PSYCHOLOGY 001 Syllabus
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Psychology 1: General Psychology
Fall 2011
PSY 001
TTh 10:00-11:50, Winter Hall 106
Westmont College, Professor T. G. Fikes
Office:
Office Hours:
Phone:
Email:
Winter Hall 338
MW 11:30 – 2:00; & by appt.
x6115
fikes@westmont.edu
WWW: http://www.westmont.edu/_academics/pages/departments/psychology/pages/current_students/psy1resources/index.html
(visit the Psychology Department’s page and navigate to Current Students, Psych 001 Students)
So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body [soma] that is sown is
perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is
sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body [soma psuchakon], it
is raised a spiritual body [soma pneumatikon].
1 Cor. 15:42-44 (NASB)
Scientific psychology is the study of the behavior of individual organisms. PSY-001 General Psychology provides a survey of the
principal areas of study that constitute scientific psychology and introduces students to the primary literary genres of the field. This
survey covers representative methods, phenomena, and theory from biological psychology, sensation and perception, learning,
memory and cognition, development, motivation and emotion, personality, social psychology, abnormal behavior, and
psychotherapeutic methods. Throughout, emphasis is placed on original empirical research. The primary goal of the course is to help
students develop well-reasoned questions and arguments regarding explanation and description of behavior, using empirical data as
the primary authority. In support of this primary goal, secondary goals of the course include
 helping students build a knowledge-base of historically significant research (“classical studies”), major principles, and
subdisciplines of psychology,
 introducing students to the basic research methods and critical thinking skills in psychology,
 helping students learn to read the technical literature in psychology,
 helping students to begin writing and thinking within the primary literary genres of psychology,
 introducing students to the psychology program at Westmont, and
 helping students begin to explore the relationships between the goals, methods, and knowledge of psychological science
and personal development, allied academic disciplines, and the Christian faith.
Students will take four unit exams, complete several reading and writing assignments, and participate in class discussions.
Texts:
 Gazzaniga, M. S., Heatherton, T. F., & Halpern, D. (2010). Psychological Science (3rd ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
(required)
 American Psychological Association (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).
Washington, DC: Author. (required)
Reading Assignments:
Reading assignments given in the Schedule (below) form the basis of the lectures and discussions and are to be read prior the
lecture date for which they are assigned. I recommend that you read the material once briefly before the date assigned, again
in more depth soon after the lecture, and then again very briefly to review before the exam. Sections for primary focus are
indicated in the downloadable “readings” file, from which most examination material will be drawn (available at
http://homepage.westmont.edu/fikes/Gazzaniga3rdReadings.pdf). For most chapters, there are a few key studies we will
cover in depth during lecture, and you will be expected to know them well for exams. Use the various “Feature Boxes” to
help you master the material in the main text, and be sure to use the Summary and Key Term sections at the end of the
chapters to help you focus on the most central and relevant material.
PSYCHOLOGY 001 Syllabus
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Writing Assignments:
APA Editorial Style Summary. The goal of this assignment is for you to learn the basic organization and editorial style used in writing
APA reports of original empirical research. You must submit a typed paper formatted according to the APA Publication
Manual (5th edition), including a title page (use your name and Westmont College for the author and affiliation; make up a
title to suit your fancy), an abstract, headings for major sections and subsections of the body, a reference section, an author
note, and appropriate page numbers, page headers, and margins. Organize the paper as if you were reporting a single
experiment. The paper should include five citations, in APA format: (1) cite the APA manual (of course you would do this,
since you are summarizing some of its contents); (2) cite your textbook, in your Introduction; (3) cite ANY journal paper
with three or more authors in your Introduction; then (4) cite the SAME three-or-more author paper used in your Introduction
again in your Discussion section; and finally (5) include one brief direct quote from a published source (e.g., from the
textbook or APA manual). The content of each section should be a brief description of the kinds of things that would go into
the section. You will find pages 10-30 in the Manual helpful for these descriptions, as well as our class discussions on APA
style. BE SURE NOT TO PLAGIARIZE THE APA MANUAL.
