Intro to Psychology - Kirkwood Community College

Intro to Psychology

Fall 2009
Benton Hall 315
MWF 8:00 – 8:50 a.m.

Course Number: PSY-111
Section Number/Synonym: 0112776
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Connie Rosene
Office: 2019 Cedar Hall or 2055 Cedar Hall (Test Center)
Office Hours: M, W, F 9-10 a.m. (other times by appointment)
Phone: 398-5456 (Test Center)
Voice Mail: 398-5899*5209
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 398-5550
Home Phone: 365-4531 (not answered after 10 p.m.)
Webpage: www.kirkwood.edu/site/index/php?d=905

Learning Resources:
Myers, D.G. (2009). Psychology in Everyday Life. New York: Worth Publishers.
Hock, R.R. (2009). Forty studies that changed psychology (6th ed.). New Jersey:
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Other resources as provided and assigned by the course instructor.

Course Description:
Introduces the scientific study of mental processes and behavior with emphasis on the

nervous system, learning and memory, cognition, sensation and perception, motivation and
emotion, personality, intelligence, stress, psychological disorders and therapy, and social
influence. Stresses roles of both theory and empirical evidence in describing, explaining, and
predicting behavior. Encourages critical thinking about research methods and ethics.

Social Science Core Course Objectives:
All Social Science core courses, including Intro to Psychology, are designed to meet the

following objectives that focus on research methods and evaluation throughout the semester.
These courses are designed to help the student:

◙ Understand and think critically regarding how the discipline conducts science.
◙ Become acquainted with classic and contemporary theoretical perspectives within the
discipline.
◙ Become acquainted with classic and contemporary research within the discipline.
◙ Understand how the discipline analyzes data and draws conclusions.
◙ Learn the ethical guidelines and challenges of the discipline.

Specific Course Objectives:

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The goals of this course are for you, the student, to:
☼ develop an understanding of the basic vocabulary, concepts, knowledge base, and

principles of psychology through readings and class discussion, as demonstrated on

quizzes and exams.
☼ understand the scientific method, generate alternative explanations, and demonstrate
the complexity of scientific proof as applied to the study of psychology, through class

discussion and critiques of journal articles.
☼ demonstrate the ways in which psychological principles are based on empirical

research and often follow from theoretical systems within psychology, through class

discussion and assigned readings.
☼ exercise critical thinking and self-assessment skills through assigned readings and

activities.
☼ increase your knowledge of the various careers within the field of psychology and be
able to provide comparisons, as demonstrated on quizzes and exams.

Course Requirements and Grading:
Your final grade will be based upon the total number of points earned through course

assignments, class participation, in-class activities, timely completion of written work, and
exams. The department requires a minimum of nine pages of written work for this course. The
attendance policy, number of exams/quizzes, and options for written work will be discussed in
class with the instructor during the first class sessions (within departmental guidelines). A
revised schedule of dates and deadlines, if needed, will be distributed after class discussion and
consensus.

Grades will be figured on the following scale:

Grade % of points GPA Points Grading opportunities:
A 93-100 4.00 418-450 5 tests @ 75 pts each = 375
A- 90-92 3.67 405-417 3 papers @ 75 pts total
B+ 87-89 3.33 391-404
B 80-86 3.00 360-390 Extra Credit:
B- 77-79 2.67 346-359 1 point per day class attendance
C+ 74-76 2.33 333-345 (possible 43 points)
C 70-73 2.00 315-332
C- 67-69 1.67 310-314 6-10 points extra on each test
D+ 64-66 1.33 288-309
D 60-63 1.00 270-287 Textbook Fact Sheet = 20 points
D- 57-59 .67 256-269
F <57 0 255

FW = This grade has the same negative effect on your grade point as an F. An FW is assigned
when a student has not completed course requirements, has stopped attending class, and failed to
withdraw by the deadline (November 17).

Exams:

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Exams will not be cumulative and will be given as determined by the class at the first class
meeting. All tests are taken in the Test Center (CH 2055). Your exam will be provided for you when you
arrive at the Test Center. NOTE: You are required to present a photo ID at the Test Center in order to
take any test there. You also need to know your instructor’s last name (Rosene) as tests are filed by
instructor last name. Need for extended-time should be arranged prior to the exam. Exams are liberally
timed (2 hours) so extended time may not be necessary for any student.

