Download Syllabus - Dr. Katharine A. Blackwell

Psyc 010-B: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
What Is This Class About?
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. This course will introduce
students to major areas (biopsychology, developmental, cognitive, social, and abnormal
psychology), theories, questions, research strategies, and findings in psychology, and will help
students begin to think analytically about psychology. Required for the psychology major.
By taking this course, students will learn how to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of basic psychological terminology and explain important
features of major psychological concepts and theories.
2. Identify and cogently discuss key theorists and worldviews from which major principles
arise, and connect psychological theories to the evidence on which they are based.
3. Describe basic research methods in psychology.
4. Critically analyze information about human behavior, and distinguish between
conclusions supported by scientific evidence and conclusions based on nonscientific
ways of knowing.
5. Demonstrate basic ability to apply psychological theory to analyze and explain examples
of human behavior.
What Supplies Will I Need?
Inquisitiveness, perseverance, dedication, humor.
On a more practical note, two resources will be very important to your success in this class:
• The textbook is the foundation of all of the material we will cover; all course preparation
assignments, online quizzes, and multiple choice exam questions will be drawn from it.
o Lahey, Benjamin B. Psychology: An Introduction, 11th Edition. McGraw-Hill.
• The course website will contain all materials for our hybrid classes. These will often
include video or other streaming media, so plan your access from a computer with a good
network.
o http://www.kblackwell.com/courses/Psyc010B/index.html
How Do I Get in Touch with My Professor?
The best way to get in touch with me is by coming to my office, Science 300, during my office
hours (Monday 2-3pm, Tuesday 11am-12noon, Wednesday 1:30-2:30 pm, Thursday 2-3pm).
You may also request a meeting at another time with at least 24 hours notice.
You are welcome to call my office phone, (336) 721-2811, during my campus hours.
Email is for scheduling meetings only. Meeting requests sent to [email protected]
from a Salem address, with an informative subject line and written using complete sentences will
be answered by 7 p.m. daily. I may read but will not respond to any other emails.
If you have questions sometime when I am not in my office, remember to consult the FAQ at
http://www.kblackwell.com/drbfaq.html, this syllabus, and other students for potential answers.
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Psyc 010-B: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
How Will the Professor Decide What I Have Learned?
In-Class Engagement (18%; 0.5% per class meeting). Learning is an active process, and your
presence and engagement during all class meetings are critical components of your learning.
In-class activities are fundamental to the learning process, are dependent on the presence of
your instructor and classmates, and cannot be “made up”. Your learning will be assessed
through your contributions to class meetings, each of which is worth 0.5% of your final grade.
If you miss a class entirely, for any reason, you will receive no credit. If you arrive late, leave
during the middle of class, leave early, are “tuned out” or just do not contribute to class
discussion, you will receive only partial credit for your engagement during that class meeting.
Also, because cell phones are persistent distraction to yourself and others, if I see your cell
phone during class, you will receive no credit for attending that class meeting.
Missing out on the learning during class meetings adds up. For this reason, if you miss more
than 2 weeks of class (6 class meetings) you will not pass this course.
Chapter Preparations (7%; 0.5% per chapter). For each chapter we read, you will complete
the online quiz, and write a brief homework assignment. Each quiz and assignment is worth
0.25% of your final grade, so each chapter is worth the same as a class meeting.
Mid-Term Exams (45%, 15% per mid-term exam). Each mid-term exam will consist of 30
multiple choice questions and 4 short essay questions; the multiple choice and short essay
sections are each worth half of your exam grade. Multiple choice questions will be drawn from
the textbook’s online quizzes and test bank, with an emphasis on material covered in class and
online lessons. Short essay questions will be based on class activities and online lessons.
Mid-term exams will be placed on library reserve, to be taken in your own time during the
exam window. You may take as long as you wish to complete each mid-term exam, as long as
you do so in a single sitting with no conversation, cell phone access, textbook, notes, or
external aids.
Cumulative Final Exam (30%). The final exam will be in the same format as the mid-term
exams, but will be approximately twice as long (65 multiple choice and 8 short essay
questions) covering material from throughout the course. The exam will be administered in
Bryant Hall following Salem College's normal self-scheduled final exam procedures.
