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Syllabus 400:001 Sec. 2 Spring 2010 2:00 MWF SEC 244 |
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Syllabus 400:001 Sec. 2 Spring 2010 2:00 MWF SEC 244 |
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| Office: Baker
441
Office
Hours:
9:30-10:30
MW
and
11:00
T;
other Mailbox: Baker 334 times by appointment; drop-bys welcome. |
| Phone:
273-2690
Email:
walsh@uni.edu
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Sites to Promote Academic Success |
SUMMARY OF ASSIGNMENTS AND THEIR POINT VALUES*This course will provide you with a broad introduction to the field of psychology, one of the social sciences. Among the topics we will cover are: gathering data on the causes and correlates of behavior, key figures in psychology and their theories, examples of research findings from the major subareas of the field, and using psychological knowledge to improve the quality of our lives. This survey of psychology will acquaint you with the major concepts and terminology of the discipline and give you a better understanding of self and others. We'll use a combination of lectures (oh boy!), video clips, demonstrations and games (volunteers needed!), and miscellaneous experiences (be on guard!). I hope it will make you want to learn more about psychology and have you asking "What's the evidence?" each time you encounter statements about behavior. Last of all, it should be fun and interesting! Course Description
Course Objectives To become aware of the major psychological approaches to the study of behavior. To become aware of the major aspects of behavior investigated by psychologists. To become familiar with the theories and contributions of major figures in the field. To become familiar with major research findings and theories of the field. To become conversant in the unique language of psychology. To learn the methodology of psychology and its limitations. To learn how to locate, read and evaluate psychological resources. To become an informed consumer of psychological information. To gain self understanding and a greater understanding of others. To recognize ways to apply psychological findings to everyday life. To learn to appreciate the necessity of a multi-level explanation of behavior. To become fascinated by the study of behavior and mental processes! Tentative Schedule
**Bolded items are course requirements. Bolded dates should be entered into your planner!!
You are responsible for knowing due dates! (See these tips on planning your semester.)
Items not in bold are meant to help you and expand your learning.
Items below the horizontal line in a box are study tips to help you succeed.
Everything that is underlined is a hyperlink to be accessed from our online syllabus.
http://www.uni.edu/walsh/linda8.htmlWelcome to Introduction to Psychology! I am hoping we will have a great semester together.
I think Intro to Psychology is a great course for any student to take. I would recommend it even if a student had already completed the Liberal Arts Core/General Education requirements. All of us can benefit from a better understanding of the causes of behavior as we go through life trying to make sense of our own behavior or that of friends, family, lovers, co-workers, politicians - whoever! Everyone needs to be able to critically evaluate the claims concerning behavior that are so much a part of news reports, commercials, and conversation. This course will help you with each of these. Many of you, raising children - now or in the future, will be better prepared with some understanding of developmental psychology. And all of you, in one way or another, will cross paths with someone in psychology or related fields. Perhaps you already have, in school (counselors, school psychologists). Recent statistics suggest that 1 out of 2 Americans will suffer from some sort of psychological disorder in their lifetime. You or someone you care about may seek out some type of mental health treatment or advice. Or you may hear testimony from someone in this field while on jury duty. This course will help you understand the qualifications of and differences among professionals in the field. In addition, about 1 out of 5 Americans will have some kind of nervous system disorder or disease which affects behavior. Biopsychology, the study of brain/behavior relationships, can help you understand what is happening when someone you know is affected by autism or Alzheimer's disease or other neurological problem. But psychology is not only concerned with treating behavioral problems. A good part of it is focussed on simply enhancing the quality of life and our ability to function in a wide variety of circumstances (education, work, relationships, etc.). You can use what you learn to improve your life!Now I know you may have your doubts about a class this size. It is easy to feel lost in the crowd, to think your attendance is not important, and to assume you are on your own if you start to have problems. That is not the case here! I may not learn to associate many faces with names, but I do care about how you are doing, I applaud your improvements, and enjoy getting to know as many of you as I can. I welcome office visits and e-mail and I'm almost always available before and after class as well. I will do what I can to make our class a comfortable place so you feel free to speak up. (Remember - everyone here is just as new and as anxious as you are.) I want you to ask questions and its your chance to slow down my motor mouth! : ) . Fight passivity! Let's make it feel like a smaller class. Become involved and you will have much better retention of the material. You'll get so much more out of college if you are not just a listener! Remember Robin Williams in "Dead Poet's Society"? "Carpe diem!" (Seize the day - or, in this case, seize your education!). Dream Big!