Exams will consist of a combination of multiple choice, matching, true/false, short answer, and
short essay questions. Exams will cover the readings for that unit, along with lecture material and, in
some cases, information from in-class activities. The final exam for this course is scheduled during Final
Exam week (Dec. 12-18) in the Test Center.

Exam Make-up:
Every effort should be made to take your exams during the scheduled dates. If circumstances

require you to miss an exam, you need to contact me and explain the situation to request a make-up exam.
Make-up exams will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Make-up exams will be taken in the Test Center
within one week of the scheduled exam. You may be asked to show documentation of your absence.
Failure to arrange for and complete a make-up exam will result in a score of zero for that exam.

Written Assignments:
You will be required to write two article analyses using an article of choice from your

supplementary text Forty Studies that Changed Psychology and another article concerning the same topic
that you locate in a professional journal. You will compare/contrast and critique the articles in terms of
replication of the research design, enhancement of the original research, new findings or interpretations,
etc. (Remember the Who? What? Where? When? How? model presented in class.) You may choose an
alternative subject to those presented in the text with my permission. Please contact me outside of class to
discuss this option. Each paper should be a minimum of four typed pages, double spaced in APA format.
Each paper is worth 75 points. A separate handout will provide more information on the written
assignments since the first paper will be divided up in sections to facilitate leaning college level writing
skills.

Late Work:
Again every effort should be made to complete written assignments by the posted date.

Recognizing that emergencies occur and technology fails when most inconvenient, please discuss your
difficulties with me as soon as possible. Points are given for papers presented on time. These points are
forfeited on late papers. Papers will not be accepted more than one week late unless specific
arrangements for completion have been made with me.

Extra Credit:
Opportunities will be provided for extra credit including use of the Writing Center or Learning

Services for help with your papers (5 points per assignment), use of the Tutoring Services to raise test
scores (5 points per test), and attendance at selected college events (5 points). Class attendance points will
be part of the extra credit formula. Each test will have extra credit questions.

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Kirkwood General Course Policies:

Productive Classroom Learning Environment:

We believe that the best learning takes place in an environment where faculty and
students exhibit trust and mutual respect.

Students promote trust by preparing honest and thoughtful work, and by expecting
evaluation based on performance. Faculty promotes trust by setting clear guidelines
for assignments and evaluations, honest feedback, and by assigning bias-free grades.

Students show respect by being prepared and attending class on time, by paying
attention, contributing to discussions, listening respectfully to others’ points of view,
meeting deadlines, and by striving for their best performance. Faculty show respect
by their timeliness and preparedness, by taking students seriously, by valuing their
goals and aspirations, and by providing honest feedback.

In a productive learning environment, faculty and students work cooperatively, recognize and
respect differences, model the values of character and citizenship, and become lifelong learners.

In the interest of preserving an effective learning environment, as free of as many disruptions as
possible, all cellular telephones and pagers must be turned off or placed in a non-audible mode
while in the classroom.

Class Attendance Policy and College Sponsored Activities:

Class Attendance Policy: Learning is central to our work at Kirkwood Community College. Faculty
design educational experiences to facilitate learning and students learn by engaging in those experiences.
Attendance and engagement in all scheduled classes is regarded as integral to learning and is expected of
all students.

Kirkwood faculty members identify expectations for learning and attendance in their course
syllabi. Students are accountable for the learning outcomes for each session, including those
sessions that have been missed. Assessments of learning that occur during an absence may or may
not be made up, depending on the policies of the instructor and the nature of the absence.
Absences that result from participation in college sponsored activities* will be accommodated,
subject to the guidelines listed below. For all other absences, authorization of an excuse is the
province of the individual faculty member and subject to the standard appeal process.

College Sponsored Activities:

Students involved in activities where they are required to represent the college, i.e. college-sponsored
activities, must give written notice to the faculty member at least one week in advance of the absence
unless last minute schedule changes make this notice impossible. If regular season athletic schedules
have been developed, student participants must present written notice of anticipated absences within the
first week of the semester. Failure to provide timely written notice may result in loss of this opportunity.

