COURSE SYLLABUS
Winter 2011
WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
University Mission: Wayland Baptist University exists to educate students in an academically challenging and
distinctively Christian environment for professional success, lifelong learning, and service to God and mankind.
COURSE NUMBER & TITLE:
TIME
INSTRUCTOR:
PSYC 3302 Motivation and Emotion
Virtual Campus
Jeremy Berry 281-8400
email: berryphd@hotmail.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION: An investigation of the various biological, sociological, and psychological
aspects of health. We will study and consider the impact of cultural, environmental, spiritual, and systems
factors and health and health outcomes.
PREREQUISITES: Junior or Senior or Instructor’s consent.
TEXTBOOKS:
Understanding Motivation and Emotion
Reeve
5th
2009
Wiley and Sons
Textbooks are an information source and a means of explaining and stimulating interest in the material. It does
not contain all the information students need to know, however. Additional information, interpretations, and
analyses will be available in the form of lecture notes, website links, and suggested readings. Students are
encouraged to explore supplemental resources.
COURSE OBJECTIVE: Understanding motivation is fundamental to understanding human behavior,
including emotion, which is a function in large part of a person's motivational situation. A course in motivation
and emotion can be organized in a variety of ways, and to some extent this course will reflect the instructor's
background and interest in individual differences, character and personality, beliefs, and culture, though the
course is focused on internal and generic mechanisms underlying behavior patterns. The purpose of this course
is to help you learn ways of thinking usefully and critically (i.e., carefully) about human behavior, through
understanding motivation and emotion, which can aid one in thinking usefully and critically about human
behavior - something useful not only in psychology and human services professions, but in many areas of
human life.
Through this course, you should gain a better understanding of:
(a) Perspectives within the field of motivation and emotion
(b) Research that has been conducted on various types of motivation
(c) How motivation theory can be used and applied to everyday settings (e.g., business, social interactions,
athletics, education), and
(d) Your own motivation, and how to use this knowledge to enrich your life
CLASSROOM ACTIVTIES: Three major methods will be utilized in the online class to facilitate the
students’ understanding: 1) Lecture to keynote major aspects of motivation and emotion (Powerpoints/Lecture
notes will be available for online viewing), 2) Reading to further elaborate on various issues in the study of
motivation and emotion and 3) Presentations and films (Various links to online resources for media will be
available online).
COURSE EXPECTATIONS
Attendance: Students enrolled in the University’s Virtual Campus should make every effort to participate fully
in the class. In order to make up incomplete work, the student must explain the reason for the deficiency to the
instructor, who will then determine whether the omitted work may be made up. When a student shows a lack of
participation considered by the instructor to be excessive, the instructor will so advise the student. Any student
who misses 25 percent or more of the class assignments will receive a grade of “F” in the course. The
discussion board is a part of the course requirements and will be part of the class attendance. Additional
participation policies for each course, as defined by the instructor in the course syllabus, are considered a part
of the University’s attendance policy.
Plagiarism Policy: Intellectual integrity and truthfulness are fundamental to scholarship. Scholars, whether
they are performing as students or as teachers, are engaged in a search for truth. Plagiarism is a form of
cheating and also a form of theft. Plagiarism occurs when a students fails to give proper credit when
information is either quoted or paraphrased. In essence, plagiarism takes place when you take credit for
someone else’s work. This happens when you copy someone’s exam or when you fail to explain which parts of
a paper reflect your own ideas and which came from someone else. Looking at or copying someone else’s test,
answer sheet, and/or paper is counted as cheating. Carelessness is no excuse. As such, it is a breach of
scholarly responsibility. It is also unethical, immoral, and in some cases, illegal. Plagiarism may result in an
“F” in the course or in your being expelled from the class.
Disabilities: It is university policy that no otherwise qualified disabled person be excluded from participation
in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity in the
University. Students should inform the instructor of existing disabilities at the first class meeting.
Evaluation of student performance:
Exams: (60% of entire grade) Three exams will be administered during the course of the semester. The tests
will be made available on the Monday of testing week and will be available until the following Sunday at
Midnight. The exams may consist of objective questions such as multiple choice or “fill-in-the-blank”
questions, or may also include “expressive” questions such as short answer or essay questions which will allow
you to write your own responses and will allow students the maximum opportunity to demonstrate what they
know and that they can analyze information and reach defensible conclusions. The tests may consist of items
from either the textbook(s) or from material discussed in class (discussion boards) as well as from handouts
given out in class (supplemental materials such as websites, video links, or additional materials).
