Psych 100
Dr. Chuck Hill
Introductory
Psychology
Spring
2012
COURSE MEETS: 1:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays in Science
302
OFFICE HOURS: 2:30-3:30 MW in Science 205, or by
appointment
(Email chill@whittier.edu
or call 562-907-4805)
COURSE GOALS:
The
psychology department has identified specific goals for the psychology
curriculum. Since Psych 100 is
the initial course in the curriculum, it is designed to begin introducing the
knowledge and skills needed to achieve these goals. Further progress toward these goals will
be made in other psychology courses, and as well as in courses offered by other
departments and in extra-curricular activities throughout your Whittier College
experience.
The
overall intent of the goals is to help you to think like a psychologist. That means to take a psychological
perspective in analyzing, studying, and understanding behavior.
Psychology Department Goals
1. Knowledge Base of Psychology: To demonstrate familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, interdisciplinary connections, and historical roots of psychology.
2. Research Methods and Resources of Psychology: To understand and apply basic research methods in psychology, including research design, handling subjects, data analysis and interpretation, as well as use the library, computers, and online resources.
3. Critical Thinking and Communication Skills: To develop and use critical and creative thinking skills, including skeptical inquiry, critical reading skills, analysis, synthesis, problem solving, professional writing, oral communication, listening, and collaboration skills.
4. Application of Psychology: To understand and apply psychology to diverse individuals and groups, and social, cultural, and organizational issues.
5. Clarification of Values, Personal Development, and Career Planning: To facilitate clarification of values, including tolerating ambiguity and acting ethically, showing insight into oneÕs own behavior and mental processes and applying effective strategies for self management and self improvement, and to develop realistic ideas about how to use psychological knowledge, skills, and values in various occupations, and in graduate and professional school.
Psychology Department Learning
Objectives
By the time they graduate, students with a Major in Psychology will be able to
a. Apply psychological theories and concepts to analyze behavior. [Goals 1 & 4]
b. Analyze research reports on psychological issues. [Goals 2 & 3]
c. Conduct data analyses and interpret their own and othersÕ data analyses on psychological issues. [Goal 2]
d. Communicate their own or othersÕ research findings on psychological issues both orally and in writing. [Goal 3]
e. Show personal development, including clarifying their personal values, enhancing their self-awareness and understanding of others, and identifying the academic degrees required of professional careers in psychology. [Goal 5]
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
a. Attend class regularly.
The
goals of the course are much broader than the material in the textbook, so
class attendance is crucial. Since not all of what is gained in class can be
measured in the exams, course credit will be given for attendance. Two points will be awarded for each day
that you attend. Be sure to sign the attendance sheet on any day that we do not
have a class exercise form. If you
are ill, let me know as soon as possible by email or phone. Do not schedule appointments with advisors, professors,
doctors, employers, or others during class time, except for medical
emergencies.
b. Actively participate in class sessions.
Classes
will include lectures, class exercises, discussions, demonstrations, and videos.
To get the most out of class sessions, you need to listen carefully, take good
notes, raise questions, and participate in class discussions. Since the class is large, to facilitate
discussion you will often be asked to form a Discussion Group of four
persons. You may select either the
same or a different Discussion Group at each class session.
c. Complete all class exercise forms assigned in
class.
Often
we will answer brief questionnaires (such as a Stress Scale) or do other class
exercises to help achieve the goals of the course. Sometimes you will do this in
collaboration with a Discussion Group. You will record your responses on a
class exercise form. Each form
handed in on time will count 2 points for the exercise in addition to the 2
points for attendance. If you are absent, you may still obtain the form the
next class period, complete it with classmates outside of class, and turn it in
for 1point credit (or full credit if you were ill). There will also be two class exercise
forms that will be done outside of class, for 2 points each.
d. Review PowerPoint lecture notes on Moodle.
Lecture
notes in the form of PowerPoint slides will be available on Moodle after they
are discussed in class. You should take
notes during lectures, to help you learn the material, but you do not need to
write down every word on the slides, since they will be available for
downloading later.
e. Keep up with the assigned reading.
The
textbook we will be using is the 15th edition of Atkinson and Hilgard's Introduction to
Psychology by Nolen-Hoeksema et al. The textbook
should be available at the college bookstore, for purchase new or used, or for
rent. If the bookstore runs out of
texts, more will be ordered, and in the meanwhile you and a classmate could
share a book.
The
lectures in class will highlight points in the text, but they will not cover
all of the text material. Indeed
there is so much material in the text that it is impossible to learn all of it
in a single course. Moreover, there
is no need to memorize all of it.
