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The purpose of this course is to introduce you to psychological processes that occur at the individual and social level. An overview will be provided of developmental psychology, personality, social psychology, maladaptive behavior, individual differences, and selected other topics. This is an introductory course, however, you are encouraged to delve into this topic as deeply as you wish. I hope to spark your interest in psychology, a topic that has sustained my interest over a lifetime! Please note: this course requires three hours of participation as a research subject. It also meets 3 units of the G.E. requirement for Area D1. You will need a Saclink account immediately as portions of this course will occur online via WebCT from the first week of class. As part of the course requirements, you will need to participate as a subject in 3 experiments through the Psychology Department. This requirement will be explained in class.
1. To familiarize students with key terms and their relevance to psychology.
2. To provide a basic understanding of different perspectives in psychology.
3. To encourage students to apply what they learn to the real world.
4. To foster the ability to communicate the concepts we discuss in this course.
5. To foster critical thinking and a reflective style of learning.
6. To gain practice working as part of a team to create a project that is fun,
interesting and applies some of the concepts we use in this course.
Baron, R. A. (2002). Essentials of Psychology (3rd edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Note: You will need to use the pin number (inside front cover of your textbook)
to access practice quizzes, resources, and some assignments for this course.
1. Attend class and complete
reading assignments prior to class.
2. Participate on a weekly basis in 15 online discussion group activities.
3. Function as the leader
of one discussion activity.
4. Complete a paper as a result
of the discussion group activity you lead.
5. Complete 2 tests and one final exam.
6. Complete a group project
that will be presented during the last week of class.
At the beginning of the semester, each student will be randomly assigned to a 5-person discussion group for the entire semester. You will need to work together as a learning team to complete many assignments during this class.
On 10 Fridays, you will participate in a group online discussion of a critical thinking question posted by your instructor (see section entitled "Critical Thinking Questions"). On alternating weeks, you will either post your discussions on a discussion board or you will use an assigned chat room. This activity will be comparable to one day of class per week (Friday). If you do not participate in this activity, you will not receive credit for the activity. Credit will be awarded based on level of participation; to receive full credit, you need to actively participate in the discussion. I would expect one posting on the discussion board of 1-2 paragraphs that expresses your opinion and a minimum of one additional posting that is in response to another group members posting. The live chat will occur at the time of the scheduled class; the discussion board posting will be due by noon of the Friday it is scheduled to occur. No credit will be given for assignments turned in after the due date; there is no exception to this rule.
On 4 Fridays during the semester, you will be free to hold a discussion that addresses the "Group Critical Thinking Activity" described in the next section. The main discussion for this activity may occur online via the discussion board or in-person as determined by the group leader, however, members will need to provide the leader with resources via email or in-person prior to this meeting.
To encourage critical thinking of important questions in psychology that interest you, each member of your group will have an opportunity to function as a discussion leader by selecting a question that will be jointly researched and answered by the group. This will occur every 3 weeks during the semester and the question chosen during that 3-week period will relate to the reading for that time period. One of the 5 group members will be the discussion leader who selects the topic to be discussed online using the discussion board or in-person for that 3-week period.
To facilitate discussion and to give group members time to gather resources, group leaders should inform participants of the question that is to be answered 2 weeks prior to the Friday discussion. For example, if you are the discussion leader for group paper 1, you will need to notify members of the topic by Friday, 2/8. Members would then gather information and prepare responses to the question which they would post by Friday 2/22 so the leader will have sufficient time to create a short paper summarizing the results of this group discussion and information synthesizing activity (see "Format for Paper").
Questions for this discussion activity may be taken from the textbook, the online resources of the textbook publisher or developed by the student. The question should be modeled after those posed by your teacher during the regular discussion group activity in that they should be of sufficient complexity or controversy to enable an in-depth discussion within your group (for examples of such questions, see section entitled "Critical Thinking Questions"). The discussion leader informs the group of the question that is selected for this critical thinking activity and then it is the responsibility of each group member to gather information concerning this topic and to provide that information to the group via the discussion board, email or in person.
Examples of information that would be acceptable for group members to gather might be an article found online, a journal article, an article from a magazine or a section from a book or a website that addresses some aspect of the question. As a member of the group, it is your responsibility to summarize the important points from the information you gathered. It is not acceptable to merely send the website address or attach the article and leave it up to the discussion leader to summarize this information. You will provide your discussion leader with important points related to the article that can then be summarized by the leader in a short paper.
After the information has been gathered and discussed, the group leader will take the information provided by all members and formulate a paper covering the topics outlined below with a reference section containing the references provided by group members. Each group leader will award points up to the 5 points allowed for the discussion activity to the other group members based on their participation in this activity. It will be the responsibility of each group leader to indicate the points awarded to each participant at the end of the paper that is turned in to the instructor on the Wednesday that it is due. All students will be a group leader for one of the 5 discussions and it is recommended that you decide by the 2nd week of class who will be responsible for each of the 5 discussion activities that occur during this 15-week course.