Final letter grades will be calculated based on the Psychology Department grading system:
A- 92.5-93
A 94+
B- 84.5-85
B 86-90
B+ 91-92
C- 77.5-78
C 79-82
C+ 83-84
D- 69.5-70
D 71-75
D+ 76-77
Detailed progress reports will be provided with the grades for each mid-term exam.
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Psyc 010-B: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
What Should My Assignments Look Like?
Everything you turn in will be typed in double-spaced 12 point Times New Roman font and
printed with 1-inch margins. No handwritten work will be accepted. Assignments that are single
spaced or use a different font will not receive credit.
Multiple-choice quizzes will be done online. However, you will never submit any hybrid
assignment or written homework assignment by e-mail or other electronic means.
The Honor Tradition is an integral aspect of Salem college, and students are expected to act with
honor at all times in the course. This includes being respectful of your classmates and your
professor during class sessions, and working with integrity on your assignments outside of class.
• Honor with your written work. Whenever you put your name on an assignment, you
are saying that you alone are responsible for the content – both the ideas and the words
used to describe them – unless you indicate otherwise with a citation. Even then, a
citation gives credit for the idea, not the words used to describe it; you are claiming the
words as your own unless they are in quotation marks. If those words are not your own,
and are not in quotation marks, then they are plagiarized. This is true for words that come
from Wikipedia, the textbook, your friends, or previous papers you wrote for any class.
You are responsible for knowing what counts as plagiarism, and avoiding it. Even one
sentence of “unintentional” plagiarism, which comes from forgetting to identify sources
as you take notes, or “patchwork” plagiarism, which comes from trying to paraphrase by
changing or moving a few words, will be treated as plagiarism.
• Honor with your creative work and presentations. Just as you must give credit for
ideas and words in your written work, you should also give credit for ideas and artifacts
(usually pictures or charts) in other assignments. Any images you use must be clearly
marked as your own, or give proper attribution to the person who created them. If you do
not know or cannot determine who created an image or artifact, you cannot use it in your
presentation. Even if an image is widely copied on Pinterest or Google Images, you can
only use it if you can identify the original creator. Ideally, you should use artwork
published under a Creative Commons license, with permission given for others to use the
work as long as they credit the original creator.
• Honor with your tests. Whenever you complete a test, you are expected to use only
whatever resources the professor explicitly said were allowed. Using any other resources,
including information from other students, breaks the integrity of the test. Sharing
information with other students also hurts the integrity of the test, and will be treated the
same as using unauthorized resources yourself, even if you didn’t benefit on your own
test. You should not discuss the test, even how long it took, with other students in the
course, or where you might be overheard by other students, until the professor tells you it
is okay to do so.
The first time a student breaks the Honor Code by plagiarizing, using another person’s artwork
without attribution, using unauthorized resources on a test, or sharing information about a test,
she will receive a 0 for that assignment, and may be reported to the Honor Council at the
professor’s discretion. The second time a student breaks the Honor Code in any way, she will
receive a 0 (F) for the course and will be reported to the Honor Council.
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Psyc 010-B: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
When Is It Due?
Mid-term exams are due by 12:30 pm on the day the exam window closes. Exams that have not
been returned to the Gramley Library desk after that time will have their grade halved.
All other assignments are due 1 minute before class starts on the day they are listed on the online
schedule. Assignments that are turned in during or after class will receive only half credit. Late
assignments are only accepted until the start of the next class meeting after they were due.
The schedule below gives a brief overview of the course, and is subject to change as needs arise.
Dates indicate when the chapter should be read, and the course preparation work should
be brought to class on that day. The course website contains a more detailed schedule.
Section 1 – Foundations of Psychological Science
• • • • Ch. 1 (Mon. Aug 29) How do psychologists think about the mind?
Ch. 2 (Weds. Aug 31) What makes psychology a science?
Ch. 3 (Weds. Sept 7) How does the brain work?
Exam 1 available Weds. Sept 14th, 12:30pm through Sat. Sept 17th, 12:30 pm
Section 2 – Genetics & Consciousness
• • • • Ch. 4 (Mon. Sept 19) How can genes create our minds? Are genes destiny?
