Syllabus
Psychology 2: Principles of Psychology
Fall 2012
Instructor: Maya Kuehn
Email: calpsych2@gmail.com (no guaranteed responses for emails sent elsewhere)
Office hours: Tuesdays 1:30-2:30; Wednesdays 3-4 @ 4141 Tolman, or by appointment
Lecture: 3:30-5p Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 1 LeConte
Textbook: Psychology, 10th edition, David G. Myers
Textbook options: (PsychPortal highly recommended – free w/ the right ISBN textbook)
 Hard-back with PsychPortal
 Soft-back with PsychPortal
 Loose-leaf with PsychPortal
 eBook with PsychPortal - purchase PsychPortal directly from site,
contains eBook
See “Textbook Options” file on bspace for additional info & ISBNs
3 Reserve copies at the Ed/Psych Library
Course description:
Who are you? How do you experience the world? How do you relate to others? How
and why do you tend to feel, think, and behave? This course will introduce students to the field
of psychology, a rich and diverse discipline that provides many answers to these questions.
Psychology encompasses topics ranging from brain structures and memory to personality and
identity to attention and motivation to group dynamics and interpersonal relationships. These
topics and more will be covered in this course.
This course will familiarize students with the basic principles and vocabulary of
psychology, the general history of the field, current theories and areas of inquiry in the field,
and the empirical methods employed in psychological research. An important goal of this
course will be to build your ability to accurately interpret and critically evaluate psychological
research. Another key aim of this course is to illuminate how psychology can be applied to
everyday life, helping you understand and reflect on your own experiences in a new way.
Grades:
3 non-cumulative, multiple choice exams, 75% total (averaging 25% each; weighted – see below)
3 homework assignments, 21% total (7% each)
Choose one for each Assignment due date, from the appropriate section of material.
More on this below and in the document “Assignments Guidelines” on bspace.
5 RPP credits, 4% total (.8% each)
Re-grades:
All regrade requests must be submitted by the given deadline, which will be announced when
exams and assignments are returned. Regrade requests must be accompanied by justification
for why you think you deserve more points, as well as supporting evidence for your argument
from the textbook or lecture. Submitting a regrade allows the professor to re-evaluate your
overall performance on the assignment/exam, and may result in you losing more points than
before.
Exams:
There will be 3 exams in this course, on the following dates:
Exam 1: 9/25, at 1 LeConte, during lecture time;
Exam 2: 10/30, at 1 LeConte, during lecture time;
Exam 3: 12/14 @ 7 pm, final location TBD.
Each exam will be a non-cumulative multiple-choice test.
Weighting: The highest of the three exams will count 30%, the second highest 25%, and
the lowest 20% towards your final grade (total 75%). There will be no further curving beyond
this grade weighting.
Make up exams will be given only in case of illnesses or other *serious* personal/family
reasons that can be documented (e.g., doctor's note). If you are on a college sports team and an
out-of-town tournament conflicts with one of the exams, you need to bring a letter from your
coach. You must let me know of such conflicts at least one week before an exam. If you cannot
inform me ahead of time due to unusual circumstances, please contact me as soon as possible. It
is the responsibility of the students to schedule their make-up exam with me.
Homework:
There will be three homework assignments in this course, due on the following dates:
Assignment 1: 9/18, by end of lecture (5 pm sharp)
Assignment 2: 10/23, by end of lecture (5 pm sharp)
Assignment 3: 11/29, by end of lecture (5 pm sharp)
Each assignment must be selected from the list of options for that specific assignment. A
separate document will be uploaded to bSpace providing the list of options and specific
guidelines for each assignment. It is your responsibility to find this document and adhere to its
requirements when completing your homework.
NO homework assignments will be accepted over email. You must turn in a hard copy
by the hard deadline. Late work (including work submitted only over email, until I receive a
hard copy) will be penalized by 20 percentage points per day late.
Extra credit opportunities and assignments may be announced in class. Stay tuned!
DSP:
If you are a DSP student, you need to be in touch with Maya as soon as possible about your
letter and accommodation needs. In order for you to take a DSP exam, Maya needs to have your
letter and notice of your accommodations at least one week before the exam date. Please note
that DSP exams will be held in a separate room, which will be announced before each exam.
Final Grades:
Because your exam scores are weighted towards your highest grade, there will be no further
curving. Final averages will be rounded off (e.g., 89.5-89.9 will be considered 90 but 89.1-89.4
will be considered 89) and final letter grades will be assigned using the following cut-off points:
A+: 97-100; A: 96-93, A-: 92-90
B+: 87-89; B: 83-86; B-: 82-80
C+: 77-79; C: 73-76; C-: 72-70
D+: 67-69; D: 63-66; D-: 60-62
P/NP: < 70 is NP
RPP:
Each student must complete 5 RPP credits this semester, or five equivalent alternative
assignments. You can get 1 RPP credit simply by completing the prescreening package of
questionnaires online between August 23 and September 3. This website is also where you will
create your account – to do so, click on “Important Information for Students” at this link:
http://psychology.berkeley.edu/undergraduate-program/research-participation-program.