In reviewing the schedule, you will note the papers are due on Wednesday 2/27, 3/20, 4/16, 5/18, or 5/22 depending upon which discussion you facilitate. This means that if you are the discussion leader for the first discussion, your paper is due on 2/27. Likewise, if you are the leader for the 5th discussion activity, your paper is due on 5/22.
You paper can be short and simple but it should be typed and punctuation, grammar and spelling should be checked. Please do not regurgitate information obtained from group members. I expect you to take the information you receive and the result of the discussion you have and summarize the opinions of your group. Credit will be given for succinct, brief answers rather than endless summaries. I am interested in knowing about how your group addressed the question: was it a challenge, did you agree, what were the areas of dispute, and how did you resolve these disputes?
With this information in mind, here are the topics you should address in your paper: (Please address them by number in your paper)
1. State the question you discussed exactly as you worded it.
2. Indicate why you, as the leader, selected this question.
3. Briefly summarize the group's answer to the question.
4. How did the group respond to the question; for example, was there active
discussion, did the question seem interesting to the group, were members able
to locate information to answer the question, etc.?
5. What sources of information did group members provide to answer the question:
articles online, journal articles, articles from magazines, websites or other
sources? This last answer can be in the form of a reference section, however,
you should also include a sentence prior to the reference section that states
the sources in a summary fashion (e.g., "Group members utilized chapters
from textbooks, internet articles and journal articles from the library to answer
this question").
6. How many points should be given to each group member based on level of participation?
The following questions are to be answered during 10 of your Friday online group discussions. The questions are listed by the week they need to be answered; please refer to the schedule for specific information concerning whether you will be answering the question in the chat room or on the discussion board.
|
Date
|
Critical Thinking Question
|
| 2/8 | 1) On the basis of what you've learned from this chapter, can you think of actions you can take to increase the chances that your adult life will be happy, productive and healthy? |
| 2/15 | 2) For most of us, our consciousness seems to be an unbroken stream reaching back to early childhood. Yet, it is clear that we come to think differently as we grow older. Can you identify ways in which your own abilities to think and reason have changed over the years? |
| 3/1 | 3) At present, existing evidence suggests that group differences in intelligence are due primarily to environmental factors. What kind of evidence would be needed before we could conclude that genetic factors, too, play a role? |
| 3/8 | 4) Now that you understand some of the basic requirements of all psychological tests, do you think you will be more skeptical of the questionnaires published in many magazines that claim to measure various traits? Why should you view these "tests" with caution? Under what conditions could you view them as useful or informative? |
| 3/22 | 5) Growing evidence indicates that some aspects of personality are influenced by genetic factors. Does this mean that personality can't be changed? Or, even if genetic factors do play a role, do you think that personality remains open to change throughout life? |
| 4/5 | 6) Suppose that in a given society cannibalism is viewed as fully acceptable, is practiced by most members of the culture, and causes persons who engage in it no distress. Would it still constitute a mental disorder? Why? Why not? |
| 4/19 | 7) Do you think it is ethical for courts to be able to commit individuals to mental institutions or to require that they receive outpatient treatment against their will? If so, why? If not, why? |
| 4/26 | 8) Now that you know what psychologists have discovered about the factors that cause us to like or dislike other persons, can you think of any ways in which you might be able to put this knowledge to use? In what kinds of situations would you be most likely to do this - to engage in efforts to increase others' liking for you? How would you benefit from such efforts if they succeeded? |
| 5/10 | 9) Throughout this chapter we've seen that lifestyle factors - what we choose to eat, drink, or smoke, and whether we choose to exercise regularly - greatly influence our health. If one can achieve good health simply by changing one's own behaviors, then why aren't more people doing so? |
| 5/17 | 10) Now that you know something about the many practices that can improve physical and psychological health, will you be more likely to follow these practices yourself? Why or why not? |
The group project is an opportunity for you to have fun and be creative. The objective will be for your group to create some type of product that you will share with the class that will advance our understanding of some aspect of psychology. You may pick a question, a topic, a person, an event, or any combination of these factors to create something tangible you will share with the class. For example, you might choose to create a videotape, a website, a game for us to play in class, a PowerPoint presentation, a short skit or any other product that you can imagine that will provide us with some knowledge or experience related to psychology. Your group will need to hand in a brief summary of the plan for your group project by 3/18 as indicated on the schedule.
Credit will be given for assignments based upon the following:
| Test 1 | 25 points |
| Test 2 | 25 points |
| Final | 50 points |
| Paper (Group Critical Thinking Activity) | 25 points |
| Critical Question Participation (Critical Thinking Group Activity) | 25 points (5 points for each discussion; points awarded by group leader) |
| Discussion Group Activities | 10 activities @ 5 points each = 50 points |
| Group Project | 20 points |
| Attendance | 30 points |
| Total Points | 250 points |
Note: If there are less than 5 people in your group, the instructor will provide an extra question for discussion so that maximum points may be obtained.
This instructor believes that attendance and participation is an important element of this class. You will receive 1 point for each class you attend.
Your final grade will be based on the following:
| A | 90-100% of total points |
| B | 80-89% |
| C | 70-79% |
| D | 60-69% |
| F | 59 & or below |
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