Ch. 5 (Weds. Sept 28) How do we see and hear? Is what we see reality?
Ch. 6 (Mon. Oct 3) Can we multitask? Where do our minds go when we sleep?
Exam 2 available Weds. Oct 12th, 12:30pm through Sat. Oct 15th, 12:30 pm
Section 3 – Cognition
• • • • Ch. 7 (Mon. Oct 17) What makes things “triggers”? How do we learn from reward?
Ch. 8 (Mon. Oct 24) How do we remember things? Can we be reliable eyewitnesses?
Ch. 9 (Mon. Oct 31) What is intelligence? Are there fair ways to test it?
Exam 3 available Mon. Nov 7th, 12:30pm through Thurs. Nov 10th, 12:30 pm
Section 4 – Developmental, Social & Abnormal Psychology
• • • • • Ch. 10 (Mon. Nov 14) Is childhood critical? Do children go through stages?
Ch. 11 (Weds. Nov 16) Do emotions come from our bodies? What motivates us?
Ch. 12 (Mon. Nov 28) What is “personality”?
Ch. 14 (Weds. Nov 30) What does it mean to behave “abnormally”?
Final Exam available in Bryant Hall during self-scheduled exam period.
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Psyc 010-B: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
What If I Have Special Circumstances?
1) If you qualify for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),
you must bring your accommodations letter and meet with me before Wednesday,
September 7th to discuss how any accommodations might apply to this course.
2) If you have a standing Honor Sanction that prohibits your taking self-scheduled final
exams in Bryant Hall this semester, you must meet with me before Wednesday,
September 7th to make alternate arrangements for your mid-term exams.
3) If you experience a severe injury during the semester or have an ongoing medical
diagnosis that could interfere with at least 2% of your final course grade (roughly, the
timely completion of a mid-term exam or missing a week of class) you can request a
Syllabus Exception Agreement to modify assignment deadlines and values toward your
final grade.
To arrange a Syllabus Exception Agreement, you must notify the Dean of Undergraduate
Studies (Dean Vinson) within a week of your situation arising, and provide him with
whatever documentation or information he requires. The Dean of Undergraduate Studies
will inform your professors that you will be requesting accommodations. Following this
notice, you will meet with me individually to discuss what reasonable exceptions to the
syllabus can be made.
As a general rule, with a Syllabus Exception Agreement:
• You will still be responsible for all material covered in the class meetings you
missed, and must get this information from other students.
• An alternative assignment will be created, to replace the Engagement value of all
missed classes, which will be graded with the usual standards of the course (e.g.,
if you miss 5 days of class, a new assignment of difficulty and content worth
2.5% of your final grade will be created).
• Assignment due dates may be adjusted to replace any days lost due to your illness
or situation (e.g., extended by the number of days you spent in the hospital).
• Whatever adjustments are made, there will be no substantial change to the
structure or content requirements of the course. For example, an oral presentation
might be given over Skype, but will not be replaced with a written assignment.
• You may be asked to complete additional activities, such as meeting with me
during the term or making use of academic support services.
In the event that you are unable to complete the necessary coursework before end of
semester grades are due, you will be given an Incomplete for the course, with a deadline
for all work at least 1 week before the deadline for Incomplete replacement grades the
following semester. Please note that I am not available to meet, to provide feedback, or
to grade assignments between academic terms.
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Psyc 010-B: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
What Will I Learn? Mid-Term Exam 1
Chapter 1 (Introduction to Psychology)
• Define psychology and what makes it a science and what psychologists try to do.
• Describe the main tenets and founders: structuralism, functionalism, gestalt,
psychoanalysis, behaviorism, psychometrics, neuroscience, humanism, and sociocultural
psychology. Explain why it is important to know about these different schools.
Chapter 2 (Research Methods in Psychology)
• Identify the advantages and disadvantages of different types of data collection (survey,
naturalistic observation, formal experiments) and use them to decide which should be used
in a given situation and how that influences what conclusions can be drawn.
• Define the following key words from formal experiments: independent variable, dependent
variable, hypothesis, theory, operational definition, random selection, experimental group,
control group, random assignment, bias, placebo, blind, double-blind. Recognize what the
purpose of each idea is when designing a trustworthy experiment.