While I feel like we can work together to make even our large class a friendly and involving place, one thing that's more difficult to do is to design a course that "fits" all 200 students. If this class is like most others, about half of you have already had a psych class in high school, while about half are brand new to the subject. Some who took high school psych had excellent courses that were the equivalent of a college course (although typically spread over a whole school year), whereas others took a course that only covered a small amount of the content we will be tackling this semester. What this means is that inevitably sometimes we are going too slow or too shallow for more experienced students or too fast and furious for others. Some students who got by with memorizing definitions in high school may find test questions that ask you to apply your understanding to real-life situations pretty challenging, while others will find our multiple choice tests too simplistic. Realizing these difficulties I can only say I will try to teach an understandable, yet challenging course suitable both for those who may never take another psych class in their lives and those who may go on to major or minor in psychology.
Many large lectures classes at UNI or across the country take the lecture and 2 to 4 exams approach. While that is traditional and easy on the instructor and some of the class (good test-takers), it is not good for many students and often does not promote good learning and long-term retention. Listening and reading just aren't enough for most of us to really learn new material - we have to work with information to make it our own. Research has shown that actively engaging the material improves learning and retention. For that reason I have planned several small assignments during the semester related to the concepts we are covering. Since you can use your text and other resources, discuss assignments with friends, or consult with your prof or T.A.'s, a conscientious student should be able to earn nearly all the assignment points. Almost all past students voted in favor of having some of the course points come from something other than exams. In all previous classes the points from the assignments allowed almost all students to significantly raise their grade above that which they would have earned from test scores alone. But of course you must take those assignments seriously to earn those points and ask questions if you don't quite understand something.
Our text is written in a conversational style that is easy to read. You are responsible for that reading! Attending class is important but it is only part of what's involved in becoming an educated person. Do set aside time for that reading, preferably before or while we are covering that topic in class - it is key to your success. You'll need a minimum of 2 hours per module and additional time to do the study aids in the text and online practice questions (practice class material in as many ways as possible!). It is highly recommended that you map out a regular weekly study schedule for your classes (here's a sample completed schedule*) (you can get 2 pts extra credit for this) and try to stick to it. Plan on reading about 10 pages of Psych per class day. Take condensed notes as you read -- taking the time to outline main ideas, briefly define terms, list the pros and cons of the theories or techniques presented, etc.(preferably in your own words, with examples) I know you will absorb and remember material better than if you just read and highlight. To encourage you to do so we have a few assignments that require that you take notes. Again - this is not busy work but a tried and true technique for increasing learning. Also notice that, in the right hand column of our schedule, there are even links to outlines to help you take these shorthand notes on each module. If you do a good job of capturing the essentials it will be much easier to study for exams. You might say you've never had to read a textbbook, much less devote special effort to learning the material presented. Well, this is just one of the many ways in which college is distinctly different from high school.
I will not be covering everything in class - not only would that be impossible, but we wouldn't have time for demonstrations, activities, videos, etc that help you remember the material. I will sometimes direct your attention to specific topics that you should cover on your own and spend extra time on - please write these helpful hints down and follow through! Of course you are always welcome to ask questions about text material (in or out of class or by e-mail). I recommend regularly integrating your class notes with your reading notes because the book will provide additional examples and help you fill in or clarify material when I might have gone a bit too quickly in class. Here are some online Strategies for Taking Notes Effectively. Reading and reviewing your notes regularly (i.e. every class day) is much more effective than cramming at test time. Many students find it helpful to type up their notes as a means of reviewing each classday. .
About our exams: Exams will be all multiple choice. Many students find exams in college to be quite a bit more challenges than their tests in high school. And that makes sense. Your mental abilities are developing - you are becoming able to understand and work with knowledge in more and more abstract and sophisticated ways. Benjamin Bloom described these different levels of 'understanding' and the types of test questions associated with each. In high school most of your test questions probably tested your understanding at the very first or most basic level of "Bloom's taxonomy", but now, in college, you will be expected to work at achieving higher levels of mental competance. So although some of our items will test your knowledge of facts or definitions, a larger number will assess your higher understanding of the material by asking you to apply the concepts we cover to examples. Being able to recognize how to apply class concepts to real-life examples requires deeper understanding rather than rote memorization. We will do some "application" in our in-class activities and homeworks that should give you an idea of what to expect on exams. This online resource gives you examples of multiple choice questions (like those you will find on our exams) of varying levels of difficulty: How Multiple Choice Questions Can Be Used to Measure Different Levels of Understanding of the Same Concept. Our text also includes concept reviews and summary tests that can help you prepare for exams and there are online multiple choice practice tests at Plotnik's website.Some of his items are likely to appear on our tests. You might want to go through these tips on How to Review Class Material.