Discussion Boards: (10% of final grade) Assigned readings are to be completed prior to the class session for
which they are assigned. Students should read the section at a time prior to any online discussion boards so that
they can participate in class discussions as well as ask and answer questions. Postings are due no later than
Midnight the Sunday of each module week. This gives others time to respond to your discussion board postings
before Monday. Each week you will need to be involved in the online discussion threads. Spread out your
responses so that not all responses are on the same day. These responses will be tallied at the end of the
semester and also count for your attendance in your total grade. Make sure that you respond appropriately
please.
*I will read every exchange in the discussion forum and keep track of your participation, effort and depth of
thought, though there are no “wrong answers.” While I certainly expect you to respond to every discussion
topic with your own input, I do not expect you to comment on every post from every other student, but
rather, to choose at least one other student’s post per discussion on which to comment. I will occasionally
comment on some of your posts, but this forum is primarily for students to interact with each other and
replaces what would be a class discussion in a face to face class.
On any of the following assignments: From time to time, the Internet, in all its majesty, can let us down.
I understand this, and will work with you to ensure assignments are completed in a timely fashion.
Assignment # 1 and #2: Exploration Papers: (15% of final grade for each paper) These papers are basically a
report of what happened when you did two of the following exercises (you will choose two, and write two
papers, each worth 15%), and especially what thoughts and feelings ensued for you. Note: If you consult other
people or write about other people for any topic, you should keep those people anonymous in your write-up, and
don't give names (initials are OK) to any of the people you describe.
1. What are the patterns of motivation and emotion that have key effects on your relations with in the partners
(boyfriends, girlfriends, significant others) you have chosen up till now in your life? Identify at least one person
(two or three is better, if possible) who were in the partner role for you at some point, and who you were
satisfied with as a partner. Then identify a comparison group of people (at least three) who either were a partner
and you became dissatisfied with them, or else you decided you had no interest in having this person become a
partner to you. Make a list of relevant tendencies or even single events that each person showed with respect to
emotion or motivation (including needs, goals, values, interests, aversions). Then compare the satisfactory-inpartner-role group with the 'unsatisfactory' group. How are the two groups different? What do you think the
differences indicate about you, your life, or what is important to you?
2. Write a brief description of two moments in your life when you had very strong positive emotions of any
kind, and two moments in your life when you had strong negative emotions of any kind. For each, describe the
feeling and what led up to it. Next, describe how motivation was involved (this may be a goal or need that was
fulfilled or blocked, a goal or need that was dispensed with [let go of], a new goal or need that developed and
was evident afterward, or any other way in which you think motivation might have been involved). Take the
four descriptions together and offer any conclusions about what the four of them suggest about you, your life, or
what is important to you.
3. Think about someone you have been with in a very large number of times and situations, so that you know
this person better than virtually anyone. Describe two situations in which the person had very strong positive
emotions of any kind, and two situations in which the person had strong negative emotions of any kind. For
each, describe the emotion as specifically as you can distinguish it, and also what appears to have led up to it.
Next, describe how you think motivation was involved (this may be a goal or need that was fulfilled or blocked,
a goal or need that was dispensed with [let go of], a new goal or need that developed and was evident afterward,
or any other way in which you think motivation might have been involved), and how confident you are about
your view. Take the four descriptions together and offer any conclusions about what the four of them suggest
about this person or this person's life, or about what you think of the person.
4. Describe three interpersonal situations that have occurred in your life in which the following happened: You
thought the other person had a motivation similar to yours, and then later (whether gradually or suddenly) you
realized the other person's motivation was different than yours, and this had important consequences for your
relationship or friendship or a project you were working on together. For each situation, describe in as much
detail as possible how you "diagnosed" that the other person's motivation was different than yours. Taking the
examples together, offer any conclusions about how one person can learn accurately what another person's
motivation really is.
University Grading Scale:
The University has a standard grading scale as follows: 90 - 100 = A
(excellent); 80 - 89 = B (good); 70 - 79 = C (average); 60 - 69 = D (acceptable but below average); below 60 =
F (unacceptable); W=the student withdrew from the course before the deadline; I=incomplete. A grade of
“incomplete” is given only if circumstances beyond the student’s control prevented completion of work during
the semester enrolled and any attendance requirements have been met. A grade of “incomplete” is changed if
the deficiency is made up by midterm of the next regular semester; otherwise, it becomes an “F”. X=no grade
given; Cr=for Credit; NCR=no credit; IP=In Progress. Consult catalog for more information.