To help you decide which material to focus on in studying for exams,
sets of Study Questions will be distributed in class.
f. Answer study questions prior to the review
sessions.
There
will be two midterms and one final exam.
The class session before each exam day will be devoted to a review. To gain maximum benefit from the review
session, you should WRITE OUT answers to the Study Questions PRIOR to the
review session. Mark the answers
that you are uncertain about and the questions that need further clarification.
Ask about those questions during the review session, since there wonÕt be time
to review all of the study questions and you should be able to answer most of
them.
Hand
in the Study Question answers on the day of the exam. Each set of answers is
worth 10 course points if it is complete. You are encouraged to discuss your
answers with your classmates, but you must write out the answers yourself. Xeroxed answers or multiple computer printouts
of identical or very similar files will receive zero points.
g. Hand in the Journal Article paper on time.
To
help you appreciate some of the ways in which psychological research is
conducted, and the style in which it is written for publication, you are to
read and react to a professional research article. You will then practice your writing
skills by writing a brief paper.
Find a recent article in
a professional psychology journal
that is relevant to any of the topics discussed in the course. Do NOT use Psychology Today or any popular
magazine. A popular magazine article is written by a
journalist who interviews Òexperts,Ó while a professional journal article is
written by researchers who describe their research methods in detail.
The article must describe the results of one or more research studies,
and it must have been published in the past six months. It will usually be in a PDF file. Articles in webpages that are not
psychology journals are not acceptable.
You will need to find the article online, since the college library no longer gets new journals in print. You can browse electronic journals, or you can search Psych Info to find an abstract, and then find the specific article. Electronic journals and abstracts are available from the Whittier College library homepage, using any computer on campus that has Internet access. Download the entire article, not just the abstract, and print it, including the list of references at the end.
Read
the article carefully. You may not understand all of the statistics presented,
but you should be able to follow the key ideas in the introduction and
conclusions. If you can't, find another article! Then find some discussion in
the text (or in class lectures) to which the article relates.
Write
a brief (1 to 2 page) paper in which you do the following:
(i)
Give the citation for the article
[author(s), year, title, journal, volume, pages] using the same format as
the following example: Hill, C.T.,
Rubin, Z, & Peplau, L.A. (1976) Breakups before marriage: The end of 103
affairs. Journal of
Social Issues, 32, 147-68.
(ii)
Identify the page number in the text, or
the date of the class session, in which there is a discussion relevant to the
article.
(iii)
Then explain how the article updates the
information given in the text or class. First summarize what is stated in the
text, next summarize what is concluded in the article, and then spell out the
way in which the article relates to the text. The article may add additional support
for a theory, may contradict previous findings, or may specify conditions under
which something does or does not occur.
Indicate which of these the article does, and how.
Your
paper should be double-spaced, and should use
the following side headings:
Citation for Article, Reference to Textbook, Discussion. No cover sheet is needed. Put your name and the course name at the
top of the paper. Save your paper on a computer disk or flash memory drive.
Before
handing in your paper, proofread it carefully and make any necessary revisions. Also have a friend proofread the paper,
to help you spot grammatical and typing errors as well as wording that may be
unclear. Psychologists always have colleagues react to their papers, and then
revise their papers (usually several times), before submitting papers for
publication. Rewriting your papers is the best way to improve your writing
skills as well as the grades that you receive on your papers in all classes.
Attach your printout of the journal article
to your paper by stapling in the upper left-hand corner only. Do not use a
report cover, and do not fold the paper lengthwise. Hand in your paper in class
on the due date indicated in the course schedule below. Your Journal Article
paper will be returned, but not the printout of the article. Quite often
students find very interesting articles, which the instructor would like to
read and save for possible use in updating future lectures or conducting
research.
Points
will be awarded for the completeness of the reference to the article (1 point),
the reference to the text or class session (1 point), the description of how
the article updates the text (3 points), writing technique (organization,
clarity, grammar, spelling, typing; 3 points), and attaching the printout of
the article (2 points).
GRADING POLICIES:
Course grades will be based on the
total number of points accumulated. Your grade will take into account the
percentage of the points you earned out of the total possible points, as well
as the distributions of points earned by the entire class and by previous
classes. If the class distribution
is low, the top students will still get good grades; if the class distribution
is high, then many students will get good grades.
The
possible points for each activity, and their percentage of the total possible,
will be approximately as follows:
Midterm
#1
60 points
18% of total
Midterm
#2
60 points
18% of total
Final
exam
100 points
29% of total
Attendance
48
points 14%
of total
Class
exercise forms 32 points 9% of
total
Study
questions
30 points 9% of
total
Journal
Article paper 10 points 3% of
total
340
points total possible
Attendance will count 2 points for each
class session. If you turn in an
exercise form on time, you will automatically be given attendance points for
that day. But on any day on which
there is not a class exercise form (such as review days), you need to sign the
attendance sheet before you leave.