You should also consider the Checklist in Appendix A and the sample paper (p. 305) before you begin to write, and you
should make use of chapters 3, 4 and 5 of the Manual as needed for reference while you write. If you do a good job on this
paper, it will make an excellent template for any APA style writing you will have to do in the future. DO NOT DISCARD
THIS ASSIGNMENT OR THE SCORING SHEET AFTER IT IS RETURNED TO YOU. You will have to attach it to your
reviews when you turn them in.
Reviews of Published Empirical Studies. This assignment involves abstracting (summarizing) an original, empirical research article
published in a psychological journal. Your review should cover the essential details regarding the rationale, methods,
important result, and conclusion of a single target article that you find by carefully searching the Psychological Abstracts (use
the PsycInfo database available through the Westmont library’s web site; use your textbook and lecture notes to identify the
most useful key words, and make use of the Westmont College reference librarians for help in using PsycInfo). Your review
paper should be two to three pages (maximum) in length, and your target article should be related to some topic in the course
that actually interests you. You will have to find some point of intersection between your general topic of interest and the
empirical literature on that or related subjects – expect to spend a good deal of time finding and reading potential target
articles before you find the “right one” (interesting, short enough, not too complex). Also, expect to obtain most of your
potential target articles via interlibrary loan (note that ILL can take a week or two; plan for this!). The article must be an
empirical research report (a primary source, as opposed to a secondary source such as a review paper or book chapter)
published in one of the journals reviewed by Psychological Abstracts. Be sure to include an APA style reference for the
target article in the References section at the end of your paper (see the APA manual for specifics on how to format a
References section). I fully expect to see you during office hours for help selecting and interpreting your target article. Don’t
wait until the last minute! YOU MUST ATTACH PREVIOUSLY RETURNED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS.
Writing Guidelines:
 Use 12 pt. standard font, double-spaced, 1 inch margins.
 All papers MUST include page numbers and a short title, a title (one you give your paper, not the title of the paper you
are reviewing), and your name and affiliation. Use APA style for the title page, page numbers and short title (and
everything, else for that matter).
 Include section headings in your paper, centered and on their own lines, as per APA style. The sections of you paper
should include
 Title page
 Abstract (write your own; don’t plagiarize the original one!)
 Introduction (as per APA style, do not use a heading for this section)
 Method (You may choose to use standard APA subsection headings or, if different, the original author’s subsection
headings)
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 Author note
(NOTE: if the target article you are abstracting doesn’t have headings similar to these, it is probably not appropriate for
the assignment.)
 Attach (1) a printed copy of the PsycINFO search results for that paper and (2) a photocopy or printout of the target
article (this must include the authors' abstract). Staple the entire assignment, your paper first followed by PsycINFO
results and the original article.
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Any article mentioned in the text of your paper must be cited using APA style. When referring to an article in text,
mention only the authors' last names, followed by the year of publication in parenthesis, e.g., Smith (1998). At the end of
your paper (in the Reference section), list all studies cited in text (including the target article you are abstracting)
including names, publication date, title, journal name, and journal information (issue and page numbers) according to
APA style;
Be sure to state in the Introduction section that you are reviewing a paper published by someone else, and cite that paper
appropriately (using APA style). You MUST cite the target article, and your MAY cite a few others if you wish. Other
citations might include your textbook, a study mentioned in your textbook, or a study mentioned in your target article.
You typically would NOT cite an article that you had not read, but you may do so for this assignment. Remember: all
and only articles cited are included in the Reverences section.
You must include at least one direct quote from your target article. Do not use more than three direct quotes in your
paper.
Follow APA editorial style and writing style when writing your paper.
If you use an electronic journal article, you must use the file format that maintains the formatting and page numbers of
the original, paper version (usually this will be a .pdf format file).
If you wish, you may include figures and tables in your paper. If you do, you must use APA style, and you must use your
own figure captions and table titles. You may use one of the figures from your target article, scanned or photocopied – if
you do, you must cite the article in the figure caption and indicate that you are using that author’s figure. You may not
copy a table – tables must be typed using APA style. If you use a table, you may retype it in total or use only a portion.