Faculty shall accord students the opportunity to independently make up course work or work of equal
value, for the day(s) the event was scheduled and to take a scheduled exam at an alternate time. The
faculty member shall determine alternate exam times and due dates for missed coursework. These
assigned dates may be prior to the date of the absence.

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Organizers (coaches, faculty and staff) of college sponsored activities shall 1) assist students in planning
class schedules to minimize the number of absences; 2) inform students of their responsibilities as
described above; and 3) provide written communications to faculty announcing and verifying the need for
student class absences. Written notices should be provided at the beginning of the semester if the
schedule is known, or as soon as possible after the need for a student absence is determined.

* College sponsored activities (excluding practices) include such events as athletic competitions, student
academic competitions and conferences, musical and drama performances, and class field trips.
Questions on whether an activity is a college-sponsored event for purposes of this policy should be
directed to the Vice-President of Instruction. If anticipated absences for a semester appear to be
extraordinarily numerous or difficult to accommodate, a faculty member may appeal the need for the full
accommodation to the VP of Instruction.

Plagiarism Policy:
According to Webster, to plagiarize is “to steal or pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s
own…to use created production without crediting the source…to commit literary theft…to
present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”

Kirkwood Students are responsible for authenticating any assignment submitted to an instructor.
If asked, you must be able to produce proof that the assignment you submit is actually your own
work. Therefore, we recommend that you engage in a verifiable working process on
assignments. Keep copies of all drafts of your work, make photocopies of research materials,
write summaries of research materials, hang onto Writing Center receipts, keep logs or journals
of your work on assignments and papers, learn to save drafts or versions of assignments under
individual file names on computer or diskette, etc.

The inability to authenticate your work, should an instructor request it, is a sufficient ground for
failing the assignment.

In addition to requiring a student to authenticate his/her work, Kirkwood Community College
instructors may employ various other means of ascertaining authenticity – such as engaging in
Internet searches, creating quizzes based on student work, requiring students to explain their
work and/or process orally, etc.

Americans with Disabilities Act:
Students with disabilities who need accommodations to achieve course objectives should file an
accommodation application with Learning Services (Cedar Hall 2063) and provide a written plan
of accommodation to your instructor prior to the accommodation being provided.

Kirkwood wants you to be successful and wants to help you do so. With that in mind, the
College offers a variety of assistive technology you can use. Assistive technology will enlarge
the print on the computer screen (Zoom Text) and allow you to speak into a microphone so the
computer can type what you dictate (Dragon NaturallySpeaking). You can also have your text
recorded onto a CD so you can listen to your text while you read it (Read & Write Gold). If you
want to know more about Assistive Technology, stop in the Assistive Technology Center, Room
2010 Cedar Hall and talk with Jayne Wumkes.

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Proposed Reading Schedule

Note: Chapter readings are from your text Psychology in Everyday Life by Myers except

where indicated as pages from Studies (Forty Studies That Changed Psychology by Hock)

Date Topic Reading Assignment

August 24 Introduction to the course Chapter 1
August 26 Psychology’s Roots

August 28 Critical Thinking Chapter 1

August 31 Neuroscience & Consciousness Chapter 2

September 2 The Brain Chapter 2

September 4 Evaluating Research Forty Studies pp. 1-17
September 7 College Holiday – No classes

