Psychology 102- Understanding Human Behavior Fall 2011 MWF am 105 Chambliss

Transcription

1 Psychology 102- Understanding Human Behavior Fall 2011 MWF am 105 Chambliss Instructor: April K. Dye, Ph.D. Office: 208 Chambliss; Office phone: 2086 Office Hours: Monday: 1pm-3pm Tuesday: 10.30am-12.00pm, 3pm-4pm Wednesday: 1pm-3pm Thursday: 10.30am-12.00pm, 3pm-4pm Friday: 10am-11am Required Materials: Davis and Palladino (2010). Psychology. (6 th ed.) Course website: Information about the course (assignments, announcements, and grades) will be accessible through C-N online ( You are expected to check C-N online and your regularly for announcements about the class! Course overview and objectives: According to Lahey (2007), psychology is the study of the science of behavior and mental processes. As a result, this course is designed to provide you with : 1) a brief introduction to the many applied areas of psychology, including social, developmental, and clinical psychology 2) information about the current trends in these areas of psychology. 3) The ability to recognize psychological principles in daily life and other fields of study. 4) The awareness of the areas of professional psychology. 5) Students will articulate the interaction between the discipline and social issues. 6) Students will critically analyze interrelationships between individual and sociohistorical forces. You will also be introduced to methods used to conduct research in psychology as well as some important issues surrounding psychological research, such as ethical questions and questions of validity. The field of psychology is enormous, constantly growing, and constantly changing, and therefore this course will only give you a sampling of the different areas of psychology. However, this course will provide you with a basic foundation of

2 knowledge in psychology, and hopefully, will motivate you to take more detailed courses in psychology later in your college career. Learning Principles: This class aims to help students with: Thinking Critically. Students achieve perspective by combining imagination, intuition, reasoning, and evaluation. Critical thinking develops the ability to construct and discern relationships, analyze arguments, and solve complex problems. Understanding Contexts. Because how we know may be as important as what we know, examining assumptions is an important part of learning. Knowledge of the conceptual frameworks and achievements of the arts, sciences, technology, and the character of global society is crucial to our future. Engaging with Other Learners. A healthy exchange of different ideas and viewpoints encourages rethinking of accepted perspectives. Therefore, diversity among learners, a supportive atmosphere of group work, active listening, and opportunities to critique results encourage learning through shared efforts. Reflecting and Acting. By making thoughtful decisions and examining their consequences, students may enhance personal moral commitment, enrich ethical understanding, and strengthen civic participation. Policies: Attendance Attendance at all class meetings is expected, and students are responsible for all the work of all class meetings. If students miss class for any reason, they are obligated to obtain assignments for work missed. Students will not be penalized and can make up class work they miss if a document illness, the death of immediate family member, or participation in a college-sponsored activity caused the absence. Otherwise, the instructor has no obligation to allow students to make up their work. Academic activity will be monitored for all students. Each individual faculty member will establish the consequences for absences and publish these in the course syllabus. Any student who does not attend class during the first week the class meets will be administratively dropped from the class for non-attendance. Enrollment status (fulltime/part-time, etc.), billing, and financial aid eligibility may be affected by this withdrawal. Refer to the Refund Section of the catalog for more detailed information. Students who fail all courses due to non-attendance or lack of academic activity will be administratively withdrawn from the college for the semester. The last date of academic activity will be used to determine the date of the administrative withdrawal from the college. Financial Assistance recalculations will be processed for students who are administratively withdrawn from the college within 45 days of the date of determination. If a student is administratively withdrawn from the college, financial assistance eligibility may be affected. (see Carson-Newman Catalog, page 29) The policy for all classes in social sciences is that students who miss more than four weeks of class meetings (for any reason) will not pass the class. Students will be notified when