• Recognize the importance of distinguishing "statistical significance" from "practical
significance".
• Draw a positive correlation and a negative correlation based on the description of a
relationship between two variables. Explain what conclusions we can draw from a
correlation.
• Define the following ethical principles: informed consent, freedom from coercion, limited
deception, adequate debriefing, confidentiality. Analyze whether they are met in a given
scientific study.
Chapter 3 (Biological Foundations in Behavior)
• Label the main parts of a neuron (dendrites, cell body, axon, myelin sheath, axon terminal,
synaptic gap).
• Explain how a neuron communicates a message (key words: neurotransmitters, receptors,
depolarization, sodium, action potential, synaptic vesicles).
• Recognize the primary functions of glial cells and the different components of the nervous
system.
• Explain what kinds of methods allow us to draw conclusions about brain function, and
what the strengths and weaknesses of the different methods are.
• On a picture of the brain (from textbook or class), identify the following brain regions and
explain what their primary functions are: medulla, pons, reticular formation, cerebellum,
midbrain, corpus callosum, hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, pineal gland,
pituitary gland, cingulate cortex, Broca's area, Wernicke's area, somatosensory cortex,
motor cortex, auditory cortex, visual cortex, prefrontal cortex.
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Psyc 010-B: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
What Will I Learn? Mid-Term Exam 2
Chapter 4 (The Interplay of Nature and Nurture)
• Explain how genes can influence behavior (through proteins and building neurons), and
what it means for genes to be polygenic and polymorphic.
• Provide real-world examples of gene-environment correlations (passive and active) and
gene-environment interactions (genetic constraints and epigenetics). Use these ideas to
evaluate claims about how nature and nurture influence addiction.
• Evaluate the usefulness and limitations of using evolutionary psychology to understand
behavior.
Chapter 5 (Sensation and Perception)
• Describe the complete process of sensation for vision and/or hearing. A complete process
of sensation starts with what stimuli are perceived, explains which sensory receptors
transduce that information for transmission to the brain (and how they work), and finally
the region(s) of the brain most likely to receive those signals.
• Explain how hallucinations, including phantom limb pain, happen in the brain.
• Identify the features of gestalt perceptual organization (figure-ground, continuity,
proximity, similarity, and closure) and perceptual constancy (brightness constancy, color
constancy, size constancy, shape constancy). Recognize examples of each.
• Provide or recognize examples of cues to depth perception, including whether they are
monocular (texture gradient, linear perspective, superposition, shadowing, speed of
movement, aerial perspective, accommodation, vertical position) or binocular
(convergence, retinal disparity).
Chapter 6 (States of Consciousness)
• Use the dichotic listening task (divided/selective attention) and the monkey business
illusion (inattentional blindness) to explain why texting while driving is a bad idea. Explain
each task/study in a way that would make sense to someone who hasn’t heard of them
before.
• Recognize the characteristics of the different sleep stages (hypnagogic events, alpha waves,
delta waves, sleep spindles, REM sleep, paradoxical sleep, difficulty waking, sleep
walking, dreaming, etc.). Indicate when these types of sleep happen and why they matter.
• Interpret and describe the research studies demonstrating inattentional blindness. Correctly
identify the independent variable, dependent variable, and hypothesis, and describe the
main features of the study design. Interpret charts of the results and explain what the results
mean for our understanding of consciousness.
• Explain how marijuana, alcohol, coffee, and MDMA impact different neurotransmitters
(which ones, and what that means for neurons), which regions of the brain are most
impacted, and how this leads to the conscious-altering impacts these drugs have.
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Psyc 010-Y: Introduction to Psychology; Hybrid
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday & Wednesday 9:30 – 10:50 am
What Will I Learn? Mid-Term Exam 3
Chapter 7 (Basic Principles of Learning)
• Explain the process of classical conditioning, including identifying stimuli and responses
(US, UR, CS, and CR) before, during, and after conditioning takes place, and what is going
on in the brain when this happens. Have at least one real-world example planned!
