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