September 9 Developing Through the Life Span Chapter 3

September 11 Adolescence and Adulthood Chapter 3

Writing Project #1 (Assignment 1) Due

September 14 First Exam over Chapters 1-3

September 16 Gender and Sexuality Chapter 4

September 18 Library research and APA format Guest speaker

September 21 Biology and Sexual Orientation Chapter 4

September 23 Sensation and Perception (the senses) Chapter 5

September 25 Perception Chapter 5

September 28 Learning Chapter 6

Writing Project #1 (Assignment 2) Due

September 30 Operant Conditioning Chapter 6

October 2 Observational Learning Chapter 6

October 5 Second Exam over Chapters 3-6

October 7 Memory Chapter 7

October 9 Memory/Forgetting Chapter 7

October 12 Memory Construction Chapter 7

October 14 Thinking, Language, and Intelligence Chapter 8

October 16 Language Development Chapter 8

October 19 Intelligence Chapter 8

October 21 Motivation and Emotion Chapter 9

October 23 Theories of Emotion Chapter 9

October 26 Emotional Experience Chapter 9

October 28 Third Exam over Chapters 7-9

October 30 Stress, Health, & Human Flourishing Chapter 10

November 2 Managing Stress Chapter 10

November 4 Human Flourishing Chapter 10

November 6 Personality Chapter 11

November 9 The Big Five Factors Chapter 11

November 11 The Self Chapter 11

November 13 Psychological Disorders - Classification Chapter 12

November 16 Anxiety & Depressive Disorders Chapter 12

Final Writing Project Due

November 18 Psychoactive Drugs Chapter 12

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November 20 Fourth Exam over Chapters 10-12
November 23
November 25/29 Therapy Chapter 13
November 30
December 2 College Holiday – No classes
December 4
December 7 Approaches to Therapy Chapter 13
December 9
December 11 Therapeutic Intervention Chapter 13
December 12-18
Social Psychology Chapter 14

Social Relations Chapter 14

Attraction Chapter 14

Review

Final Exam – Chapters 13-14 (Test Center)

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Intro to Psychology
Written Assignment Instructions

You will be required to write two separate article analyses using an article of choice from your text Forty
Studies that Changed Psychology and another article concerning the same topic that you find in a
professional journal. You will compare/contrast and critique the articles in terms of replication of the
research design, enhancement of the original research, new findings or interpretations, etc. (Remember
the Who? What? Where? When? How? model presented in class.)

The first assignment will be completed in stages to assist you with the process of writing a college level
paper in the field of psychology. The second paper will allow you to follow the process on your own and
turn in one finished product.

You may choose an alternative subject to those presented in the text with my permission. Please contact
me outside of class to discuss this option. Each paper should be a minimum of four typed pages, double
spaced when completed.

Writing Project #1

First Paper – Assignment 1:

Choose a topic of interest from your supplementary text Forty Studies That Changed
Psychology
Write a description of the study that includes who conducted the study, where and when
the study was conducted, how the study was conducted, and a summary of the results.
Make every attempt to find career information on the researcher/author(s) who conducted
the study. This information may help you with your critique.
You should be able to complete this assignment in 2 typed pages.
NOTE: Handwritten work is not appropriate for college level assignments.

Due: September 11 (15 points)

Second Paper – Assignment 2:

Find a second article on the same topic/area of research as your first paper.
As before, write a description of the study that includes who conducted the study, where
and when the study was conducted, how the study was conducted, and a summary of the
results.
Again, make every attempt to find career information on the researcher/author(s) who
conducted the study.
Provide a “Reference” sheet with citations for both of your articles in APA format.
You should be able to complete this assignment in 2 typed pages with a separate
reference page.

Due: September 28 (20 points)

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Third Paper – Assignment 3:

Now integrate your first two papers into one paper with critique.
Begin the paper with an introduction to the topic and why you selected it.
Copy the text of the first two papers into this paper. Make any changes/edits that were
indicated on your previously graded assignments.
Provide a summary of the critiques of both studies as presented in the literature.
Write your own opinion/critique on the strengths/weaknesses of both studies and include
what you believe subsequent research on this topic should investigate.
Provide a cover sheet for this paper in APA format.
Make certain that the entire paper conforms to APA format. Consult your APA handout
for guidance.
Edit and update your “References” page to include any additional sources you used to
complete the third paper and any corrections made on the previously graded reference
pages.
Submit the third paper with the first two papers attached.

Due: October 14 (40 points)

Writing Project #2

Use the process in Writing Project #1 and the remarks made on your “Written
Assignment Grade Sheet” as guides.
Select a second topic of interest to you either from your supplementary text Forty Studies
That Changed Psychology or reading that piqued your interest in the Myers Psychology
text and a second research study on the same topic that you have located using the library
resources.
You may submit any portion of your written assignment to your instructor for guidance
during the writing process but you will only be required to submit one final paper for
grading that is a minimum of four pages in length and is written in APA format.
Note: You may also wish to consult with the Writing Center or with Vicki Allen,
Writing Tutor, in Learning Services to assist with this assignment. Be certain to take
these instructions to your appointment so they understand the assignment requirements.

Due: November 16 (75 points)

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