General Psychology (Spring, 2008)
Dr. Travis Langley (870)230-5222 office langlet@hsu.edu
Teaching assistant: hsupsych@yahoo.com
OVERVIEW:
PSY1013 General Psychology. Introduction to the science of behavior, examining overt actions and covert mental processes. Discusses social, developmental, and biological influences. Topics may include personality, motivation, emotions, learning, memory, sensation, perception, mental illness, therapy, and social behavior.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK: Psychology in Modules, by David Myers. 7th or 8th edition.
TESTING SITE: Tests will be available through ANGEL.
For help logging in, check http://www.hsu.edu/elearning.aspx.
TEXTBOOK WEBSITE: http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/myersinmodules7e/ or http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/myers8einmodules/
STUDY GUIDES: http://fac.hsu.edu/langlet/general/study_guides_by_module.htm
ORIENTATION SESSION: Thursday, 1-24, either 12:30 or 1:30. Mandatory for anyone who has not completed every assignment due before January 24, but optional for everyone who has completed them all. If it's mandatory for you, failure to attend means you will get dropped from the course, no matter what reason you have for missing it. So do all your assignments to make it optional.
SCHEDULE
Each "module" in the textbook is a short mini-chapter. About three to four modules equal a full chapter.
UNIT 1 Test: Wednesday, February 6
|
TOPICS |
MODULES (7th ed.) |
MODULES (8th ed.) |
hosted by Phil Zimbardo |
|
Introduction |
1-2 |
1-3 |
01 Intro, 02 Research, 14 Mind Hidden & Divided |
|
Psychobiology |
3-5 |
4-6 |
03 Brain |
UNIT 2 Test: Monday, February 25
|
TOPICS |
MODULES (7th ed.) |
MODULES (8th ed.) |
Discovering Psychology VIDEOS |
|
Early Development |
6-8 |
7-9 |
05 Child |
|
Later Development |
9-10 |
10-11 |
17 Sex & Gender, 18 Maturing & Aging |
|
Language |
29 |
30 |
06 Language Development |
UNIT 3 Test: Friday, March 14
|
TOPICS |
MODULES (7th ed.) |
MODULES (8th ed.) |
Discovering Psychology VIDEOS |
|
Sensation |
11, 12, 14 |
12, 13, 15 |
07 Sensation & Perception |
|
Perception |
15, 16 |
16, 17 |
(ditto) |
|
Consciousness |
17, 19 |
18, 20 |
13 Mind Awake & Asleep |
UNIT 4 Test: Monday, April 7
|
TOPICS |
MODULES (7th ed.) |
MODULES (8th ed.) |
Discovering Psychology VIDEOS |
|
Learning |
20-22 |
21-23 |
08 Learning |
|
Memory |
23-27 |
24-28 |
09 Memory |
|
Intelligence |
30-31 |
31-32 |
16 Testing & Intelligence |
UNIT 5 Test: Wednesday, April 30
|
TOPICS |
MODULES (7th ed.) |
MODULES (8th ed.) |
Discovering Psychology VIDEOS |
|
Personality |
41-43 |
44-46 |
15 The Self |
|
Mental Illness |
46-49, 34 |
48-51, 35 |
21 Psychopathology |
|
Therapy |
50, 52 |
52, 54 |
22 Psychotherapy |
COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM.
|
TOPICS |
MODULES (7th ed.) |
MODULES (8th ed.) |
Discovering Psychology VIDEOS |
|
everything covered previously plus: |
see above plus: |
see above plus: |
|
|
Social Thinking |
28, 53 |
29, 55 |
11 Judgment & Decision Making |
|
Social Interaction |
54-55 |
56-58 |
19 Power of Situation, 20 Social Reality |
You will take the final in the same room with one of my non-online classes. Choose from the following times and dates to take the final. Unless you have other finals scheduled at every single one of these times, you must take it at one of these times. Schedule your other responsibilities accordingly.
Mon. Dec. 15, 1:00 p.m., McBrien room 311
Tue., Dec. 16, 1:00 p.m., McBrien room 311
Wed., Dec. 17, 3:00 p.m., McBrien room 311
PERSONAL COMMITMENT
While you enjoy great flexibility in taking this course online, you and you alone are responsible for your success. It requires motivation and devotion. You must make sure you follow instructions and do your work before the deadlines.
