THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
LONDON
CANADA
Department of Psychology
2014-2015
Psychology 2020A 001
Drugs and Behaviour
1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
Survey of the major drugs of abuse, including, but not limited to alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, opiates,
stimulants, inhalants, sedative-hypnotics. For each drug there will be discussion of historical and current patterns of
use and abuse, behavioral and psychological effects of both acute and chronic use, psychological processes involved
in drug effects, neurochemical bases for action, and treatment issues.
3 lecture hours, 0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: DR. RILEY HINSON
Office, Phone Number, Email: 7308 SSC 519-661-2111 EXT 84649 hinson@uwo.ca
Office Hours: MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY, 2:00-2:30
Times and Location of Lectures: MONDAY 2:30-4:30
WEDNESDAY 2:30-3:30
HSB 40 BOTH DAYS
Website: There is a SAKAI site for this course. Access to this site is via your id name and password (this
is typically your last name and the code involving a combination of numbers and upper and lower case
letters). Important course information will be posted at the website, and this is the main method of
communicating information to students. It is the student’s responsibility to check the web site regularly
for important course information. If you miss a course component (test, make up test, etc) when the
information for that course component has been posted on the web site, then you will receive a grade of
zero (0) on that course component.
If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, there are several resources here at
Western to assist you. Please visit: http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for more
information on these resources and on mental health.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other
arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Services for
Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an
accommodation.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
There is no required text for the course. I will cover in lectures all material that will be on tests. A lot of
material is presented in lecture, consequently I make a printed version of my lecture notes available if you wish to
purchase them. Psychology 2020B Text Notes is available in the Graphics Building located at the foot of the hill
leading to Saugeen Maitland residence. The text notes are NOT in the bookstore. You are not required to
purchase these notes. We may not cover everything in these notes, and I may present material not in these notes
during lecture (and such material would possibly be on tests), but the notes cover approximately 90% of what
will be on tests.
Optional Text: Psychopharmacology: Drugs, The Brain, and Behavior, 2nd Edition, by Meyer and
Quenzer is available in the bookstore. For students who want a more traditional text book, you may consider this
optional text. This text covers much of the same material as in the Text Notes, but there is also a lot of material in
the Text Notes that is not covered in this text. This text should be viewed as a supplemental text. You may buy it at
your discretion. While this is an excellent book, the first third is fairly biological in content.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the major drugs of use and abuse. These include
alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, opiates, marijuana, sedatives, hallucinogens, stimulants, inhalants, steroids and other
miscellaneous drugs. The history of use of the different drugs will be presented. The current use of drugs will be
described. The behavioral effects will be presented. Behavioral and biopsychological research aimed at identifying
factors involved in drug use will also be discussed.
5.0 EVALUATION
Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to
conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following
averages:
70% 1000-level and 2000-level courses
72% 2100-2990-level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows the University of Western Ontario grading guidelines, which are as
follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf
A+
A
B
C
D
F
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
50-59
below 50
One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
Superior work that is clearly above average
Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
Competent work, meeting requirements
Fair work, minimally acceptable
Fail
There will be three equally-weighted tests. Two will take place on Saturdays and will be 2 hour in length. The third
will be scheduled by the registrar’s office. The tests will not be explicitly cumulative, although general principles
introduced during earlier parts of the term will be relevant throughout the course. The tests will primarily use a
true/false format with a correction factor (although some questions might be multiple choice, matching, or fill in the
blank, and will also be graded with a correction factor).
The grade on a test will be calculated with the following formula
Grade =
# correct − .3333 # wrong
total number of questions on test
Questions left unanswered will NOT be considered wrong, and thus you would not lose any marks for unanswered
questions. However, the denominator in the calculation will always be the total number of questions on the test
regardless of how many questions you answer. Here are two illustrations of how this correction factor works.
Historically, tests in this course have had 180 questions, most of which are T/F, so the example is based on 180 T/F
questions.
Imagine one student who feels that she knows 144 questions and does not have any idea about the remaining 36.
She correctly answers the 144 questions and leaves the others blank. Her grade would be calculated as follows
Grade =
144 − 0 .33( 0 )
180
= 80%
By leaving the 36 questions blank, she is saying that she does not have enough confidence in her knowledge of these
questions to risk losing marks.
Now imagine another student who also feels she knows the answer to 144 questions but decides to guess at the other
36 questions. Let’s look at 3 scenarios: she gets all 36 correct, she gets all 36 wrong, or a more likely outcome since
she is guessing, she gets 18 right and 18 wrong.
If she gets the 36 “unsure” questions correct, then she would have 180 correct and get 100%
Here’s the calculation where she gets all 36 “unsure” questions wrong
Grade =
144 − 0 .3333( 36)
180
= 73%
Here’s the calculation where she gets 18 right and 18 wrong
Grade =
(144 + 18) − 0 .3333(18)
180
= 87%
Generally speaking, it is to the student’s advantage to guess as it is unlikely that you will miss every one of the
guessed-at questions. However, the student is ultimately responsible for deciding whether to guess or not. So, in
taking the tests you should obviously answer all questions about which you feel confident. You must then decide
what to do about the questions about which you are uncertain. You may leave them blank, and you will neither get
marks nor lose marks for unanswered questions, or you may try to answer them, and if they are correct you will get
a mark, but if they are incorrect you will lose 0.3333 mark for each wrong answer.
In order to pass the course you MUST pass at least 2 of the 3
tests. Passing is an unrounded grade of 50%. Grades are not
rounded, so any grade below 50.0% is a failing grade. If you
fail 2 of the 3 tests, you will fail the course, REGARDLESS
OF WHAT THE AVERAGE OF THE 3 TESTS WOULD BE.