Try
to arrive on time. Late arrivals distract the instructor
and interrupt the class. Note that
the total of the attendance points counts almost the same as one of the
midterms. So poor attendance is
equivalent to flunking an exam.
If
you have a cell phone, turn it off
before class begins. If it does
ring during class, turn it off immediately. Also, respect others in the class by not talking, unless you are called upon
or in your Discussion Group. Violators may be asked to leave the class.
Laptop
computers may no longer be used in class, unless
specifically required as an accommodation by the Office of Student
Disabilities. Previous students have abused the
privilege by engaging in other activities besides taking notes. Research has shown that multi-tasking
results in errors and inefficiencies due to distractions and lack of
concentration.
There
will be sixteen class exercise forms.
Each class exercise form will be worth 2 points if it is handed in on time, 1
point if it is late. The Journal Article
paper will earn variable points up to 10. Late papers will have points taken off. Note that the points for attendance and
the class exercise forms total almost as much as the final exam. Therefore, missing half of the class
sessions and exercises is equivalent to flunking the final exam.
Make-up exams will ordinarily be given
only in cases of medical emergency.
Email or phone me as soon as possible.
The
final exam will be accumulative, with
about two-thirds based on new material and about one-third based on the
material covered on the two midterms.
Ordinarily, no early final exams will be given. So do not make
airplane reservations for departure times earlier than your last exam. Check your
exam schedule and make your reservations NOW, in order to have more choice of
flights.
Studying together is strongly
encouraged. Indeed you should meet with classmates outside of class to go over
the Study Questions together after you have answered them individually.
However, copying papers or cheating on exams will result in disciplinary
action, which could include a zero on the paper or exam, an F in the course, or
sanctions by the College Hearing Board.
If
you are having any kind of problem with the course, see the instructor as soon
as possible. If you need a tutor, free tutoring is available at the
Center for Advising & Academic Success on the first floor of the library
building. If you have a learning disability or any other kind of disability, see the office of Student
Disabilities to arrange for appropriate accommodations.
If you are having any
kind of personal problem, help is
available from the following: your instructor, your mentor or advisor, the
Counseling Center, and other faculty, students, and staff. Get help early -- we want you to
succeed, and will do what we can to help you succeed.
READING
ASSIGNMENTS AND COURSE SCHEDULE:
Week Tuesday Thursday .
#1 1/26 Ch. 1 Nature of Psychology
(no class) FORM: Communication
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#2 1/31 Ch. 1 (continued) 2/2 Ch. 2 Biological Foundations
FORM: Study Design of Psychology
GUEST: Dr. Redwine
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#3 2/7 Ch. 2 (continued) 2/9 Ch. 3 Psych. Development
GUEST: Dr. Camparo
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#4 2/14 Ch. 3 (continued) 2/16 Ch. 4 Sensory Processes
FORM: Self Concept
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#5 2/21 Review #1 2/23 MIDTERM #1
Study Questions Ch. 1-3 Ch. 1-3
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#6 2/28 Ch. 5 Perception 3/1 Ch. 6 Consciousness
FORM: Person Perception FORM: Blood Alcohol
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#7 3/6 Ch. 7 Learning & Conditioning 3/8 Ch. 8 Memory
Ch. 9 Language & Thought
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#8 3/13 Ch.10 Motivation 3/15 Ch.10 (continued)
FORM: Experiences FORM: AIDS awareness
JOURNAL ARTICLE DUE
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#9 3/20 Ch.11 Emotion 3/22 Ch.12 Intelligence
FORM: Dating Partner FORM: Intelligence
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3/27 S P R I N G B R E A K
#10 4/3 Review #2 4/5 MIDTERM #2
Study Questions Ch. 4-11 Ch. 4-11
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#11 4/10 Ch.13 Personality 4/12 Ch.14 Stress, Health & Coping
GUEST: Dr. Scott GUEST: Dr. Hash-Converse
FORM: Personality FORM: Life Events
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#12 4/17 Ch.15 Psychological Disorders 4/19 Ch.16 Treatment of Mental
GUEST: Dr. Shaikh Health Problems
FORM: Abnormal
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#13 4/24 Ch.17 Social Influence 4/26 Ch.18 Social Cognition
FILM: Obedience
FORM: Obedience
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#14 5/1 Review #3
Study Questions Ch.12-19
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FINAL EXAM Monday, May 7, 3:30-5:30