Syllabus Psy 1206 PDF

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Psychology 120: Elementary Psychology, Spring 2015 CRN # 26377, Section 004 Class Location: Class of 1950 Lecture Hall 224 Days/Times: M/W/F 9:30 AM – 10:20 AM Note: The contents of this syllabus are subject to change if required by circumstances occurring during the semester. Any changes will be announced in class and on the course web page. Instructor: Erin Sparks (Ward) In person Office Hours: PRCE, Room 377, Wednesdays 10:30-11:45 am, Thursdays 10:30-11:15 By appointment: You may see me by appointment if you have a course that meets during all of these times. Phone: 765-496-7996 If you prefer not to come in person, you may call me during my in person office hours to ask general course questions about reading/lecture material, the syllabus or general course policy, etc. However, we will only discuss course records tied to your name, such as grades, attendance issues, course performance, etc. in person with the presentation of a photo ID. Substitute instructor/“head of class” during my maternity leave): Tim McCall (please do not contact Tim for anything before or after my maternity leave, but treat Tim like me during my maternity leave!) In person Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:30 PM, PSYC 2180 TA #1: Rachel Saef (direct all course emails to Rachel if your last name starts with A-M) In Person Office Hours: PSYC 2190 Wednesdays 10:30-12:30 Email: [email protected] (allow 48 hours for a response) TA #2: Kellin Treadway (direct all course emails to Kellin if your last name starts with N-Z) In Person Office Hours: PRCE 385E Mondays 10:35-12:35 Email: [email protected] (allow 48 hours for a response) Contacting Fellow Students: Use the “discussions” link on the blackboard menu to talk to fellow students. You can create new threads under each discussion forum, and I encourage you to “subscribe” right now to any forums that might interest you – this way you will get email notifications any time somebody posts there (such as a post asking if anyone wants to meet for a study group for an exam in the library!)

EXTRA CREDIT FOR READING SYLLABUS & FOLLOWING EMAIL POLICY At the beginning of the semester, everyone will have 2 extra credit points posted to blackboard (hurray!). The only way to lose these points is by sending an email that violates the email policy below (emails violating the policy will not necessarily receive a response). This policy is not designed to scare away students with sincere questions, but to ensure efficient communication. In a class this large, if people flood email boxes with unnecessary emails, we can’t help you promptly, which makes us sad! This policy is for your benefit and a great excuse to give you some easy extra credit!

EMAIL POLICY All emails should be directed to the appropriate TA, based on your last name. Answering student emails is their primary job and they are empowered to handle almost all matters relevant to the class. You must plan ahead and allow *2 business days, or 48 hours* for a response (hours on Saturday & Sunday don’t count – i.e. Friday at 3 pm to Monday at 3 pm counts as 24 business hours and emails sent on Sat/Sun are viewed as having arrived at 8 AM Monday). If you email the head instructor (that’s either me or Tim, while I am on maternity leave), about something the TAs are equipped to handle, we will just forward it to them and cc you (it will then take 48 hours to hear back from that point). In the rare event they are not equipped to handle the issue, they will forward your

message to the head instructor at the time. This policy doesn’t mean you don’t have full access to the head instructor if you’d prefer to talk to us instead - you may always chat with us in person! Both Tim and I love talking to students and will discuss anything about the course with you in office hours or briefly after class. Since the TAs are in charge of email, however, if you prefer to talk to the head instructor, only email Tim at [email protected] or me at [email protected] if you need to schedule an in person appointment or you sincerely feel uncomfortable talking in person. When you send an email, include your FULL NAME and the words PSY 120 STUDENT in the subject. Before sending the email, you must determine whether the content violates the email policy: IT IS A VIOLATION OF THE EMAIL POLICY TO SEND AN EMAIL THAT….    

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Contains a question already answered in the syllabus or on the blackboard course page. Asks for written explanations of topics that you are having trouble understanding. Unfortunately, the TAs can’t type out individual, detailed explanations of psychological concepts for several hundred students. Come to my office hours or the TA’s office hours for questions about course material. Asks for a copy of lectures notes if you miss class – coordinate with another student to borrow notes. Asks about what you missed if you did not come to class (and/or if it was important), or asks about what you will miss if you do not attend class on a future date. Assume you will be missing important course material/announcements any day you are absent. It is your responsibility to contact a fellow student to try to catch up. Someone is absent every time we meet – we cannot summarize every class over email. Contains a question relevant to the specifics of your grade or your course performance (to avoid FERPA violations, we do not discuss or distribute course records over email). Come to office hours. Is disrespectful, unprofessional, rude, uncivil, or contains profanity. Requests or a response in less than 48 hours, or asks a question for which a reply arriving in 48 hours would not be useful (e.g. an email asking about the location for tomorrow’s test, or an email requesting an appointment with me later that afternoon). If you need to hear back by a certain deadline, plan ahead and allow 48 hours. If you have a sincere emergency, drop in on somebody in office hours. Contains a request to type out answers to a list of interview questions (e.g. for a project assigned in another course). Unfortunately get far too many interview requests to type out answers for everyone, so it is unfair to do it for one person. We also can not accommodate all the requests for extra face to face interview appointments outside of office hours. However, you may issue an email request to conduct an “in person” interview if you are able to come to already scheduled office hours and you are willing to take the risk that you may need to wait a bit if other students show up needing to discuss course issues. This means you should not request the interview the day before your project is due – leave enough time to return to office hours on a later day if office hours are busy and there is not time to finish (Usually we will have time, so please come! We just need to honor our primary responsibility providing support relevant to this class!)