3 they have missed the equivalent of two weeks of class, and they will be dropped with an F if they miss more than 4 weeks of class. Although all types of absences will be counted in this total, students may (as stated above) make up work they have missed for documented illness, death of an immediate family member, or travel for college sponsored events. Work missed for excused reasons (see above) must be completed within two weeks of returning back to class. Work missed for other reasons may also be made up within one week with a 10 point deduction. No make-up work will be accepted after December 7 th. The last day to drop any class and receive a W is Wednesday, November 2. Respect for others Each student has a unique perspective and set of experiences to bring to the study of psychology. I expect each student to respect the opinions of one another, no matter how they may differ from our own. Furthermore, respect for others also includes of being mindful of not texting, instant messaging, facebooking, talking on your cell phone, sleeping or talking excessively to your neighbors during class. The instructor reserves the right to ask you to put away your cell phone/computer and deduct points from your participation grade if you are causing a disruption to the class and/or the professor. Special considerations Some situations may require a student take an exam during a time other than the scheduled time (e.g. arrangements for students with learning disabilities, being a member of an athletic team that has an official obligation during class time), in these cases special arrangements can be made to accommodate these needs. Students in these situations, however, must make arrangements at the beginning of the semester and provide official documentation regarding these circumstances. Any student with a special documented disability (sight, hearing, language, mobility, etc.) which may affect class activities should contact David Humphrey (Kathleen Manley Wellness Center) at and provide appropriate documentation. Do this early in the semester, well in advance of the need of accommodations, so that you may receive them when you need them. Academic Honesty All work submitted must be your own, generated exclusively for this class. The use of sources (ideas, quotes, paraphrasing) must be properly documented. Please read the discussion on plagiarism in Writing at Carson-Newman (pages 61-4). You may also access this discussion under Writing at C-N on Carson-Newman s homepage (Under Quick Links). If plagiarism or academic dishonesty is established, the minimum penalty will be 0 on the assignment. All students will be required to sign the Academic Honesty Statement. Evaluation (700 possible points): Class Participation (100 points) Throughout the course, your participation will be recorded through a variety of methods such as group activities, reflection paragraphs, in class discussions, and quizzes. Please come to class prepared by doing the assigned readings. Excused absences have two weeks to make up missed work. Three class participation grades will be dropped from your grade at the end of the semester.

4 Weekly Assignments (100 points) Once per week you will be asked to turn in one assignment to be completed out of class. These assignments will help you process the information presented in class and help you think about the class material in different ways. They may range from a short reaction paper to a short experiment to be conducted by you to a current event. We may discuss the results of some assignments in class, so please be prepared to talk about your assignment. Assignments will be due each Monday at 10am. If class is cancelled or Monday is an exam day, then the assignment will be scheduled for another class period that week. Late assignments will not be accepted. I realize that computers break and that sometimes life outside of school intervenes, so I will drop two assignment grades at the end of the semester. Assignments will be posted and turned in on C-N online. Exams (4 exams x 100 points each = 400 points total) I will drop your lowest exam grade (this includes the final exam)! Five exams will be administered in the course. Each exam will consist of multiple choice, short answer and/or essay questions. Exams will be based on both lecture and book material. Questions will cover definitions, theory, findings, as well as applications of psychology. A good way think about studying for the exams will be to be able to define the topic, be able to describe an experiment related to the topic, and describe real-world applications of the topic. We will have a review for each exam the day prior to the exam. Makeup exams will only be offered in specific, documented cases approved by the instructor. See above for information about makeup exams. Hot Topics in Psychology Presentation and Paper (100 points) You will be asked to investigate a current hot topic in psychology(e.g. overdiagnosis of mental illness, eating disorders, terrorism, serial killers, etc.) and to create a group presentation and discussion about this topic. Each group will have 4-5 members. You will then be asked to write a paper individually investigating some aspect of your topic further. More information will be given regarding this assignment in class. Your Final grade is your total points earned divided by the total points possible. 93%-100% 85%-92% 75%-84% 65%-74% <65% A B C D F

5 Class Schedule: Schedule may change. Changes will be announced in class and posted via course website. Date 8/24 8/26 8/29 8/31 9/2 9/5 9/7 9/9 9/12 9/14 9/16 9/19 9/21 9/23 9/26 9/28 9/30 10/3 10/5 10/7 10/10 10/12 10/14 Topic/Page Numbers Introduction to the course Fields of Psychology Chapter 9: Development across the Life Span ( ) Chapter 9 (cont.) Chapter 9 (cont.) No Class: Labor Day Chapter 8: Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence ( ) Chapter 8 (cont.) Chapter 8 (cont.) Exam 1 Review Exam 1 (Ch. 8 and 9) Chapter 12: Psychological Disorders ( ) Chapter 12 (cont.) Chapter 12 (cont.) Chapter 12 (cont.) Chapter 12 (cont.)/presentation groups form today! Chapter 13: Therapy ( ) Chapter 13 (cont.) Exam 2 Review Exam 2 (Ch. 12 and 13) Chapter 11: Personality ( ) Chapter 11 (cont.) No Class: Fall Break

6 10/17 10/19 10/21 10/24 10/26 10/28 10/31 11/2 11/4 11/7 11/9 11/11 11/14 11/16 11/18 11/21 11/23 11/25 11/28 11/30 12/2 12/5 12/7 In-Class Work Day for Chapter 15: Social Psychology ( ) Exam 3 Review Exam 3 (Ch. 11 and 15) Chapter 14: Health Psychology ( ) Chapter 14 (cont.) Chapter 14 (cont.) Chapter 16: I/O Psychology and Applications ( ) Ch. 16 (cont.) Exam Review Exam 4 (Ch. 14 and 16) In-Class Work Day for No Class: Happy Thanksgiving! Class Wrap-up/ Exam Review (Hot Topic Papers Due Today!) 12/9 Cumulative Final Exam (8.30am-10.30am)