THE TESTING FORMAT AND MARKING SCHEME ARE FULLY EXPLAINED HERE AND
ABSOLUTELY NO CONSIDERATION WILL BE GIVEN TO ARGUMENTS THAT THE TESTING
FORMAT OR MARKING SCHEME WERE NOT UNDERSTOOD. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS
ABOUT THE TESTING FORMAT OR MARKING SCHEME SEE ME BY THE END OF THE FIRST
WEEK OF CLASSES.
Here is some information on the grade distribution from last year. This is for information purposes only and is not
intended to suggest that this year’s class performance will be similar to last year’s: 71.77 with 29% A or A+ and
27% B..
6.0 TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE
See the lecture schedule below. Regardless of what material is indicated in the course outline, each
test will cover all the material presented in lectures up to and including the last lecture before the test. If a
topic indicated on the course outline is not covered prior to a test, then that material will not be on the test. If
additional material is covered, then that material will be on the test. Make up tests are allowed for legitimate
medical or personal reasons (this does not include having tests or essays in other classes). The make up test
information will be posted on the SAKAI site.
7.0 LECTURE AND TEST SCHEDULE Tentative and subject to change
M September 8: Discussion of course outline
W September 10: Introductory Concepts
M September 15: Introductory Concepts
W September 17: Alcohol
M September 22: Alcohol
W September 24: Alcohol
M September 29: Alcohol and Caffeine
W October 1: Caffeine
TEST 1 WILL BE ON SATURDAY, OCT. 4 AND WILL INCLUDE ANY MATERIAL COVERED BY THE
END OF THE CLASS ON OCTOBER 1
M October 6: Nicotine
W October 8: Nicotine
M October 13: NO CLASS
W October 15: Cannabis
M October 20: Cannabis
W October 22: Cannabis
M October 27: Hallucinogens
W October 29: Hallucinogens
M November 3: Hallucinogens
W November 5: Inhalants and Steroids
TEST 2 WILL BE ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 AND WILL INCLUDE ANY MATERIAL COVERED
FROM OCT. 6 THROUGH THE END OF THE NOV. 5 CLASS
M November 10: Stimulants
W November 12: Stimulants
M November 17: Stimulants
W November 19: Sedative-Hypnotics
M November 24: Sedative-Hypnotics
W November 26: Opiates
M December 1: Opiates
W December 3: Opiates
Final Exam Scheduled by Registrar
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and
other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they
undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are
described at the following link:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic
offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses
using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All
written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by
comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s
databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference
database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of
the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between The University of Western Ontario
and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).
Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course,
suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
9.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar web site: http://www.registrar.uwo.ca/index.cfm
Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergradresponsibilities.htm
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2014 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams.
In the case of a missed test for any reason, the student must go to academic counseling in their faculty of
registration. Academic counselling will contact me as to whether you are to be excused from missing a test. If
academic counselling indicates you are to be excused, then you will be allowed to write a make up. If academic
counselling does not support you having missed the test, you will be given a zero on the missed test. There will be
only one make up date and you must write on that date, otherwise you will receive a zero for the missed test. If you
write a test, the grade on the test will stand and you will not be allowed a rewrite, so if you feel that you have some
legitimate reason for not taking the test, go to academic counselling before the test.
SOME ADVICE ON STUDYING FOR THIS COURSE
Much of the material in this course involves straightforward facts, e.g., the active component in marijuana is delta-9tetrahydrocannabinol. Because the material is largely straightforward facts, many students tend to study too little
and when they do study, they study ineffectively. In order to get the highest grade you can in this course you must
come to lectures and you must carefully read all the lecture material. If you fail to do either of these, you will not
make a good grade in this course. But simply attending lectures and reading the material is not sufficient to achieve
the best mark you can. I recommend the following steps.
•
Take through notes during class. I do not ask a lot of questions on people’s names and dates and when I do, I
explicitly emphasize the importance of the name and date during lecture. However, there are many facts
presented during every lecture. True/false questions are typically based on separate bits of factual information,
so this is how I will make up the questions. You must know all the facts.
•
•
•
Ideally, after a lecture you would immediately examine your notes to identify material that is unclear. During
this time, you should try to recopy or reorganize your notes. If you have access to a word processor it would be
ideal to type your notes. This would allow you to fill in missing information since it should still be fresh in
your mind, and this is also a way of studying.
If you could form a study group, of about 4 people, then you could use what students have found to be the most
useful way of studying. Each member of the group makes up true/false questions as they review their notes
(again ideally immediately after lecture). Each question is written on a separate 3 x 5 index card with the
correct answer on the back if the question is false (this allows you to see what the right answer is). Ideally,
your group could meet once a week and you could play a game in which some token prize is identified (e.g., a
dinner, or movie pass, or maybe everybody contributes $5 to a pot) and questions are asked in some systematic
fashion (e.g., clockwise) and the person who answers the most questions gets the prize. Even if you cannot
form a group, you could make up questions yourself and subsequently use these like quiz cards. This strategy
allows you to determine if you do, in fact, know all the factual information. Most often students simply read
over the text and their notes, and this does not lead to good retention of information and consequently results in
poor grades.
In studying, the goal should be to understand and remember the material, and NOT to “study” for a certain time
or number of pages. Too often, students set the goal of a study session as to spend a certain amount of time or
cover a certain number of pages, and this is ineffective. Instead you should strive to understand and retain
material regardless of how long it takes or how little you cover in a study session. Also, do not wait until the
day before the test to look at the notes.