Test scores will be posted on the Psychology Bulletin Board in the glassed-in entranceway to Baker Hall that faces the Campanile bell tower. Tests and test answer keys, once available, will be found outside my office, Baker 441. It is important to pick up your test and figure out what questions you got wrong, because some of those same questions will be on our final exam. In addition the same style test items will appear on all later tests, so looking at the format of items will help you to anticipate questions on our next test. NOTE:You must have a passing average (60% or better) on our 4 exams to pass this course (regardless of how many assignment or extra credit points you earn).Makeup exams are strongly discouraged; if a makeup is necessary you must contact me on or before the scheduled day of the regular exam and the makeup must be taken before the exams are returned to the class. Makeup exams will include an extra page of essay questions. Except under extraordinary circumstances, only 1 makeup exam per student will be allowed per semester.
Grades will be based on the total number of points accumulated during the semester. Tests 1, 2,3 and 4 will each be worth about 50 points plus a few extra credit points. The Final will include about 55 questions on new material as well as 45 old questions drawn from Tests 1-4. These exams make up about 73% of your grade. The other ~27% comes from graded assignments and about 15 attendance points (awarded on about 15 random class days during the semester). ( ~ means "approximately")Test 1 ~60 + a couple extra credit
Test 2 ~60 + a couple extra credit
Test 3 ~60 + a couple extra credit
Final ~105 (~60 new & ~45 old questions) + a couple extra credit
Assignments 90 + a few extra credit
In-Class Points ~15 (attendance points and other in-class point earning activities occur randomly throughout the semester)
Total = ~390 + about 30 extra credit availableGrading - Your final course grade will be based on the total points earned, but you must have a passing average (60% or better) on the 4 exams to pass the course. Because a significant number of extra credit points will be available during the semester, end-of-semester grades will be assigned strictly according to this scale:
Grade Percent Grade Percent Grade Percent A 93.0-100.0% B- 80.0 - 82.9% D+ 67.0 - 69.9% A- 90.0 - 92.9% C+ 77.0 - 79.9% D 63.0 - 66.9% B+ 87.0 - 89.9% C 73.0 - 76.9% D- 60.0 - 62.9% B 83.0 - 86.9% C- 70.0 - 72.9% F 0.0 - 59.9%
Study Tips 1. Start studying now! Commit to putting in the necessary time to remember information from the course! There is a direct relationship between the amount of time you spend learning material and the length of time you remember it. The general rule of thumb is 2 hours out of class for every hour in class (YES - carrying a full load is like a full-time job!). It will take you at least 2 hours to read each module - block out that time in your schedule. An ideal situation is to review your notes and do some reading/studying shortly after each class period while class is fresh in your mind.
2. Space your study sessions. All night cram sessions are one of the least effective ways to learn or memorize new material. Repeated spaced practices (e.g. reviewing a little every classday) allow you to mentally process and incorporate the information into memory. It's a basic fact about the way human memory works. Students who take the distributed practice approach to learning retain significantly more information than students who use cramming. Can you imagine if the Panthers tried to win after a single cram practice just before the game? Or a band tried to perform after only a single cram practice?
3. Read material BEFORE we cover it in class. Another function of human memory is that we tend to remember things much easier when we have some sort of mental framework to guide us. That's exactly what reading the material ahead of time does; it gives you that all important mental framework so that when the professor mentions the concept, you already have a place to "hang" the information.
4. Find a place to study where you can concentrate. Problems in absorbing new information arise when distracting thoughts, background noise, televisions, stereos, and friends sidetrack your attention. I recommend the library. How does your study location rate: Study Distraction Analysis
5. BEWARE - so much of psych sounds familiar that it is very tempting to think you are grasping it all just by passively listening in lecture. This is not enough to actually learn and be able to use the material in the course. You must be an active, involved learner and really work with the text and lecture notes to get a good grade. Test yourself before I test you -can you answer all the questions in our book or on the Plotnik website without difficulty? If you take the online practice test and only get 60% right, there is a pretty good chance you' ll only get ~60% (D-) on our test too! The study aids you actually produce yourself (flashcards, outlines, concept maps) are extremely important to your learning.
Back to IndexClass Resources on the World-Wide Web
Intro to Psych Students are also encouraged to visit
and make use of the following class resources:
Sites to Promote Academic Success (Study Skills Page)
Help for Newcomers on Campus (Info About On-Campus resources)
Intro to Psych Powerpoint Lecture Outlines
Plotnik Student Resources
Who Are You Sheet and Syllabus Quiz (5 pt)- Due 1/13.