Cite the target article in the table title.
Each review must be accompanied by all earlier Review and Editorial Style Summary assignments (original copies
with instructors remarks). All writing assignments must be submitted both electronically and in hard copy.
A good way to learn how to write in the appropriate style is to read other papers written in that style (it is also true that a
good way to learn to read these sorts of articles is to write one). An excellent source of professionally written, readable, short,
published review papers is the American Psychological Society’s Current Directions in Psychological Science. In addition to
Current Directions, review papers are also published in Psychological Review, Psychological Bulletin, Psychonomic Bulletin,
American Psychologist, and Psychological Science (these, however, are typically longer and more technical in nature than
those published in Current Directions). Note that these review papers do not have the same structure or section headings that
your paper must! You are to write a review of a single paper (most reviews cover hundreds), and you are to use the
organizational structure of a typical empirical report. Another excellent source for examples of how to write a review is the
Introduction sections of the empirical papers you are reading. Typically, dozens of papers will be discussed (a literature
review) in the Introduction, and so each of these reviews embedded with their introduction sections will be much briefer than
yours.
Exams:
There will be four unit exams. Exams are not cumulative, except to the extent that the material is inherently cumulative.
Exams are largely multiple choice format, and are written with the chapter and lecture outlines in mind: if you can write a
paragraph summarizing the key points for each major heading and subheading listed in the author’s outline at the beginning
of the chapter, you will be well prepared. In studying, you should pay particularly close attention to (1) those sections of the
chapter listed in the reading schedule (below), (2) areas of overlap between lecture and readings, and (3) target studies
covered in lecture and readings. Exams will also include the opportunity to briefly describe a few of the major empirical
studies covered in each section of the course. These studies will be clearly identified during lecture, and you should be able to
give a brief account of the research question and rationale, the general methods, the specific primary results, and the
interpretation of those results.
Subject Pool Participation
To pass the course, all students must participate as subjects in the subject pool or complete an approved alternate assignment.
Refer to the handout distributed in class, and see the Psychology Subject Pool link on the PSY001 web page:
http://www.westmont.edu/_academics/pages/departments/psychology/pages/current_students/psy1resources/psychsubjectpool.html
Grading Criterion
Exam and assignment scores are combined using the weightings in the following table:
Assignment
4 Exams
1 APA Style Summary
1 Review Paper
Subject Pool Participation
Weighting factor (ea.)
.22
.03
.09
--
% of Total
88
3
9
--
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Each assignment is scored on a scale of 0 to 100, and the final course score is calculated by multiplying each score by its
respective weighting factor from the table and then summing all of the weighted scores. Course grades will be assigned on
the basis of this total score, using cut-point scores of 90, 80, 70 and 50 for grades of A, B, C and D, respectively (+ and –
grades will be assigned at the instructor’s discretion). You can calculate your percent-of-points-to-date at any time by taking
the sum of your weighted scores for assignments completed and dividing by the sum of the weighting factors for those
assignments.
Policies:
Attendance. Students are responsible for knowing course material and announcements made during normal class meetings. If you
miss a class meeting, get notes from one or two other students, compare those notes with the readings, and (if necessary)
schedule an appointment with me to answer specific questions. According to Westmont policy, you are allowed to miss a
total of two class sessions during the semester in a TTh class. Students accruing more than four absences during the course of
the semester (6 in a MWF class) may be dropped from the class with an F. You are responsible for initiating and making up
any work missed by excused or unexcused absences.
Missed exams. A student who misses an examination without making prior arrangements with me receives a score of 0 for that
exam. Make-up exams may be scheduled ahead of time only under extenuating circumstances. You may not take the final
exam at any other time other than that scheduled for the course. Please check your final exam schedule early in the
semester for potential conflicts.
Late work. Assignments other than exams are due at the beginning of lecture or lab on the day specified in the schedule below.
Assignments turned in after this time incur a 10% per day penalty.
