Motivation and emotion/About/Welcome and getting started

Welcome aboard the good ship which sails from the port of University of Canberra each year, with ~130 voyagers on board. Lead by James Neill, we journey the high seas of psychology in search of "why people do what they do" and "why people feel the way they feel" according to scientific psychology. Voyagers return and share their discoveries through an open, online book chapter. Read on to learn about what's on board, some places we'll visit, and how to get started.

This undergraduate psychology unit is about core aspects of human beings that most people find fascinating, namely:

• Motivation – what are the reasons for people's behaviours?
• Emotion – why do people feel the way they do about what happens within and around them?

These questions can lead to insightful pathways to understanding yourself and others from a psychological science perspective.

The psychology of motivation and emotion applies to everyday life, including health and wellbeing, work, learning, relationships, and development of human potential.

The fascinating array of theories and research help make studying motivation and emotion a highlight for many psychology students.

The journey ahead won't always be easy, but open mindedness and a willingness to engage are the keys to success.

This unit has a T-shaped structure.

The horizontal part of the T represents breadth of knowledge. Lectures discuss core concepts and tutorials explore how they apply in the real world.

The vertical part of the T represents depth of knowledge. This unit challenges you to take a deep dive to explore a specific motivation or emotion topic. This leads to production of a publicly-available online book chapter.

Explore the lecture and tutorial topics below to learn more:

Step-by-step guide:

1. Get an overview:
   1. About this unit
   2. Unit outline
2. Enrol via MyUC in:
   1. the unit
   2. allocate to a tutorial
3. Check the timetable (for lectures and tutorials) and put the schedule in your calendar
4. Assessment
   1. Check out the assessment and note the due dates
   2. Learn about Wikiversity and how to use it
      1. Create a Wikiversity account—choose a user name appropriate to your privacy requirements (can be based on your real name or a pseudonym)
      2. Practice editing in a sandbox
      3. Describe a little about yourself and areas of interest on your Wikiversity user page.
      4. More information about using Wikiversity will be provided during lectures and tutorials (e.g., see Tutorial 01, but you can also teach yourself by exploring and experimenting). For more info, see Wikiversity - Help.
   3. Browse the previous book chapter topics. Think about what chapter topic you would like to contribute to the current book chapter table of contents.
5. Discuss with others via:
   1. UCLearn Discussion
   2. Wikiversity talk pages
6. For more assistance, see help