Introductory Psychology

PSY 400-001

Section 04

Fall 2006

Dr. Kim MacLin

Class Time: TR 12:30-1:45pm

Class Location: Sabin Hall 129

 

This Syllabus is Subject to Change. Last Modified 8/21/06

Course Description:

Psychology is the scientific study of mind, brain and behavior. Some of what you will learn may seem like "common sense," or at the very least familiar to you because you will be learning about topics that you can relate to.  However, one of the most important things you will learn is that some of what we believe to be "common sense" is not true at all, and that even "common sense" principles should be evaluated scientifically. You will learn about psychology from several different viewpoints: psychology as an academic science, psychology in life (yours!), and psychology in the broader world. All course assignments and materials are designed to bring psychology to you from these different areas.

 

You may be entering this course thinking it will be “easy,” interesting, and maybe fun. Well you’re right about the last two but not the first! An introductory psychology course necessarily covers a great deal of material, and contrary to all of your notions about what psychology is, much of it is challenging. Each of your chapters is actually its own specialty area in psychology and psychologists and researchers will spend their whole working lives on one area. So there is a lot of material to cover and you will get a “taste” of each major area in psychology. Personal values, memories and reflections are an important part of learning about psychology, however, you will learn that understanding the material cannot just be done from a personal perspective. Rather, you must also learn about the material from a scientific point of view. You will have to develop and/or hone your study skills in order to do well in this course, as well as attending class every day (yes, every day!). Also, this course requires a fair amount of computer skill, or at least the willingness to learn. Homework is done via the WebCT, most homework assignments require you to go to websites and read or download material, your grades are posted on WebCT, your syllabus and all course material are available on this website, and your paper will need to be written using a word processor. If you are uncomfortable with this level of computing (and have an unwillingess to learn) another Intro class might be your best bet. 

 

This is an Honors course. How is it different?

You are using the same book that my other introductory psychology course uses, and you are doing the same types of assignments. So how is this class different? You are getting an experience with 24 people instead of 200. This will allow for more questions and answers, and generally more discussion, particularly of homework assignments which I never get to discuss with my big class. I think this will lead you to a greater, more complex understanding of the material, and in that way will achieve the level of an 'enriched' honors course. Given that this is a liberal arts core requirement, I don't feel that it is fair to grade you any "harder" than I would the regular course. As with the regular course, there won't be a curve. You earn the points you earn which will directly lead to the grade you earn.

 

This Syllabus:

This syllabus is our contract. Therefore, it is lengthy and detailed. It clearly states your obligations to me, and mine to you. Imagine any complaints you might have about a course (particularly after the fact, and if you didn’t get the grade you wanted): and look for those possible complaints in this syllabus. If there is something you don’t like, TAKE A DIFFERENT COURSE! Staying in this course beyond the first day indicates to me a commitment to learn in this type of environment. 

 

Have questions about the course? Check your syllabus first! Very likely the information you want is here!  I do my very best to anticipate your questions. When you have a question, CHECK YOUR SYLLABUS. Announcements made in class “count” just as much as policies outlined in the written syllabus.  The course website/WebCT will always have the most recent version of the syllabus.

 

Contacting Me:

Not that I don’t want to talk to you in person (!) but email is the most efficient and reliable way to reach me.  When you do contact me (by email or phone message) please include your first and last name and which class you are in (I teach other classes besides this one).

 

Email: kim.maclin@uni.edu

Phone: 273-2302

Office: Baker Hall 344

Office Hours:  TR 2-3pm, and by appointment

 

Teaching Assistants:

Your teaching assistant is an undergraduate student who has received an A in this course and has been selected because of his or her understanding of the material, organizational skills, and helpful attitude. This person attends class and takes notes, grades your homework assignments (with guidelines and feedback from me), enters your grades, answers questions, and runs study sessions. The notes this person takes is for their use at study sessions, not for students to copy if they miss class (you'll have another contact person for that). If you have questions about a homework grade you should contact your in-class teaching assistant first either in class or by email. This person does not hold regular office hours, but appointment can be made if you have specific questions. I also have a Graduate Teaching Assistant who supervises my all of my undergraduate TAs. This person is a Master's level graduate student, and will hold regular office hours and will also be available for questions. If you are approved for a makeup exam, you will make an appointment with the Graduate TA to take your exam.

