INTRODUCTION TO
PSYCHOLOGY (PSYC100-01 and 05)
Winter
2011
Professor: Larry
McCallum Office:
Sorensen 331
Hours: by appointment or
immediately before or after class
e-mail: larrymccallum@Augustana.edu
webpage: www.augustana.edu/users/psmccallum
Text: Corts,
D. P. & Krause, M. (2011). An
Introduction to Psychological Science. Boston:
Pearson.
The purpose of this course is to give you the opportunity to
explore a variety of perspectives and areas of study within the discipline of
psychology. This is a survey course,
meaning that we will be addressing a wide range of topics. Throughout the term, the common theme will be
the scientific approach that psychologists adopt in addressing questions. I hope you will be challenged to learn some
new things about yourself and others. My
role is to facilitate your learning –
YOU actually have to do the learning!
I'm looking forward to a great term!
No college
or university can give one an education.
Becoming educated does not follow inevitably from anything done by
anybody else. Becoming educated depends
upon you and what you do.
Actually it
is a happy circumstance that the outcome of college rests mainly on you. It means that your life is in your
hands. You need not trust luck, nor even
another person’s generosity, skill and wisdom.
They do not determine whether you become highly educated nor what sort of life you have. You do.
Virginia Voelk, in On Becoming an Educated Person
This course has been developed in accordance with the skills
x levels approach adopted by the Psychology Department. This means that in addition to learning content (e.g., the difference between
negative reinforcement and punishment, the diagnostic criteria for depression)
you are expected to develop skills
identified as appropriate for someone taking an introductory course in the
discipline. Specifically, the skills you
will develop in this class are;
1. An ability to read professional sources in psychology. Throughout the term you will be given research articles to read and analyze. An important part of becoming an educated person is the ability to read primary sources and think about them critically. You’ll develop that skill in social science research within this course.
2. Research skills. In class and through reading the textbook you will begin to develop your research skills. Specifically, you’ll learn to identify variables, critique hypotheses, and distinguish between research designs. You’ll be expected to put these research skills into practice within your article analyses.
3. Critical thinking and problem solving. Concepts and theories are useless unless you can apply them appropriately. In class we will discuss applications of the material we study. Exams will require you to correctly apply the concepts and principles from the course.
4. Clinical applications. In this class you will learn the diagnostic criteria for major psychological disorders and the dominant treatment approaches for those disorders.
5. Ethical issues. Ethics are an important part of the discipline in two ways. 1) researchers must treat participants ethically when conducting studies 2) therapists are expected to treat clients in an ethical manner.
6.
Academic honesty.
You are expected to abide by the Augustana student honor code. I expect that all work submitted for a grade
in this class must be original to this course and solely your work. All course work should be completed by you
alone unless I indicate that you may work with others. In other words, you will research and write
your own article analyses and take the exams without the use of crib sheets or
the voluntary/involuntary help of others.
If presenting information from other sources, you will give the
appropriate person credit within the body of the paper and in the reference
list. In cases of plagiarism and/or
cheating, I will follow the policies outlined in the Honor Code. It is incumbent upon you to determine what
plagiarism is and how to avoid it. In most cases, those found guilty of
plagiarism maintain that they "didn't mean to" engage in plagiarism.
The best way to avoid this situation is to become well-informed about this
issue.
Unit 1 Introduction
to the course Psychology is a science (11/14)
See Article assignments to login for course assignments
Scientific
Methods
1)
Readings: Modules
1.1, 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3 Chapter 1 pdf Quiz Answers
2)
Lectures: Research
methods (11/16)
Biological
Psychology
1)
Reading: Modules
3.2 & 3.3 Story Part 1; The rest of the story
2)
Lectures: Molecular
bases of behavior (11/18)
The
brain and behavior (11/21)
Article Analysis #1: Assignment given on November 16th;
due December 9th Article 1
Exam #1 11/23
-----------------------------------------Happy
Thanksgiving------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unit 2 Sensation
and Perception
1)
Reading: Modules
4.1, 4.2 & 4.3
2)
Lectures: Sensation
(11/28)
Perception
(11/30)
Human
Development
1)
Reading: Modules
10.2 & 10.3
2)
Lectures: Cognitive
development (12/2) Social
development (12/5)
***EXAM
#2: 12/7
Unit 3 Learning
1)
Reading: Modules
6.1, 6.2 & 6.3
2)
Lectures: Classical
conditioning (12/9)
Operant
conditioning (12/12)
Observational
learning (12/14)
Article Analysis #2: Assignment given on
December 12th; Due December 23rd Article 2
Memory
1)
Reading: Modules
7.1, 7.2, & 7.3
2)
Lectures: Memory
(12/16 & 1/9)
----------------------------------------------------Merry
