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Syllabus for PSYCH 100: |
Dr. John A. Johnson |
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Fall Semester, 2013 Section |
Office: 172 Smeal, 375-4774 T&Th 11:00-12:00 & by appointment |
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Hiller Building Auditorium |
Email: j5j@psu.edu |
Course Description:
This course is a broad survey or overview of the discipline
of Psychology. The content of the course is arranged as follows. The first
quarter of the course introduces general issues in the discipline such as
historical development of the different fields, basic and applied research,
scientific reasoning, and psychological methods and statistics. This
introduction is followed by discussions of theories and findings in different
fields of psychology, including Developmental Psychology, Evolutionary
Psychology, Social Psychology, Neuropsychology, Perception, Cognition,
Learning, Personality, and Abnormal Psychology. Students interested in pursuing
any of the above areas in greater detail and depth will find that the
Psychology Department offers courses that are devoted entirely to a single
field.
Textbook and Class
Attendance:
There is no textbook for the course. In the past I have made
Psychological Science (3rd Edition, published 2010 by Norton)
an optional book for students who wanted a textbook. But feedback confirmed
what I suspected for years: students who read the textbook had no special
advantage over students who did not. If you really, really would like to have a
textbook, you can find new copies of the 3rd edition of Psychological
Science on line for around $21, or used copies for about $6 (including
shipping).
But, it is a fact that all exam questions come from
material we cover in class, and many ideas that I present in class are not
covered in any book. This means that it is absolutely vital that you attend
every class, pay close attention, and take good notes. There are PowerPoint
slides that go with my lectures for every class, but I guarantee that passing
the course would be very unlikely if you only studied these slides alone
without attending class. Since we meet only Tuesday and Thursday each week,
missing one class is equivalent to missing half a week of the course. Once
again, I strongly suggest that you attend every class if you want to earn a
good grade in the course.
If you are very ill, however, I encourage you to stay home
and get better before you return so that you do not infect others. It might be
useful for you to get to know one or more students in the course so that you
can share notes and get each other caught up in the event that one of you
misses a class.
Course Objectives:
The broad objective of the course is the same as the goal of
psychology itself: to help you understand how the mind works and to understand
why we behave the way we do.
I also hope to accomplish three more specific goals related to the process
of understanding the mind and behavior:
1. I want to enable you to critically evaluate claims about the mind and
behavior, no matter who is making the claim: someone off the street, the author
of print or electronic media, or even a professional psychologist. I’d like you
to be able to imagine, "What kinds of questions do I need to answer to
decide whether a psychological claim is true?" I’d also like you to be
able to tell the difference between what is true and what people wish was true
about human nature.
2. I hope that you will become familiar with some of the important
psychological theories and findings that have been offered to explain how the
mind works and why we behave as we do.
3. The information in this course is about people in general, but hopefully
it will increase your own self-understanding and be useful to some of your
personal concerns and interests.
How Assignments Help to Meet Course Objectives:
We will focus on the first goal during the first unit of the
course (Nature of Psychology). In this unit I explain what goes on inside the
heads of different types of psychologists–what interests them, how they think,
and how they argue about what is true and what isn’t true. This unit might be
called "The Psychology of Psychologists."
During the remainder of the course I present ideas within specific areas of
psychology, mostly through lectures. I also show several videos and demonstrate
certain psychological principles with "mini-experiments" in class.
The large class size discourages discussion, but I welcome comments and questions
at any point. Don’t be afraid to raise your hand if you have something to say.
The third goal is actually a life-long project. What psychologists do and
say influences how we raise our children, how we run our educational system,
how employers treat employees, and how we evaluate our well being, among other
things. I like to encourage an awareness of the impact of today’s psychologists
by bringing in news clippings and magazine articles or mentioning TV shows,
movies, and web sites with a psychological slant. Please feel free to do the
same. I will be glad to discuss any information you come across.
Very Specific Course Objectives
To see a list of very specific things you need to know for
each exam, browse to the ANGEL page for this course, https://angel.psu.edu/ , and follow the Study
Guide links.
Course Outline:
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Week |
Class Meeting |
Topic |
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NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY |
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1 |
1 T Aug 27 2 Th Aug 29 |
The what, when, how, and why questions in psychology
Historical origins of |
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2 |
3 T Sept 3
4 Th Sept 5 |
20th century psychology – online lecture on
Perspectives in psychology |
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3 |
5 T Sept 10
6 Th Sept 12 |
Nonexperimental methods in psychology
Experimental method in psychology |
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4 |
7 T Sept 17
8 Th Sept 19 |
Recording and analyzing data in psychology
EXAM 1: NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY |
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EVOLUTIONARY BASIS OF BEHAVIOR |
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5 |
9 T Sept 24
10 Th Sept 26 |
Genes and behavior genetics
Nature and nurture |
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6 |
11 T Oct 1
12 Th Oct 3 |
Evolution
Human evolution |
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7 |
13 T Oct 8
14 Th Oct 10 |
Ethology
Human ethology; Motivation & |
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8 |
15 T Oct 15
16 Th Oct 17 |
Mating and parenting
EXAM 2:EVOLUTIONARY BASIS OF BEHAVIOR
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THE BRAIN, COGNITION, AND LEARNING |
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9 |
17 T Oct 22 18 Th Oct 24 |
Structure and operation of the nervous system Structure of the brain |
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10 |
19 T Oct 29 20 Th Oct 31 |
Hormones and pheromones Perception |
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11 |
21 T Nov 5
22 Th Nov 7 |
Learning
Memory |
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12 |
23 T Nov 12
24 Th Nov 14 |
EXAM 3: BRAIN, COGNITION, AND LEARNING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Personality theory |
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13 |
25 T Nov 19
26 Th Nov 21 |
Personality assessment
Perspectives on psychological |
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[T Nov 26] [Th Nov 28] |
NO CLASS! Thanksgiving vacation NO CLASS! Thanksgiving vacation |
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14 |
27 T Dec 3
28 Th Dec 5 |
Anxiety, Somatoform, Dissociative, Sexual, & Personality
Treating Anxiety, OCD, Depression, Bipolar, and |
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15 |
29 T Dec 10
30 Th Dec 12 |
Treating Autism and Disruptive,
Knowing ourselves |
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Finals Week |
Monday, |
EXAM 4: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES |
Grading:
The grade you earn will be determined by your performance on
four multiple-choice exams. Details are presented below.