If you do not want to complete RPP credits, then you can write 2-page summaries of the
research methods used in 5 empirical research articles from approved journals (check with me
to get your articles approved before you write).
Two of your RPP credits must be completed by the end of Phase I, October 22nd. All
credits must be completed by November 29. Either requirement (RPP allocation or research
summaries) must be completed by November 30. You must allocate your credits to Psych 2
manually via Experimetrix. All RPP questions must be directed to rpp@berkeley.edu. I have no
power here.
Email policies:
I will do my best to respond to emails within 24 hours during the week, but anticipate a longer
delay on the weekends (that is, if you email me between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening).
If you contact a different email than the one listed above (calpsych2@gmail.com), I do not
guarantee a reply (though I’ll try to suggest you email calpsych2@gmail.com instead).
I will happily respond to yes/no, administrative, and course policy questions, but not
broad, vague, theoretical questions (e.g., “What is psychology?”) that require a long paragraph
of explanation – come to office hours and we can chat. If I don’t respond at all to a theory
question, your question was probably too vague/big - try answering your own question
(consult the book index, lecture notes, google, etc.) and I can let you know if you’re on the right
track. Around exam time, I won’t be answering last minute emails the night before the exam.
However, I do plan (tentatively) to hold extra office hours on exam weeks so we can straighten
out any confusion.
bSpace:
Make sure you have access to this course’s bSpace site, and that the email you have on bSpace is
correct and active. We will use a lot of email communication via bSpace in this class, so it is
important that you receive those emails to keep up with happenings/updates in the course.
Things like assignment details, exam details, regrade policies, and (if you’re lucky) extra credit
opportunities will be posted on bSpace so check in periodically.
Academic Integrity:
Do not cheat. If you cheat, I will report your cheating to everyone and every campus office that I
possibly can. You will have no chance to make up the assignment/exam, and you will receive
zero points for whatever assignment or exam you cheated on, NO exceptions.
If you’re having trouble with an assignment, with grasping the material in the course, or
with writing (especially if English is not your native language), please come see me in office
hours or send me an email – we’ll find ways for you to succeed without turning to cheating.
Respect in the classroom:
Be respectful of other people’s comments and questions in lecture. I will ask you to leave if I
think you are being disrespectful. If you’re asleep or on facebook during lecture, I may call you
out. If you don’t want to be in class, don’t come to class! Up to you.
Black lightning notes & Podcast:
Notes will be available for this course through http://notes.berkeley.edu/. This course’s
lectures will be made into podcasts, available on http://webcast.berkeley.edu/.
Course structure: **Subject to change! An updated version will be posted on bspace w/ any changes.
Week
Dates
Material
Reading
0
8/23
Administrative Details, What is Psychology
Prologue
1
8/28
Sleep
pp. 92-109
8/30
The scientific method, stats basics
Ch 1
9/4
The brain and neuroscience
Ch 2
9/6
Brain/neuro continued; Consciousness, Drugs
Ch 3
9/11
Perception & sensation
Ch 6
9/13
Perception & sensation, continued
Ch 6
9/18
Memory
Ch 8
9/20
Catch-up and Review day
9/25
Exam 1 moved to 9/27
9/27
Exam 1 in class
10/2
Learning
Ch 7
10/4
Evolution, heritability, nature & nurture
Ch 4,
10/9
Sexuality & gender; Development
pp. 420-434,
2
3
4
5
6
7
Assignments
and Exams
Asmt 1 9/18
Exam 1
Ch 5
8
9
10/11
Development, continued
Ch 5
10/16
Development, continued; Thought & Language
Ch 9
10/18
Thought & Language
10/23
Emotions
Ch 12
10/25
Emotions, continued; Intelligence; Catch-up and
Ch 10
Asmt 2 10/23
review time
10
11
12
13
14
10/30
Exam 2 in class
11/1
Personality
Ch 13
11/6
The self
TBA
11/8
Classic social psych
Ch 14
11/13
Modern social psych
pp. 434-440
11/15
Groups, intergroup dynamics, culture
TBA
11/20
Close relationships
TBA
11/22
Thanksgiving! No class.
Turkey
11/27
Clinical: classification & diagnosis
Ch 15
Exam 2
Gravy
11/29
Clinical: treatment & stigma
Ch 16
Asmt 3 11/29
15
12/6
RRR week – Q&A Session at Thur lecture time
Bring Qs
16
12/14
Finals week – Exam 3 at final time/location
Exam 3 12/14