Textbook: Westen, D. (2001). Psychology: Brain, behavior, and culture. (3^rd Ed.). New York: Wiley.

A copy of the textbook will be placed on reserve at the Knight Library. There is an optional Study Guide for this book which is available in the University Bookstore. The publisher of your textbook maintains a web site for the text that may be helpful (for example, it contains practice tests) at http://wiley.com/college/psyc/westen240494/student/students.html

Course Website:

You are responsible for checking the website regularly (at least once a week) for information related to this course.

GENERAL INFORMATION

This course is part of a two-term sequence in introductory psychology. Psychology 201, Mind and Brain, emphasizes learning, perception, memory, and the role of neural structures in these psychological processes. This course, Mind and Society, overviews motivation, development, personality, abnormal and social psychology. After completing the course, you should have a general understanding of what these topics are, which applied problems are addressed by these subareas of psychology, and how psychologists conduct research in these areas. Psychology 201 is not a prerequisite for Psychology 202.

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please make arrangements to meet with me soon. Please request that the Counselor for Students with Disabilities send a letter verifying your disability. If English is not your native language, and you think you may need to use a dictionary for tests, please have your dictionary checked by me or one of the TAs prior to the test. Electronic dictionaries are not permitted.

LECTURES AND READINGS

Although an attempt has been made to coordinate the lectures with the readings, they frequently will be independent of each other. Some material will be covered in both reading and lecture, but much of the material in the reading will not be discussed in class and new information not covered in the reading will be presented during class time. The quizzes and exam will cover material from both lectures and readings. It is anticipated that you will need to spend a substantial amount of time outside of class (reading, studying, writing papers) to do well in this course.

QUIZZES

There will be a short quiz (16 multiple choice questions) each Thursday, except Sept. 27 (the second day of classes) and Nov. 29 (during the 10th week of class), when the quiz will be on Tuesday, Nov. 27. (There will be no quiz on Thanksgiving either!) There will be 8 quizzes in total and they will cover the reading and class lectures. Quizzes will cover the chapter(s) listed on the syllabus since the previous quiz, and material covered in class since the previous quiz.Thus, if a topic was covered in the text one week and in class another week, questions about that topic could appear on more than one quiz. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped. There are no make-up quizzes. Thus, if you miss one quiz, the 0 will be dropped. If you miss a second quiz, the 0 on the second quiz (and on any other subsequently missed quizzes) will be averaged into your grade.

FINAL

There will be a cumulative 64-item multiple choice final. The final has been scheduled by the university for Wednesday, Dec 5 at 8:00 am. This is the only time the final will be offered. If you do not take the final, you will fail the course, regardless of your previous average. (If you have a scheduling problem that satisfies the criteria for a "multiple examination" conflict, described on p. 39 of the Fall 2001 "Schedule of Classes," you must discuss the problem with the Office of Academic Advising).

PERSONAL REACTION PAPERS

Attached to the end of the quiz each week (except the last week of clas) will be a set of reaction questions to the material covered the previous week. You may use the last part of the quiz time to start on it (if you finish early), or you may complete it outside of class. Your lowest reaction paper score will be dropped. Reaction papers are due in the discussion section following the quiz. Late reaction papers will be docked one point for each day they are late.

DISCUSSION SECTION

You must register for a discussion section - it is a required part of this course. In the discussion sections, you will participate in a mixture of projects and discussions, as well as being instructed about the three papers that you will turn in for a grade. Late projects will be docked 5 points each day that they are late. For some discussion sections, there will be additional short reading or homework assignments; you will be told about these in discussion section. You will receive an attendance and participation grade for each discussion section class. You may miss one discussion section with no penalty.

If you miss one of the meetings for your section for any reason, contact your teaching assistant as soon as possible. You must attend the discussion section for which you are registered. Discussion sections will not meet the first week of class.

LATE PAPERS and TURNING PAPERS IN

Discussion section projects and reaction papers are late if they are not turned in at the beginning of discussion section. If you turn a paper in to the Psychology office, you must turn it in before 4 pm (if it is after your discussion section has met, it is still late) AND you must write your name and your teaching assistant's name on the paper. Papers without these identifying marks may not be graded.

RESEARCH REQUIREMENT

There are two options for completing the research requirement in this course:

1. You may participate in the Psychology Department's Human Subject Pool and get experience as a subject in actual psychology experiments. Students and faculty run many experiments on varied topics (e.g., psychological coping, attention, social interaction). An important part of the introduction to psychology is some understanding of how research is conducted and a partial perspective on this can be gained by participating in research as a subject. To participate in experiments, you use a sign up board on the first floor of Straub Hall and then show up at the time and place indicated. After participating in an experiment, you will be given a signed slip. When you have collected all your credit slips, turn them into your discussion group instructor, no later than 4 pm on Friday, Nov. 30. It is your responsibility to collect these slips and turn them in to your discussion group instructor for recording. Details about fulfilling the research requirement in this manner will be provided in class.

2. You may read a journal article (or articles) about a psycholgy experiment (or set of experiments) and write a 5-page paper about the research. Please see your discussion section leader no later than Nov. 21 if you wish to take this option, so that both of you can agree upon the article (or articles). The paper is due to your discussion section leader no later than 4 pm on Friday, Nov. 30.

Failure to complete the research requirement in one of these methods results in an incomplete for the course, if you would have otherwise had a passing score. If you are failing and do not complete the research requirement, you will still fail the course.

SUMMARY OF GRADED ACTIVITIES