Research Methods Exercise (up to 20 pt) Due 1/25. Identify the independent and dependent variables & experimental & control group in several examples. Distinguish experimental vs correlational research. TIP: You will be asked to to identify IVs, DVs, and the experimental and control groups of sample experiments on our 1st exam, so be sure you understand these terms.
Brain
Game Notes (up to 10 pt plus possible extra credit) Due
2/17.
Come to class with
organized
notes on the parts of the nervous system and brain and the behaviors/functions
each
part
is
related
to. Include the neurotransmitters
mentioned
in the book and class and their links to behavior as well, as well as
any
additional brain areas mentioned in lecture. Make yourself a sketch or
2 to remind you where the various brain areas are located. You will use
these notes to play the Brain Game, where you will "diagnose" what part
of the brain has been damaged based on the patients' symptoms. Correct
diagnoses will be rewarded and everyone who turns in good notes will
earn
10 pts. TIP: Taking notes and working on the Brain Game cases should
also
help to prepare you for the approximately 20 questions about this
module
that will be on our first test. Try to predict what our 20 questions
might
be.
Classical
Conditioning Homework (up to 12 pt plus 2 extra credit): Due
3/3.
Identify the UCS, UCR, CS
& CR in several classical conditioning examples. TIP: You will have
to identify these same
components of classical
conditioning in examples on Test 2, so be ready!
Reinforcement
Homework (up to 13 pt) Due 3/8.
Identify the schedule of
reinforcement in several operant examples. Distinguish between positive
and negative reinforcement and punishment. TIP: Test 2 will include
some
similar examples for you to identify, so consider this practice.
Psych
Journal Article Assignment (10 pt + 4 extra credit possible) Due
3/24.
Use Unistar to locate the
call number of selected Psychology journals. Find the journal in the
stacks
in the basement and browse through until you find a research
report
in you find interesting. (Note: a research report article should have a
Methods section telling you how the research was conducted as well as a
Results section telling you what they found.) Read how the
investigators
conducted their research and try to determine if they have used one of
the research methods discussed in class or in the text. Tips
on Reading Research Reports
Defense
Mechanisms Homework (up to 10 pt) Due 3/31.
Identify the defense
mechanism
operating in several examples. TIP:You'll have to do the similar
identifications
on Test 3.
Psychological
Disorders Notes to play What's My Psychopathology (up
to 10 pt) Due 4/16.
Take notes on the
disorders
in Modules 22 and 23 in preparation for an in-class game where you must
identify the disorders portrayed in case reports. Correct diagnoses
will
be rewarded and everyone who turns in good notes will earn 10 pts. TIP:
Good notes and working on these cases should also help prepare you for
the 40 or so questions on these modules on our Final Exam.
4 credits of Required
Research Participation or
Research Methods Paper Alternatives:
Turn in Papers by 4/23.
The other requirement in
this class is a department requirement designed to expose you
to
research in the field of psychology. You may meet this requirement
either
through research participation or reading and summarizing published
research.
Sign-up online by clicking on the link above and clicking on PSPM. New
studies are posted sporadically throughout the semester. If you sign-up
do
show up (or you'll get negative credits). Because of the diverse
opportunities
available these participations or alternatives do not carry a point
value
but are graded complete or incomplete. Although your credits will be
posted
online, also keep track of your credits yourself (space is provided
below),
with info about each study, in case there should be any dispute. For
more
information see: Research
Participation-Student
Information
and Step-by-Step
Instructions.
You
may earn up to 9 pts extra credit by earning up to 3 additional credits
beyond the requirement.
Record
Your Research
Participation or Alternatives Here:
Title
Time
&
Date
Location
What
I
Did
1.
2.
3.
4.
Record your test scores ____ ____ ____ ____ and your assignment scores ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _____
About
Your
Prof
Birthplace:
Chicago,
Illinois
Education: B.S.
(Psychology)
University of Illinois, Chicago; M.A. (Biopsychology) University of
Chicago;
Ph.D. (Biopsychology) University of Chicago
Married:
James
Walsh (attorney)
Children: 3
girls (Jen, Sara, & Annie)
Hobbies: Gardening,
gourmet
cooking,
travel,
reading,
concert-hopping
Most unusual
experiences:
Performing
brain surgery on rats, riding an elephant (twice!), wearing a live
python
around my neck, climbing the Great Pyramid, flying in a blimp, visiting
ancient Greek ruins, giving birth
Goals: Continue to
learn for the rest of my life, enjoy my professional and private lives,
help others discover psychology (especially biopsychology)