“Extra Credit” Assignments. No additional extra credit assignments are offered.
Academic honesty. All students are expected to subscribe to the highest ideals of academic integrity. Any form of academic
dishonesty will be dealt with as severely as allowed by the college, most likely a grade of F in the course and
recommendation of dismissal from the college. “Academic dishonesty” includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism (see below),
cheating, and falsification. Please refer to the College’s policy on Academic Honesty.
Plagiarism. The current plagiarism document can be found at http://www.westmont.edu/_current_students/ (look under the
Policies section). You will be required to read this and email your acknowledgement of the policy to the instructor before you
turn in your first writing assignment. According to the Westmont plagiarism policy document,
To plagiarize is to present someone else's work—his or her words, line of thought, or organizational
structure—as your own. This occurs when sources are not cited properly, or when permission is not obtained from
the original author to use his or her work. Another person's "work" can take many forms: printed or electronic
copies of computer programs, musical compositions, drawings, paintings, oral presentations, papers, essays,
articles or chapters, statistical data, tables or figures, etc. In short, if any information that can be considered the
intellectual property of another is used without acknowledging the original source properly, this is plagiarism.
Please familiarize yourself with the entire Westmont College Plagiarism Policy. This document defines
different levels of plagiarism and the penalties for each. It also contains very helpful information on strategies for
avoiding plagiarism. It cannot be overemphasized that plagiarism is an insidious and disruptive form of academic
dishonesty. It violates relationships with known classmates and professors, and it violates the legal rights of people
you may never meet.
The current plagiarism document can be found at http://www.westmont.edu/_current_students/ (look under the Policies
section).
PSYCHOLOGY 001 Syllabus
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PSY-001 General Psychology: Curricular Goals
Program Learning Goals:
The Psychology program at Westmont College has adopted the following 5 learning goals for our graduates. PSY-001
General Psychology provides introductory instruction toward each of these goals, with particular focus on the first three;
each of these 5 goals are developed and mastered in specific upper-division courses.
1. Knowledge Base. Our students will be able to articulate both (a) the structure of the academic discipline of
psychology and (b) the key elements of content within a wide variety of areas within psychology,
integrating them with each other. Students will also be familiar with career/vocation options in psychology
and psychology-related fields.
2. Scientific Research Methods and Skills. Our students will be able to recognize, describe, and implement a
variety of research methods and skills common to the psychological sciences.
3. Written and Oral Communication. Our students will be able to write and speak in genres appropriate to
the academic discipline of psychology.
4. Values and Character. Our students will value, appreciate, and welcome, through understanding and
demonstrative action,
a. scientific methods. Students will see empirical, evidence-based methods as essential and as
complementary to other methods of knowing.
b. ethics. Students will be committed to high ethical standards, including professional, discipline-specific
domains and their own personal lives.
c. faith. Students will be able to articulate the interactions between psychology and faith.
d. openness to experience. Students will understand the importance and desirability of a diversity of
experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds (including ethnic, sociocultural, and gender diversity). They
will embrace ambiguity, being comfortable without closure or black-and-white answers, and valuing
questions as much as answers.
5. Applications. Our students will apply psychological principles, knowledge, and skills to their own lives and
to the transformation of their worlds. Domains to which these are applied include:
a. personal (personal development, relationships, personal experience, etc.)
b. community and societal/global concerns and issues
c. integration with other academic disciplines
General Education Program:
PSY-001 General Psychology also meets the Exploring the Life Sciences Common Inquiries requirement of Westmont’s
General Education program. The College catalog describes the goals of this GE category:
Students will learn to think about complex living systems within the framework of the natural sciences. Whether
experiencing the breadth of disciplines encompassed by the life sciences or focusing more narrowly on a single
field of study, students will gain fundamental understandings of life processes rather than solely mastering
technical applications based on those principles. As appropriate, students will be introduced to the methods used
to develop the models of life processes they are studying and they should come to understand both the strengths
and the limitations of those methods, especially as they impinge on a broader philosophical view of life.