The courseload itself pretty much consists of memorizing terms and concepts, but Smyth's a nice professor (albeit a dry lecturer). The workload's minimal and the material ranges from boring to interesting. There's a lot of material covered on the tests though, so make sure you prepare well and pay attention in both lecture and readings because he tests on materials covered in both.
Intro psychology is hard. You buy the textbook, you read every single page of that textbook, then you get tested on it. Also, he throws in whatever he wants from his lectures. If you love psyc, than go for it! If you have a passing interest and don't want to work hard, don't take this class. You read a ton, probably more than most classes out there (intro level anyways). It is based on memorization of terms and ideas. Seriously, you read a lot. Take child psyc for an easy class.
It has a lot of reading, and the tests have a lot of small details; however, the class is fun, and he offers a lot of extra credit.
Smyth is an engaging lecturer (lots of videos, experiments, and jokes). He makes it easy to do well in his class- he offers clicker questions for extra credit, question sessions before each exam, and drops your lowest test grade. Overall, I'd really recommend taking this class with him because he makes the large amount of info manageable so you actually end up learning.
Smyth is dry, but its an easy and somewhat interesting introduction
