Professor: Dr. Ashleigh Hillier
Office Phone: 934-2930
Office: 1 Mahoney
Email: ashleigh_hillier@uml.edu
Website: http://faculty.uml.edu/ahillier
Office Hours: Wed 1.00-2.00pm; Thursday 11.00am-1.00pm, or by appointment
Class Schedule: Tues, Thurs 9.30-10.45am (section 201)
Course Description: This course examines the major areas of Psychology including the nature of Psychology as a science, research methods, the relationship between physiological and psychological processes, cognitive processes, emotion, personality, development, behavior in social and cultural context, and psychological disorders.
Course Objectives:
1) Understand the importance of science and psychologist’s use of the scientific method
2) Know the major principles and terminology within the various areas of psychology
3) Critically consider ground breaking theories and studies within the field of psychology and their impact
4) Apply concepts and findings in psychology to gain a greater understanding of human behavior
5) Participate in psychological research
Required Text: Gazzaniga, M., Heatherton, T., & Halpern, D. (2010). Psychological Science
(3 rd Ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Attendance and Participation: Attendance is required and will be taken each class.
Attendance for each class is worth 1 point; there are a total of 28 classes. You are allowed 3 unexcused absences. I will ask for documentation after the 3 rd class to excuse further absences.
Attendance is worth 10% of your grade.
You are responsible for getting copies of any handouts given out in class either from another student or from me during my office hours. You are also responsible for finding out about any important announcements made in class. Not being in class is not a sufficient reason for not knowing about important changes to the syllabus, course requirements etc.
To do well in this course you will need to read the assigned readings and the required chapters in the textbook before each class. Students are encouraged to participate in class discussions.
Important emails regarding the course will be sent to your UML email accounts. If you do not check your UML email account, you should have that email forwarded to an account you do check. I will only send emails to UML accounts.
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Course Assessments:
Quizzes: There will be five regularly scheduled exams during the course. These will consist of multiple choice and short essay questions and will be based on material covered in the class
(which may not be in the textbook), and material covered in the textbook (which may not have been covered in class). You must bring a pencil for the quizzes. Having five quizzes allows us to break up the material covered in the course so that each quiz is not overwhelming. Quiz 5 is the final and will be scheduled during finals week. The final is cumulative (i.e. covers material from the whole course).
Make-up Quiz Policy: You are expected to be in class on the day and time that the quizzes are scheduled. If you do not attend a quiz you will receive an F for that quiz. Make-up quizzes will only be allowed if you can provide documentation of a legitimate medical or family emergency.
You must notify me of this within 24 hours of missing the quiz and provide documentation within
72 hours of the quiz. Make-ups are scheduled through the Psychology department so have limited flexibility in when they take place.
Research Participation Requirement: The Department of Psychology requires all students enrolled in a section of General Psychology to complete the Research Participation
Requirement. This involves taking part in four research activities currently underway by faculty and students at UML, each requiring around an hour. Those who complete 4 hours of participation will receive 100 points (10% of your grade), 3 hours will receive 75 points, 2 hours will receive 50 points, 1 hour will receive 25 points, and 0 hours will receive 0 points. Individuals under the age of 18 will have an alternate assignment. Further details explaining this assignment will be provided to you shortly and can also be found at: http://dragon.uml.edu/research_participation.html
There is no extra credit available in this class.
Students with Disabilities.
Reasonable modifications will be made for students with disabilities. Please be sure to register with the Office of Disability Services.
Other important course information.
I am pregnant and the baby is due April 2 nd . I anticipate taking approximately two weeks off once the baby is born to recover, before returning to class. During these two weeks you will be able to access pre-recorded lectures that will be available on the web. The lectures were conducted by a colleague in our Psychology department Dr. Haynes and cover the sessions on
Psychopathology. How this will work:
1) There are three lectures that will be available on the internet and I selected one movie to be shown in class (2 weeks of class total) when I am out. The lectures will look like a power point slide show with an audio file. These lectures are designated on the course schedule, and will cover the area of Psychopathology [3 classes worth]); they are listed on the schedule as if the baby arrived on the due date of April 2 nd .
2) If for some reason the baby arrives earlier, the course schedule may not need to be changed as you have a quiz scheduled for April 1 st which my TA will cover, and a second video which I have lined up as a back-up for March 30 th if necessary. However, if
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the baby comes really early, the course schedule will jump forward to those lectures available on video. We will resume where we stopped when I return.
3) If for some reason the baby arrives later, we will skip the video lectures and go on to the
Human Development lectures and continue from there. Once the baby arrives, we will go to the video lectures. We will resume where we left off when I return.
4) It is CRITICAL that you check your *UML EMAIL ADDRESS* (for this and other class announcements).
As soon as I know anything about when I will be out, you will receive an email from me ASAP.
Grading:
Quiz 1
Quiz 2
Quiz 3
Quiz 4
Quiz 5 (final)
Attendance
Research Participation
%
15
15
15
15
20
10
10
A
A-
93-100
90-92
B+ 87-89
B
B-
83-86
80-82
C+
C
C-
77-79
73-76
70-72
D+ 67-69
D
F
60-66
0-59
University Policy on Cheating: Students who cheat on a quiz or an assignment will receive zero for that quiz or assignment. In addition, a report will be made to University judiciaries.
Other penalties such as reduction of course grade may also be imposed.
Plagiarism: presenting someone else’s work and ideas as your own – is a very serious offense.
It is the responsibility of the student to ensure they are familiar with what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.
For further information about academic integrity and UML policies see: http://www.uml.edu/catalog/undergraduate/policies/academic_dishonesty.htm
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Date
Tue 26 th Jan
Thur 28 th Jan
Tue 2 nd Feb
Thur 4 th Feb
Tue 9 th Feb
Introduction
Topic
– What is Psychology?
History and theories, applications
Research Methods
Neuroscience I
Neuroscience II
Thur 11 th Feb
Tue 16 th Feb
Thur 18 th Feb
Tue 23 rd Feb
Quiz 1
Monday class schedule, no class
Consciousness
Sensation & Perception I
Thur 25 th Feb
Tue 2 nd March
Sensation & Perception II
Learning
Thur 4 th March
Tue 9 th March
Quiz 2
Attention and Memory I
Thur 11 th March Attention and Memory II
Tue 23 rd March
SPRING BREAK
Thinking and Intelligence I
Thur 25 th March Thinking and Intelligence II
Tue 30 th March Motivation and Emotion
Thur 1 st April
Tue 6 th April
Quiz 3
Psychopathology I (pre-recorded lecture)
Thur 8 th April
Tue 13 th April
Thur 15 th April
Tue 20 th April
Thur 22 nd April
Tue 27 th April
Thur 29 th April
Tue 4 th May
Thur 6 th May
Tue 11 th May
Psychopathology II (pre-recorded lecture)
Psychopathology III (pre-recorded lecture)
Human Development I
Human Development II
Quiz 4
Social Psychology I
Social Psychology II
Personality I
Personality II
Catch up, wrap up, review for final.
Ch. 8
Ch. 8
Ch. 8
Ch. 14+15
Ch. 14+15
Ch. 14+15
Ch. 11
Ch. 11
Ch. 12
Ch. 12
Ch. 13
Ch. 13
Required Reading
Ch. 1
Ch. 1
Ch. 2
Ch. 3
Ch. 3
Ch. 4
Ch. 5
Ch. 5
Ch. 6
Ch. 7
Ch. 7
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