 

Both TAs are here to help with the administration of the course. Always feel free to contact me with questions about course content, the running of the course, the TAs themselves, or anything. The TAs help me out, and allow me the time to devote my attention to your learning and positive experience with this course.

 

Teaching Assistant: Amanda Hall (ahall@uni.edu)

Office Hours: By appointment

 

Class Communication: I often will communicate with you through an email listserv.  Your UNI email address is the one these messages go to. If you add the class late, you may not be on the list. Information about this listserv is available on the course's WebCT page and on my website. Announcements made over email are typically extremely important. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure you are receiving these emails.  Click here to add yourself to the email listerv if you are not receiving class emails so far, OR if you prefer to receive the messages at a non-UNI email address.

 

Required Texts

Course Information

Course information is available in two places, WebCT and my own website. Your grades, assignments and course information are available via WebCT. Duplicate course information (like your syllabus and the course calendar) are also available via my website.

Course Information Website: http://fp.uni.edu/maclink/introductory_psychology_hnrs_fall06.htm

Course Assignments and Grades: http://webct.uni.edu (WebCT)

 

Class Attendance:

Class attendance is critical.  I do not take roll. But you will miss valuable information and participation points if you choose not to attend class. If attendance is low, I may have a class assignment. These cannot be made up.  If you cannot attend class on a particular day, your best bet is to send me an email, or to leave a phone message at my office PRIOR TO YOUR ABSENCE.  Talking to me after the fact does not ensure that I will be sympathetic or helpful in any way!

 

Homework:

There is a lot of homework in this class. Most of the assignments are simple, but do require your reading (or listening) and attention.  Some of you may feel that this is “busy work.” Well, you are partly right! The work is designed to keep you reading, studying, and thinking at a steady pace, avoiding the pitfalls of “cramming.” The homework points do add up, and you will hurt your grade if you only periodically do homework assignments.

 

Homework assignments are posted on WebCT. Homework is submitted directly from WebCT and is due by 11am on the day it is listed. Some homeworks require you to listen to a program. Most are short, but some are 1 hour! So make sure you check your homework assignment early so you have enough time to do it before the deadline.

 

Quizzes:

There will be 6 quizzes given, each covering lectures, homework assignments, videos and readings since the last quiz. They will be worth 50 points each. The format of the quiz (short answer, multiple choice, etc) will vary to ensure that students have multiple methods of demonstrating their knowledge of the material. It is up to my discretion of whether quizzes can be taken early or late. I can and do say no. If you are granted an early or late quiz, it will be multiple choice, 50 questions, randomly selected from the test bank for the chapters that quiz is to cover. This is likely to be more difficult than the quiz that is taken in class, therefore, you are strongly encouraged not to miss quizzes. If you receive 45 points or better on the quiz, you will get 1 bonus point toward your final test score.

 

Book Report:

You are required to write a book report for this course. Click here for the book options (choosing a book title is also one of your homeworks and thus is also available on WebCT). The book report is worth 100 points.  Keep an electronic and hard copy of your book report. The report should be 2000 words long, typed, and in APA style. Here is a sample. Note that the body of your paper goes in between these two elements, and are numbered accordingly. You indicate the book you will be doing your book report on and your chosen deadline in HW2.

 

Final:

Your final will be cumulative and will be multiple choice and short answer and worth 100 points.

 

Experiment Participation: Experiment participation is designed to teach you something about the research process in psychology, as well as provide a critical service to psychologists conducting research at this university—we need human subjects to do our research. 