We don’t enact this email policy to be unreasonably strict – it’s simply necessary in a large class. Email can be a very efficient way for instructors to communicate course announcements to several hundred students at once, but it is a very inefficient way for several hundred students to communicate with just a few TA’s and instructors. If just 10% of the students emailed a question each day, there would be 315 emails to process a week! Abide by this policy to ensure only the necessary emails make it through! And come see us in office hours! It’s fun to see students’ faces and not just their font!

REQUIRED MATERIALS TEXT:

Nairne, J.S. (2013). Psychology (Sixth Edition). Thomson Wadsworth. Bundled with MindTap Printed Access Card ISBN: 9781285900872

Where do I get the text? Purchase the text in the bookstore for $149. The bookstore bundle contains a looseleaf copy of the textbook along with a Mindtap code that grants you access to electronic study tools and an e-version of the textbook (you redeem this code and get access to mindtap by going to “Mindtap” section of the blackboard course menu, clicking on the link to the mindtap course, and then clicking “redeem access code” when you get the popup). If you don’t want the hard copy of the textbook and you are fine with just the e-book, you may forego the bookstore bundle and just buy mindtap access online for $87. Instead of selecting “redeem access code” when you access mindtap through blackboard, click “pay online with a credit or debit card or paypal” instead. How the heck do I use this mindtap tool? Instructions for how to use Mindtap will be posted to the blackboard course page. Click on the mindtap section of the course menu and then click on the folder titled “Getting Started, Mindtap Support” (please consult these instructions before emailing anyone). Can I buy a used copy of the book? If you do, you will not receive a mindtap code, which gives you access to study tools like practice exam questions based on the reading, flashcards for key terms in the book, etc. You also need this code to complete the generous extra credit assignments that will be deployed through mindtap throughout the semester. It is your responsibility to buy the tool if you want access to these things (alternative extra credit assignments won’t be offered to students who do not purchase the required course materials). What if the bookstore is out of books at the start of the semester? While you are waiting for more books to come in, you may click on the “Mindtap” section of the blackboard course menu, click on the link to the mindtap course, and access the mindtap tool (which contains an e-versionof the textbook) for FREE by clicking “I’ll pay later” through February 2. The publisher implements this grace period so students don’t fall behind on reading assignments. However, after February 2, you will be required to purchase mindtap to keep using it. Do I need the 6th edition? Yes. A new psychological manual was published in 2013 which changed the way mental disorders were classified and you may get exam questions wrong if you use an old edition.

WEBSITE: We will be using a Blackboard course web site (https://mycourses.purdue.edu). You are responsible for all announcements and materials presented on this web page, so you must check it at least daily. Your scores on exams and your grade in the course will be posted here.

EMAIL: You are responsible for messages sent by instructors and other Purdue officials to your Purdue email address. You are responsible for checking your Purdue email address daily. If there is an important class announcement, such as a test date change or a cancellation of class, you might hear about it over email.

GENERAL COURSE OBJECTIVES This is a broad survey course intended to introduce you to the field of psychology. Upon successful completion of this course the student will be expected to: 1. 2. 3.

Identify and differentiate theoretical perspectives of psychology. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of research methods. Exhibit a fundamental understanding of the biological basis of behavior.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Demonstrate an understanding of classical and operant conditioning, and social cognitive learning. Identify theories and characteristics of processing, storing and retrieving memory. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the major theories of personality. Demonstrate a basic understanding of physical, cognitive and social aspects of human development. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of symptoms, classification and causes of psychological disorders. Demonstrate an understanding of how social and cultural context impacts individual behavior and cognition.

COURSE MATERIAL YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LECTURES: You will be responsible for the material presented in lectures. Though at times the lectures will be designed to help ensure you understood what you read in your textbook (there will be significant overlap between the reading and lecture material), sometimes the lectures will be used to provide useful supplemental material not covered in the readings. This means that you do need to come to class to do well on the exams. For your benefit, I will post my powerpoint slides on blackboard. But keep in mind that they are not complete lecture notes or study guides; they are just visual aids designed to help me lecture (some of them have pictures without words!). If you miss class, you will not have all the information you need to succeed on the tests! You will need to get notes from one of your fellow classmates. READINGS: Reading assignments for each class will be posted on blackboard. You must complete the required reading before you arrive in class. Again, while there will be overlap between the lectures and the reading, each test will have some questions taken from the readings on topics that will not be covered in the lectures, so you do need to buy the book and keep up with the readings. You may want to consider keeping a separate notebook (or file on your laptop) that includes notes taken from the book. Read the book chapters as we cover them and take your own notes on them. That way, when a test rolls around, your reading is complete (with notes) and you will not be cramming until 5am!

COURSE GRADE: 600 total possible points 1) Total exam points: 4 Exams x 100 points each = 400 possible exam points 2) Total quiz points: 4 Open-Note Blackboard Quizzes x 35 points each=140 possible quiz points 3) Total Attendance points: 3 Attendance days X 20 points each = 60 possible attendance points 4) Total Extra Credit points: You will be offered a minimum of 20 possible extra credit points These 4 running totals will be displayed in your blackboard gradebook. At the very end of the semester, your course grade will be computed by adding them all up and comparing your overall total to the “points out of 600” column in the table below. Your extra credit points get added onto your overall total, but don’t count against the points possible in the course. Grade A AB+ B BC+ C CD+

Criterion 92% or more 90% to < 92% 88% to < 90% 82% to < 88% 80% to < 82% 78% to < 80% 72% to < 78% 70% to < 72% 68% to < 70%

Points out of 600 552 or more 540-551.9 528-539.9 492-527.9 480-491.9 468-479.9 432-467.9 420-431.9 408-419.9

D DF

62% to < 68% 60% to...