Christmas------------------------------------------------------------
***EXAM #3:
1/13
Unit
4 Intelligence Modules
9.1 & 9.3
1)
Reading
2)
Lecture IQ
(1/16)
Social
Psychology
1)
Reading: Modules
15.1 & 15.2 and pp. 572-578
2)
Lectures: Social
influence (1/18)
Social
cognition (1/20)
Article analysis #3: Assignment
given January 9th; Due January 18th
Article
3
Personality
1)
Reading: Modules
12.1 & 12.3 and pp. 452-453
2)
Lectures:
Trait perspectives (1/23)
Psychodynamic & Humanistic theories (1/25 & 1/27)
***EXAM #4:
1/30
Unit 4 Psychological
disorders
1)
Reading: Modules
13.1, 13.2, 13.3 & 13.4
2)
Lectures: Defining
& classifying abnormality (2/1)
Types
of abnormality (2/3 & 2/6)
Article Analysis #4: Assignment given January 23rd; Due
February 3rd Article 4
Therapies
1)
Reading: Modules
14.1, 14.2, & 14.3
2)
Lectures: Types
of therapy (2/8)
Ethics
& the effectiveness of therapy (2/10)
***EXAM #5:
Final exam – 8:30 class àWednesday,
February 15th, 9:00-11:00
2:30 class Tuesday,
February 14th, 3:00-5:00 pm
COURSE INFORMATION
A. Psychology
assistants are available to tutor you in this class should you think it would
be helpful. Here is the schedule:
Daytime
hours:
Taralynn Muscat M/W/F 2:30-3:30 in S331; T/Th 10:30-11:30 in Evald Psychology Department
Evening hours in the Library RWC
1. Exams
– 500 points
There
will be 5 exams. Each will count equally
toward your final grade. Approximately 50%
of the exam will test material from the text that is also discussed in
lecture. 25% of the exam will test
material presented during lectures that is not covered in the book, and the
remaining 25% will be over material presented in the text that is not mentioned
in lecture. In order to do well in the course, you need to attend class AND
read the book thoroughly.
Make-up exam
policy: If you are unable to take an exam at the scheduled time due
to an athletic event or family obligation (e.g., wedding) you may take it early
provided you give me enough advance notice.
If you are unable to take the exam in advance and you miss it, you will
have the option of taking a make-up test.
This test is all essay and will be graded
“Pass” or “Fail.” If you pass, the score
that will be recorded in my grade book will be the average of your other 4
exams. (That is my “best guess” as to
the score you would have gotten if you had taken the regularly scheduled exam.) If you fail the make-up, you will be given
the second lowest score earned by students in the class.
2. Article Analyses: You will be reading four empirical articles
in psychology. More information will be
given on November 16th. The
four article analyses will count the equivalent of 1.5 exams.
3. Research
participation. Students in upper
division psychology courses frequently conduct research as a part of the
class. In order to give you the
opportunity to see what it is like to participate in research and for them to
be able to collect the data they need, we require PSYC100 students to
participate in a minimum of two
research studies throughout the term.
You will find these studies posted at this website: http://augustana.sona-systems.com. If you registered for the course during the
regular registration period, you are already listed within the system under
this course. Down in the lower left hand
side of the screen you will have the option to log-in with a “forgot your
password” option. Please do that. The system will automatically e-mail you with
your password, after which you’ll be able to enter. However, if you added the course via an add
slip, you will go into the system as a “new user.”
There should be
quite a few studies posted throughout the term so you can pick the ones that
are available and sound most interesting to you. You should try to fulfill this requirement no later than the end of
week 8. By week 9 there will be
very few studies posted because student-researchers will be beyond data
collection in their projects.
IMPORTANT
NOTE: If you are uncomfortable about
participating in student research, let me know in writing (e-mail is fine!) by
week 3 (December 2nd) and an alternative way to satisfy this
requirement will be provided for you. There
is no penalty in choosing to not be a participant in departmental research. The
amount of time and effort involved will be comparable. The reason for asking you to “declare” this
by week 3 is to separate those who have an ethical problem from those who have
merely procrastinated.
Please
note:
By department guideline, you cannot receive a passing grade for this course
unless you complete the research participation requirement.
4. Extra-credit: 6 points possible. In addition
to the required participation in two studies, you may earn extra credit by
participating in up to two additional studies.
You will sign up for these studies in the same way. Each will be worth 3 points. Alternative opportunities for extra credit
will be provided to students who let me know of their discomfort with research
participation. Once again, this notice
must be provided to me no later than December 2nd.
5. Final
course grade : Exam 1: 100 “points”
Exam
2 100
Exam
3 100
Exam
4 100
Exam
5 100
Article
Analyses 150
Total 650 points
A+= 97-100% A = 93-96% A- = 90-92%
B+= 87-89% B = 83-86% B- = 80
C+= 77-79% C = 73-76% C- = 70-72%
D+= 67-69% D=
63-66% D- = 60-62%
Five exams, participation in two
research studies, and the four article analyses must be completed in
order to receive a passing grade in the course.