 

Therefore, it is a departmental requirement that every introductory psychology student participate in 4 credits (1 credit=1 hour) of experiments. Keep your appointments. It is NOT okay to flake on these people. You will lose 1 credit hour (and therefore owe more than 4) for every missed appointment. YOU WILL RECEIVE AN INCOMPLETE IF YOU DO NOT FULFILL YOUR OBLIGATION.  Do your experiments early.  Towards the end of the semester there is no guarantee that there will be enough experiments for all of the students in all of the introductory psychology classes. You can browse and sign up for experiments from the above link.  You can also keep track of your credits. LAST DAY TO PARTICIPATE IN EXPERIMENTS IS December 1, 2006.  Go HERE. Problems logging in? Contact Rakhi Patel (runninrakstar@gmail.com). After all experiment credits are posted I encourage you to printout a copy of your experiment summary report on PSPM. This will show all the experiments you participated in and will serve as your receipt.

 

If you cannot participate in any or all of the 4 experiments due to schedule or preference, you must write a 1000 word essay (for each 1 hour of credit) on one of the following journal articles. You must view/print these from a campus computer.

#1 School Shootings

#2 Schizophrenia

#3 Children and Poverty

#4 Prison Policy

 

Extra Credit:

You can earn extra credit points by doing psychological movie reviews throughout the course. These are available as extra credit assignments in WebCT and are worth 2 points each.

 

You can also earn extra credit for doing extra (more than 4) experiments. Simply do the extra experiments, and at the end of the course when I receive the summary of how many you did, you will get 1 point extra credit for every extra experiment (over 4) that you participated in.

 

You may receive a MAXIMUM of 20 extra credit points for the semester (from any of the above options).

 

Grading Scale: NOTICE there are no plusses and minuses given

A=90% of possible points

B=80-89% of possible points

C=70-79% of possible points

D=60-69% of possible points

F=less than 60% of possible points

 

I round up for .5 or above (example, 89.5% would be a 90% and thus an A; 89.4% would be rounded down for 89% which is a B).

 

Participation/In Class assignments = to be determined

Homework = 230 (23 assignments @ 10pts each)

Quizzes = 300 (6 @ 50pts each)

Book Report = 100 points

Final = 100 points

Total  680 possible points (+ participation points)

 

Check WebCt regularly to ensure that your grades are being recorded correctly and so that you know of your standing in the class. Grade disputes must be reconciled within 2 weeks of being posted.

 

If you have a disability that could affect your performance in this class:

UNI is committed to equal opportunity in education for all students, including those with documented physical disabilities or documented learning disabilities.  It is the responsibility of students to contact the Office of Disability Services (213 Student Services Center-273-2676) to arrange for documentation and accommodation.

 

If you have University sponsored obligations that require you to miss class:

It is your responsibility to contact me during the first week of class to let me know of your obligations throughout the semester.  As soon as you receive your paperwork detailing the days you will miss class, please provide me with a copy for my files.  It is STILL your responsibility, however, to remind me by email at least a day before you are going to miss a class due to your approved obligations, so that we can arrange for any work you might miss. It is your responsibility to ensure that you get makeup assignments from me immediately upon your return. You will need to get class notes from a fellow student.

 

Cheating & Plagiarism:

DON’T CHEAT! Cheating is any sort of activity that results in you turning in work (quizzes, homeworks, book reports, extra credit) where you are not the SOLE contributor and developer of the ideas. You are bound to the University's ethics policies.  I use Turnitin.com to screen papers for plagiarism.

 

Very Bad Things to Do that Will Get YOU in BIG TROUBLE

(if I catch you, and I catch a lot of people)

Googling a movie review to see what a movie is about so you can write an extra credit assignment on it

Asking your friend to tell you what a movie is about so you can write an extra credit assignment on it

Digging back into your foggy memory of a movie you saw a million years ago and writing an extra credit assignment on it

Googling to find a paper that you can use as a model for your book report

Purchasing any sort of paper on the Internet

Copying/pasting any content off of the Internet into ANY assignment for this course

Reading summaries, reviews, articles about your book report book and writing (or copying) about that content as if it were your own

AND MANY MORE DEVIOUS ACTIVITIES.......

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT

 

 

 

Course Calendar