Exams
All four exams contain 40 questions that cover only the
material in the most recent quarter of the course. All questions will be
multiple choice, and you will mark your answers on computer-scored answer
sheets. You may bring one sheet of 8.5 x 11" paper with notes (on both
sides) to the exam. Strategies for creating a useful study sheet will be
presented in class. Please bring two number 2 pencils to each exam. Also,
please bring your student ID card so that you can code your student number
correctly on the answer sheet.
Sample multiple choice questions can be found on ANGEL. You
are encouraged to study these questions and talk with other students about the
answers. But on the day of the examination you must take the test on your own,
without help from other students, books, and notes. Each of the four exams is
worth 40 points.
Computation of Letter
Grade
Grades will be based on the total points earned out of 160
possible points. See the table below.
|
Point Total |
Letter Grade |
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148-160 points |
A |
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144-147 points |
A- |
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141-143 points |
B+ |
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132-140 points |
B |
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128-131 points |
B- |
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125-127 points |
C+ |
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112-124 points |
C |
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96-111 points |
D |
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< 96 points |
F |
Other Factors that May Affect Final Grades:
- Curving.
I "curve up" on exams where the average score is less than 75%
to bring the class average to 75%. For example, if the average score on
Exam 1 was 28 out of 40 possible points (a 70%), I would add 2 points to
everyone’s score, bring the class average to 30 out of 40 (75%). I will
announce in the class after each exam how many points, if any, will be
added. I do not subtract points on exams. - Re-taking
an Examination. In the past I have tried giving students who did
poorly on an examination a second chance to take the test, but this policy
has worked out very poorly. Therefore, you can take an examination only
once. - Missed
Examinations. Students who have a legitimate reason for missing an
examination (generally only serious illness, injury or death in the
immediate family, but I will consider other excuses) should contact me to
arrange to make up the examination. I will decide whether the make-up will
be an alternate multiple-choice test or a set of short essay questions. It
is your responsibility to contact me to make arrangements. Missed exams
that are not made up are entered as a zero score. - Extra
Credit. Students will have an opportunity to earn 12 points by participating
in research or writing a paper on the five-factor model of personality. Details
on this extra credit opportunity will be provided in November. - The Final
Say. Policy
47-20 states that "Grades shall be assigned to individual
students on the basis of the instructor’s judgment of the student’s
scholastic achievement as set forth in Section 47-60"
(my emphasis). This means that my professional judgment is the final
arbiter of all grades.
Note to Students with Disabilities:
Penn State DuBois welcomes students with disabilities into
the University’s educational programs. If you have a disability-related need
for modifications and/or reasonable accommodations in this course, please
contact The Office for Disability Services, Diana Kreydt, 142 Smeal Building,
at 372-3037 or dlk34@psu.edu.
For further information regarding the Office of Disability
Services, visit their web site at www.equity.psu.edu/ods/
. Instructors should be notified as early in the semester as possible
regarding the need for modification and/or reasonable accommodations.
Attendance
is Good—Unless You Have the Flu
Attending class is essential to doing well in the course.
When you attend class, you have an opportunity to learn from both the
instructor and from other students. If you often miss class, you will miss
information, and your participation rating from members of your group will
suffer. However, if you are ill, especially if you have flu-like symptoms,
please send me an email describing your illness as soon as possible and do not
come to class. Public health considerations are more important than missed
work, which can be made up.
Statement of Academic Integrity:
All students are expected to act with civility, personal
integrity; to respect other students’ dignity, rights and property; and to help
create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits
of their own efforts. An environment of academic integrity is requisite to
respect for self and others and a civil community.
Academic integrity includes a commitment to not engage in or tolerate acts
of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Violation of academic
integrity includes (but is not limited to) all of the following:
- Cheating on
exams - Having
unauthorized possession of exams - "Ghosting"
(taking or having another student take an exam) - Plagiarizing
- Submitting
the work of another person as your own - Using
Internet sources without citation - Facilitating
other students’ acts of academic dishonesty - Tampering
with the academic work of another student.
Students charged with a breach of academic integrity will
receive due process and, if the charge is judged to be valid, academic
sanctions may range, depending on the severity of the offense, from no credit
for the assignment to an F for the course. More detailed information can be
found in University
Faculty Senate Policy 49-20, Academic Administrative
Policies and Procedure G9, Academic Integrity, and the Sanctioning Guidelines for
Academic Integrity Violations.