked to analyze
cases from the perspectives of the course objectives and make presentations. At the start of every
lesson, students will be requested to give brief summaries of the previous lesson. At the end of each
chapter, they will be requested to prepare exit slips where they reflect on what they have learned and
what aspects of the chapter need further consideration. In this way continuous assessment of
students’ understanding will be held and remedial actions taken. Whatever so, below is listed some
general approaches:
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Gapped Lecturing; Brainstorming; Collaborative learning; Discussion; Independent
learning; Reading assignment and presentation, and Role play.

VI. Assessment & Evaluation Techniques

1. Continuous Assessment: 50 %
Attendance and Classroom Participation……………...5%
Individual Assignment………………………………..15 %
Group Assignment and Presentation………………… 30 % 100%
2. Final Exam……………………………………………………50%

Descriptions of the Assessment Techniques

a) Attendance and Classroom Participation (5%)
In this course, class participation is a crucial element. Accordingly, students should engage in
constructive academic dialogue with classmates throughout each class session in order to
share knowledge. Absences will affect the "class participation" element of the final grade and
may result in loss of credit for the course. Participation presupposes both attendance and
preparation (i.e., reading topics on the course outline and the module ahead and sharing what
has been understood from the readings to the whole class). Participation is also manifested
through thoughtful engagement with discussions of readings and lecture topics, as well as
through contributions to small-group activities in the class.

b) Individual Assignment (15 %)

The instructor will select a topic from any chapter (chapters 1 to 11) of the module that is used as
a text for this course and assign it to each student. After explaining the basic concepts in the topic
in own words, the student is required to write the real life application of the topic. In not more than
three pages, the student is expected to write the application of the topic to his/her own life, family,
friends or to the Ethiopian culture and context in general. The student should write at least five best
examples that indicate the application of the topic. While the deadline for submission of this
assignment will be fixed by the instructor, the following general criteria will be used in scoring the
paper.
Format or layout of the paper (1%)
Language (Grammar, punctuation, spelling…. etc) (1.5%)
Relevance of the contents of the paper and examples to the topic (5%)
Logical flow of ideas/coherence (3%)
Originality of the paper (efforts exerted to write the paper in own words than submitting
copied or plagiarized work) (3%)
Meeting the deadline (1.5%)

c) Group Assignment Paper (20%)

The instructor will form diversified groups and assign a chapter or topics within a chapter (from
chapters 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the module) to each group. It is mandatory that all of these four chapters
(chapters 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the module) and their respective topics are covered through this
assignment. The instructor will also make sure that each group has nominated a group leader and a
secretary (recorder). The major work of the group is to read, understand, reflect on and summarize
the given chapter/topic in not more than five pages. In doing so, group members should divide
tasks among themselves in such a way that, first, each member does the work of reading, re-reading,
understanding, reflecting (using practical examples) and summarizing the chapter/topics
individually. Then, through the strong facilitation of the group leader and active involvement of
members, each member presents his/her own individual work to the group. Since the group should
constantly polish the subject matter understating and skills of its members in order to prepare them
for the final classroom presentation, each group member should present his/her individual work to
the other group members at least twice (i.e., each group member should enhance his/her
understanding of the topic/s and presentations skills by practicing presentations within her/his own
group). After a though presentation to group members of individual works, discussing on,
evaluating, reorganizing, and integrating individual works, the group should compose a novel group
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work (i.e., group work should not be a mere copy of the work of one group member). Loafing of one
group member will have a debilitating effect on the overall performance of the group. Thus, the
group leader and the recorder must report to the instructor any member who does not contribute
his/her individual work or who does not participate in group work immediately. The paper will be
scored using the following general criteria.
Language (clarity, grammar, punctuation, spelling…. etc) (2%).
Overall quality of the document (layout, organization, coherence…etc) (2%)
Relevance of the contents of the paper to the topic/s (4.5%).
Adequacy of the reflections, practical examples and summary of the chapter/topics (7.5%).
Originality of the group work (efforts exerted to write the paper in own words than
submitting copied or plagiarized work) (3%)
Meeting the deadline (1%)

d) Presentation of the Group Assignment (10%)

