Introduction to Psychology
Fall 2012
Psych 100 – INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Fall 2012
Professor Mara Breen; mbreen@mtholyoke.edu
Office: Reese 207B; Office Hours: Monday 10am - 12pm
Class Hours: Monday & Weds 8:35-9:50 am; Fri 9:00-9:50 am
Location: Cleveland L2
Required Text: Schacter, D.L., Gilbert, D.T., & Wegner, D.M (2012). Psychology. 2nd edition
New York: Worth Publishers.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
How do we make decisions, form attachments, and learn a language? Can we inherit
schizophrenia? Why are we fearful of some situations and not others? What factors influence the
way we form attitudes or develop prejudices? This course addresses such questions to provide an
overview of current research in psychology.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Knowledge:
• Abandon myths of pop psychology
• Gain an understanding of the breadth of
the field of psychology
• Become familiar with terminology and
current knowledge in the field
• Develop a clear understanding of the
scientific method as it is used in
psychological research
Skills:
• Reading a science textbook
• Studying for a test
• Writing for a general scientific audience
• Improving critical thinking
• Applying psychological science to your
own life
RESOURCES
The text for this course is: Psychology, 2nd Edition, by Schacter, Gilbert, and Wegner, (ISBN 14292-3719-8). The book is available at the Odyssey bookshop in South Hadley, or you can order
it online through Amazon or the publisher:
http://www.macmillanhighered.com/Catalog/product/psychology-secondeditionschacter/formatsandpackages. The book is also on reserve in the library. Some information,
including notes, assignments, and grades, will only be available on the Moodle site.
In addition to the text, you will be responsible for acquiring an i>clicker2 classroom response
system remote, which will be used for answering questions during class, and for providing
answers to in-class quiz questions. These devices are available for you to check out from the
library circulation desk. You should check out and register an i>clicker2 as soon as possible:
http://www.iclicker.com/support/registeryourclicker/.
THE LECTURES
You will be expected to have completed the assigned reading before the lecture with which it is
associated. There will be a handout for lectures, which will be posted on Moodle by 5pm on
the day before a lecture. It is recommended that you have a copy (printed or electronic) of the
handout to refer to during lecture. Handouts will not be a substitute for attending lecture. If you
miss a lecture, you should talk to a friend in the class so that you will be able to decipher the
handout. The best understanding of the material will come from attending class, reading and
studying the material, and completing the assignments.
Page 1
Introduction to Psychology
Fall 2012
The lecture slides will also be posted on Moodle by midnight the night before lecture. You
should also feel free to print them out to refer to during lecture.
PRELECTURE QUIZZES
You will understand and remember lecture material better when you have read and understood
the text before you come to class. In order to encourage you to read your textbook before lecture,
there will be reading quizzes for every chapter. These quizzes will consist of multiple-choice
questions and will be completed on the Moodle class site. You must take the on-line quiz before
the start of class on the day that we will be discussing the assigned chapter. For example, you
must complete the Chapter 3 quiz by 8:35 AM on Monday, 9/17 (though we certainly hope
you’ll take it earlier). There will be a total of 16 prelecture quizzes throughout the course of the
semester. You may miss two quizzes without penalty. There will be no make-up quizzes.
IN-CLASS QUIZZES
There will be a brief quiz at the end of every lecture. These quizzes will be answered with your
i>clicker2. Each question will be worth 1 point. Each quiz will consist of a variable number of
questions (depending on the amount of material covered). To allow you to miss some classes
without penalty, your lowest 8% of quiz questions will be dropped. At the end of the semester,
the percent of (the remaining) correct quiz responses will be your quiz grade. For example,
assume there were 120 quiz questions and you received 85 points. Because 120 x .08 = 9.6, 10
questions will be dropped, leaving 120 - 10 = 110 possible points. So your score would be
85/110 = 77%. There will be no make-up quizzes.
MIDTERM and FINAL EXAMS
The course will have two in-class midterm exams and a final. The exams will feature multiple
choice, short answer, and essay questions, and will include material from lectures and from the
textbook. All exams, including the final exam, will cover only material from the most recent
lectures. Final exams will not be given before the final exam period.
4th HOURS
In preparation for the writing assignment (below) eight of the 4th hour meetings throughout the
semester will be devoted to giving you the chance to practice summarizing TED Talks with the
rest of the class. During these 4th hour meetings, we will watch a TED Talk together, and then
discuss the questions below. After this discussion, you will spend 15 minutes practicing writing a
critical response to the talk. These write-ups will not be turned in.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT – TED Talk1
TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the
private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"
(Wikipedia, 2012). Your job in this assignment will be to listen to, and summarize, a TED talk
that addresses an issue in psychology. You can find some excellent applicable talks here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/tags/psychology. Once you’ve watched the talk (perhaps more than
once), you will write a roughly 2-page summary of the talk. You should include the following:
1. Problem: What is the big question or problem that the speaker is addressing?
2. Central claim: What is the speaker’s hypothesis; that is, what is he or she hoping to
1
Adapted from Cedar Reiner: http://cedarsdigest.wordpress.com/
Page 2
Introduction to Psychology
Fall 2012
convince you of today. Is the speaker’s central claim stated clearly and directly in the first
two or three sentences?
3. Methods: What is the speaker’s evidence for his or her claim? It might be an experiment
s/he conducted (or several experiments). You should describe the method that one
experiment used.
a. Who were the participants?
b. What did the speaker measure and how did s/he measure it?
c. What did the speaker manipulate or compare (i.e., how did her/his groups or
variables differ?)
4. Evidence/results: Here you should describe the results of the experiment or study you
described above; more plainly, what was found? Describe the results in plain English like
this: People who studied did better on the test that people who did not study. Rather than:
Group A was significantly different from group B in test performance.