• Explain the process of operant conditioning, including how reinforcement and punishment
work (both positive and negative) (identify original behavior, consequence, and change in
behavior). Explain what makes operant conditioning positive/negative, and
punishment/reinforcement. Have at least one real-world example planned for each!
• Recognize whether a reinforcement schedule is continuous, fixed or variable, and interval
or ratio, and how this might influence the learner's behavior and the process of extinction.
Chapter 8 (Memory)
• Draw an associative network of one long-term memory, explaining how the circles and
lines in the network represent neurons and synapses; how memories are retrieved through
spreading activation; and how interference, decay and reconstruction work in that network.
• Explain Loftus & Palmer’s research in false memory formation, describing the study to
someone who hasn’t heard of it before. Correctly identify the independent variable,
dependent variable, and hypothesis, and describe the main features of the study design.
Interpret charts of the results and explain what the results mean for our understanding of
memory.
• Recognize key features of: the different strategies of memory (rehearsal, chunking, shallow
processing, deep processing, elaboration), different forms of memory (procedural,
semantic, episodic, working).
• Identify the different regions of the brain responsible for different types of memory, and the
different types of amnesia that might result from different patterns of damage to the brain.
Recognize the major features and causes of retrograde, anterograde, and infantile amnesia.
Chapter 9 (Cognition, Language, and Intelligence)
• Explain and evaluate the major theories of intelligence (g, multiple intelligences).
“Evaluation” should include identifying at least 2 advantages and disadvantages of the
theory, and explaining how advocates of a theory explain away the disadvantages.
• Explain how intelligence tests are designed, including how they are made standardized,
normative, objective, valid, and reliable.
• Define the Flynn effect and provide at least 2 reasons for why it may be happening, making
reference to how those things contribute to the neurological basis of intelligence.
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Psyc 010-Y: Introduction to Psychology; Hybrid
Dr. Katharine Blackwell
Fall 2016: Monday & Wednesday 9:30 – 10:50 am
What Will I Learn? Final Exam new material
Chapter 10 (Developmental Psychology)
• Explain what critical periods are, and describe major studies that demonstrate their
existence (such as the Harlows’ research at the Bucharest Early Intervention Project). Be
able to recreate charts and discuss their findings.
• Explain the three major criteria of all “stage” theories of development (stages are
universal, stages are passed through in the same order for everyone, and stages are
qualitatively different from each other). Be able to describe and evaluate Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development, Erikson’s theory of personality development, and Kohlberg’s
theory of moral development according to these criteria.
Chapter 11 (Motivation & Emotion)
• Explain the three theories of emotion (James-Lange, Canon-Bard, and cognitive), with a
drawing of how the brain and nervous system (thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system,
cerebral cortex, and autonomic nervous system) are involved in each. Provide an
advantage and disadvantage of each theory.
• Recognize how the ventromedial hypothalamus, lateral hypothalamus, and
paraventricular nucleus work together to regulate our hunger, identifying what signal they
receive (ghrelin, glucose, leptin) and what change they make in behavior.
• Recognize the key message and components of the optimal arousal theory (YerkesDodson law) and opponent-process theory of motivation. Recognize how different
components of achievement motivation (how mastery, performance approach, and
performance avoidance influence learning) and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation influence
behavior.
Chapter 12 (Personality)
• Define the five factors of the OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, neuroticism) model of personality. Provide an example question that is
used in surveys to test each one. Explain how at least one of these traits predicts a realworld behavior from the textbook or class (not one that’s “common sense”).
• Recognize the key components of social learning theory. Define reciprocal determination,
self-efficacy, self-regulation, situationism, and person x situation interactionism.
Chapter 14 (Abnormal Psychology)
• Explain the three things that make it difficult to diagnose abnormal behavior: that
diagnosis is subjective, that abnormal behavior is normal behavior taken to extremes
(continuity hypothesis) and that it can depend on cultural values. Be able to provide
examples or theory for each of the three.
• Recognize the main characteristics and effects of the major categories of psychological
disorder: anxiety (phobia, generalized anxiety, panic anxiety, PTSD, OCD), somatoform,
dissociative identity disorder, mood disorder (depression, bipolar), schizophrenia, and
personality disorder (schizoid and antisocial).
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