Groups will present their works as per the sequence that the instructor will communicate to each
group in advance. It is the final integrated group work, not the individual group members’ works,
that should be presented. As in the normal classroom instruction, the presentation is expected to be
conducted in the language of instruction (i.e., English Language). On the presentation day, after the
group members hold their positions in front of the class, the presenter will be identified by the
instructor on a completely random basis. Thus, each group member has an equal probability of
presenting the groups’ work in front of the class for the amount of time that will be fixed by the
instructor. Likewise, when asked on a random basis, each group member should react appropriately
to questions that will be raised by the audience/classmates and the instructor after the presentation.
Thus, each group member should be prepared for the presentation. The students/audience should
thoroughly take lecture notes and actively participate (including asking and answering questions)
during the presentation. The presentations and group performance will be rated using the following
general criteria.
Content coverage (contents of the presentations should directly correspond with the contents
of the assigned topic/s and the submitted paper) (2%).
Subject matter knowledge (knowledge and understanding related with the topic/topics) (3%)
Voice tone (1.0%).
Adequacy of responses to questions that will be raised by the audience/classmates and the
instructor (the instructor will forward at least one question to each group member) (3%)
Time management (the extent to which the presenter completes the presentation within the
allotted time) (1.0%).

e) Final Examination (50%)

The final examination will cover all of the chapters (i.e., Chapters 1 through 11) on the course
outline and the module. The students should prepare themselves for both objective (multiple choice,
matching, completion ...etc) and essay item formats.

VII. Course Policy

Responsibilities of the Students

All students are expected to abide by the code of conduct of students as per the Senate
Legislation of the Addis Ababa University (AAU) (2019) throughout the course. Also all
safety protocols against Covid-19 must be maintained. Mobile cell phones are to be switched
off so as to avoid distractions in the learning-teaching activities including examination time.
Credible evidences must be presented to the instructor for any absence from the class due to
uncontrollable factors. As per the Senate Legislation of the AAU, a student is required to
attend all class sessions. A student who misses more than 15% of the class will obtain a grade
of IA (Incomplete Attendance) which leads to repeating the course. Academic dishonesty,
including cheating, being late, fabrication and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will be
reported to the concerned bodies for disciplinary action. Regular attendances, class activities,
doing assignments and submitting them on time, presenting the assignments and studying
concepts for understanding and applying are indispensable vehicles for the successful
accomplishment of the course.
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Responsibilities of the Instructor

Planning learning activities needed for the successful accomplishment and realization
of the course objectives
Running classes according to the official instructional schedule for successful
coverage of the designed course contents within the planned instructional time
Regularly planning assessment activities and designing relevant (reliable, valid, and
usable) assessment tools to realize the objectives of continuous assessment
Providing timely and constructive feedbacks on students’ performance on every
assessment activities
Being good role model for the students in the issues like punctuality, objectivity,
honesty, transparency, fairness, humbleness, tolerance, devotion to one’s duty, mercy,
dressing/neatness etc.

VIII. Course Materials

Module/Text for the Course

Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) (2019). General Psychology (Psyc1011)
Module. Addis Ababa: Author.

Additional References
Coon, D. & Mitterer, J.O. (2008). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and
behavior (12th ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Feldman, R.S. (2018). Essentials of understanding psychology (13th ed). New York, NY:
McGraw Hill.
Gray, P. & Bjorklund, D.F. (2017). Psychology (7th ed). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Kalat, J.W. (2013). Introduction to psychology (13th ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Lahey, B.B. (2008). Psychology: An introduction (10th ed). New York, NY: McGrawHill.
Lilienfeld, S.O., Lynn, S.J., Namy, L.L. & Woolf, N.J. (2017). Psychology: From Inquiry to
understanding (3rd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Meyers, D.G. & DeWall, C.N. (2016). Exploring psychology in modules (10th ed). New York,
NY: Worth publishers.
Weiten, W. (2014). Psychology: Themes and variations (briefer version, 9th ed). Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
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Burnard, P. (1989). Teaching interpersonal skills: A handbook of experiential learning for

health professionals. London, UK: Chapman and Hall.
Cotnell, S. (2013). The study skills handbook. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Haddon, P.F. (1990). Mastering personal and interpersonal skills: Key techniques and
personal success. London, UK: Thorogood Ltd.
Hays, J. (2002). Interpersonal skills at work (2nd ed). New York, NY: Routledge.
Pavord, E. & Donnely, E. (2015). Communication and interpersonal skills (2nd ed). Banbury,
UK: Lantern publishing.
Peace Corps (2001). Life skills manual. Washington, DC: Author.
Skills You need (2018). Personal development. Author.
State University of New York (nd). The study skills handbook. Albany, GA: Author.
Sultmann, B. & Burtpn, T. (2003). People skills: Guiding to effective interpersonal behavior.
Bowen Hills, Australis: Australian Academic Press.