Dr. Loren Wingblade  232 McDivitt, Ext. 8585

Psy 140 is really your first course in the science of psychology. It is a one semester course that should prepare you for every other higher course that you will take in psychology. Each chapter of your book Themes & Variations by Wayne Weiten is a separate subdiscipline within the field of psychology. As with any science, psychology has terms and specialized "catch" phrases which you need to learn to be conversant within the field.

There will be between four-seven miniexams (quizzes) accounting for 60% of the students final grade. Twenty percent will be assigned to the student based on class attendance, especially in the discussion sections, and 20% based on the discussion quizzes. Each exam will cover both the chapters to be read and the lecture material about equally (however, I would study your lecture notes first for an exam and then reread your chapter or the underlinings of the text). During lecture I plan to cover much more material than is presented in your book. So, your text is the least amount of information you need to know . Each test will consist of approximately 10-20 multiple-choice questions (although some tests may be longer). Also, student attendance is expected at each class (except, of course, for health reasons or other emergencies).

Now for the serious part of the syllabus--grades. After the first test, I will set the curve and once set (for that particular format of test) will be the curve for the rest of the course. If we change the format of the tests, such as, adding more questions--I will set a new curve for that format. For example, suppose we decide that 12/20 questions answered correctly on the exam constitutes the grade of 3.0. Then this is the number correct needed for that grade on the other exams as well (of the same format). I will also count your two lab quizzes as an extra exam. I will then "overlook" (I prefer this term to the word "drop," because I really "look" at all the grades to see how you are doing in the course) the lowest score of these exams. However, each person must take each of the miniexams no matter how long or short they are. Our course outline below is rather ambitious, so I will try to cover all the topics but covering any one of the areas adequately is more important than completing the book or finishing the syllabus (and doing a bad job on presenting some topics). I urge student’s not to miss or postpone an exam (people who do so usually score lower on the test because the material is not fresh in your memory). I will give make-ups only within ten calendar days of the classroom examination if there are extreme extenuating circumstances.

Week Topic Chapter Exam

1 History of Psychology 1

2 History of Psychology 1 Quiz 1

3 Experimental Design & Statistics 2 & appendix B Quiz 2

4 Brain & Behavior 3

5 Brain & Behavior (continued) 3

6 "Consciousness," & Learned Motives 5 Midterm

7 Learning 6

8 Learning (continued) 6

9 Memory (and some thinking) 7 & pg. 233-244 Quiz 3

10 Emotions 10 (scan this chapt.)

11 Personality & Assessment 12

12 Personality & Assessment (continued) 12

13 Major Disorders 13 & 14

14 Major Disorder + Health & Treatment 14 & 15

15 Health & Treatment + some Social Psych 15 & 16 (scan)

16 Miscellaneous Final Exam--Personality & Major Disorders + Rose Garden

Additional Concerns

I.  Goals for the course:

A. Comprehend, analyze, apply and evaluate the use of relevant psychological terminology relating to psychological methodology, learning theory, physiological psychology and neuroscience, human development, personality and psychopathology. ADO 2

B. Critically evaluate the results of psychological research as evidenced by identification of relevant causal variables and alternative extraneous variables. ADO 4

C. Distinguish between popular misconceptions regarding human behaviors and the current empirical data concerning human behavior. ADO 10

D. Understand the historical evolution of psychology and of the relationship between psychology and the other social sciences, physical sciences, and the other non-scientific disciplines. ADO 6

E. Differentiate between the major theoretical orientations in psychology by identifying data/arguments representative of the: behavioral, cognitive, biological/ethnological/evolutionary, cross cultural, and psychodynamic perspectives. ADO 10

II. At some point near the end of the term you might get a series of assessment tests--showing how much (or how little) you have learned in this course. The board of trustees of JCC often requires such information.

III. Two pet peeves. (1) People who talk all the time--as soon as they sit down to the time that they leave and (2) students who pick and choose what they wish to learn by attending class selectively. DON’T. Sooner or later (most likely sooner) you will be ejected from the class by instructor initiated drop. You will feel bad about this if it happens, but we must get through the material in the course. If you are disturbing someone else from learning, you must go. Be warned!