5. Conclusions & Critique:
a. What does the speaker conclude from the data and what does he or she
recommend for the future?
b. Do you agree with the authors’ conclusions? Why or why not?
c. Do you think the conclusion is warranted based on the data?
d. Where do you think this research should go next?
6. Organization
a. Is the paper organized into paragraphs?
b. Does each paragraph have a topic sentence?
7. Style
a. Does the paper have limited (0, 1 or 2) grammatical or spelling errors?
b. Does the paper limit the use of passive voice?
c. Does the paper have no direct quotes?
Your paper should be written in Word or RTF format and be saved with your last name in the
document name (e.g., Breen_Psych100.doc). Please use 12-pt font and double-spacing. This
assignment is to be uploaded to Moodle by 9:00 AM on Friday, 11/30. Late papers will lose 5
points (out of 100) for every day they are late. Please plan accordingly.
EXTRA CREDIT – RESEARCH PARTICIPATION
The discipline of psychology relies on the scientific method as a means of gathering empirical
data from human and non-human subjects. We highly value the entire research process and feel
that students should be involved in all phases of research. Thus, this course includes a research
participation component to give you an opportunity to experience psychological research firsthand as a participant and to learn about the different types of psychological research conducted
by the faculty and students in the department.
Research conducted at Mount Holyoke College follows the ethical principles prescribed by the
American Psychological Association. Before you agree to participate in a given study you will
be provided with a description of the procedures to be used, and informed of your right to end
your participation at any time (i.e., what researchers call “informed consent”). After participating
you will be given a full explanation of the research study (called “debriefing”). Thus, another
purpose of research participation is to help you learn about the ethical issues concerning research
in psychology.
You can get credit for research participation in either of two ways, namely
Page 3
Introduction to Psychology


Fall 2012
by participating in a department-sponsored research project conducted by a faculty member
and his or her students; or,
by attending an approved research talk in some area of psychology at any of the five colleges
(Smith, MHC, Amherst, Hampshire, UMass).
You may apply up to 6 hours of research credit to your final grade. Every hour of research credit
you earn if worth an extra ½ percentage point on your final grade. For example, if your final
grade is 87.5%, and you’ve earned 5 hours of research credit, then your final grade will increase
by 2.5%, giving you a final grade of 90%.
Please note: The Research Participation program is managed entirely by Janelle Gagnon, who is
Laboratory Director in the Department. Janelle will attend class early in the semester to explain
these procedures in greater detail. Should you have any questions or concerns about research
participation, please contact Janelle, either in person (Room 220 Reese) or via email
(jlgagnon@mtholyoke.edu).
GRADING ALGORITHM
Here is the formula that will form the basis of your grade:
Prelecture Quizzes
10% (14 out of 16 required)
In-class Quizzes
10%
th
4 Hour Attendance
5%
Midterm Exams:
40% (20% each)
Writing Assignment
15%
Final Exam
20%
ACCOMMODATION
If you require accommodation for a disability, you need to provide the appropriate
documentation from Disability Services: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/disability/ Please provide
this documentation within the first 2 weeks of class, and plan to meet with me either after class
or during office hours about how we can best make the accommodations.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. When in doubt about whether to attribute an idea to someone, do
it. It is always better to over-cite than to fail to cite someone. This tutorial will instruct you about
the proper use of sources: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/ris/Plagiarism/What_is_plag.htm
Any student found to be in violation of the College’s honor code could receive a failing grade for
the class and be reported to the dean of the College. For more information on the College’s honor
code, consult the student handbook: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/studentprograms/honorcode.html
GRADE CALCULATION
Grades will be rounded to the nearest whole number, and assigned a letter as follows:
F
D
D+
C-
C
C+
B-
B
B+
A-
A
<=64
6566
6769
7072
7376
7779
8082
8386
8789
9092
>=93
Class Schedule: Always subject to change
Page 4
Introduction to Psychology
Day
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Weds
Fri
Mon
Date
9/5/12
9/7/12
9/10/12
9/12/12
9/14/12
9/17/12
9/19/12
9/21/12
9/24/12
9/26/12
9/28/12
10/1/12
10/3/12
10/5/12
10/8/12
10/10/12
10/12/12
10/15/12
10/17/12
10/19/12
10/22/12
10/24/12
10/26/12
10/29/12
10/31/12
11/2/12
11/5/12
11/7/12
11/9/12
11/12/12
11/14/12
11/16/12
11/19/12
11/21/12
11/23/12
11/26/12
11/28/12
11/30/12
12/3/12
12/5/12
12/7/12
12/10/12
Fall 2012
Lecture Topic
Introduction
Assignment
Introduction
Methods in Psychology
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
4th Hour
How to read textbooks
TED Talk
Neuroscience and Behavior
Sensation and Perception
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
TED Talk
Wrap-Up and Review
Midterm 1
Consciousness
Consciousness
NO 4th HOUR
Chapter 5
TED Talk
MID-SEMESTER BREAK
Memory
Chapter 6
TED Talk
Memory
Learning
Chapter 7
TED Talk
Emotion and Motivation
Language and Thought
Chapter 8
TED Talk
Language and Thought
Intelligence
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
TED Talk
Wrap-Up and Review
Midterm 2
Development
Personality
NO 4th HOUR
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
TED Talk
Social Psychology
THANKSGIVING BREAK
THANKSGIVING BREAK
Social Psychology
Psychological Disorders
Treatment of Disorders
Stress and Health
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Writing Assn. Due
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
NO 4th HOUR
TED Talk
Wrap-Up and Review
Page 5