CONTACTING YOUR PROFESSOR
For an online course, the easiest way to contact me with questions or comments is by e-mail. Write me at langlet@hsu.edu any time and I will respond after I see the message. If you need to meet with me in person at any time, I will gladly meet with you. Just contact me by e-mail to set up a time. If you cannot e-mail me, you will need to leave a message on my voicemail at (870)230-5222. E-mail is best, though.
I will send messages to the entire class via e-mail at times. The e-mail system is set up to send messages to your HSU student e-mail address. If you prefer to use some other address, you must go into Reddie Connect and set up your mail options so that it will forward e-mail to you. I do not plan to use ANGEL's mail this semester because it is a new and insufficiently tested system.
If I can help you with anything else, always feel free to ask. Some of you have never taken online classes before, so do not be embarrassed when you occasionally goof here or there. That's part of the learning process, and I'll do everything I can to help you get things running smoothly.
INTERNET ASSIGNMENTS
We will not use chatrooms and you will not have to be online at any specific time of day to do the assignments. At this point, the technology for that is too awkward and not every student's computer will be able to handle it. Instead, each assignment will have a specified time period (such as a week) in which it should be completed. To do your assignments, check the message board on the Reddie Connect page for this class frequently. You will either do each assignment on that message board or learn from the message board where to go to do each task. You will have several assignments every week.
Missing assignments = absenteeism: For this online course, missing an assignment counts as an absence. Going out of town is no excuse because the Internet is everywhere these days. If you fail to complete numerous assignments before their deadlines (for example, three in a row), I will have to drop you from the class without other notification. Anyone who does not complete any assignments within the first full week of the course could be dropped for nonattendance.
COMPUTER TIPS
To make sure your computer can interact with our system, you may need (1) the most current version of Internet Explorer, (2) Windows updates, and (3) Java updates. We will use the ANGEL system for tests (and only tests because ANGEL has never proven any good for anything else).
Send all questions about ANGEL to
Kris at 230-5609 or
duncankr@hsu.edu. Contact her only about how the ANGEL system
works. Even though some things in ANGEL list her as a course instructor, she
has nothing whatsoever to do with the teaching of this class.
Call the HSU Computer Help Desk at 230-5678 or e-mail helpdesk@hsu.edu if you have non-ANGEL account difficulties.
EXAMS
Except for the final, tests will also be held online, which means they have to be open book, open mouth, open Internet, open world. People who neglect their studies because a test will be open book, however, tend to run out of time because they don't know the material well enough for the book to help.
The final exam will not be online, and it will not be open book. For that, you will meet in a regular classroom. Bring #2 pencils for the final. It will weigh the same as two tests, making it a quarter of your overall course grade. (The other quarter will be for assignments.)
Test questions range in difficulty to provide an accurate idea how much students know and understand the material. They provide a very accurate indication of how much each person does and does not know compared to everybody else in the class. I do not feel it is right to establish a curve based on the highest grade in the class, in which case only one score would determine everyone's grade. The scale on the 40‑point tests (although bonus credit makes them worth more than 40) is simply this:
A 35.1 ‑‑>
B 30.1 ‑ 35.0
C 25.1 ‑ 30.0
D 20.1 ‑ 25.0
F <‑‑ 20.0
This is the scale. People who convert their scores into percentages only confuse themselves and tend to think they're doing worse than they really are, so don't do it.
You can take each timed test at any time during the 24-hour period (midnight to midnight) on the date scheduled for that test. You must take it that day and you must complete it before its deadline. You should take it during business hours, so that if you have any account difficulty while the test is in progress, you can contact me immediately. If you wait until evening and something goes wrong, you will not get to make up the test. You're responsible for making sure you have uninterrupted time and access to a backup computer in case something goes wrong. Once you open the test, the timer starts. The timer will continue even if you log out or close your browser. Please do not let yourself run out of time.
Because you may take a test as early as you like during the 24-hour period, failure to take a test before the deadline will not be excused.
Writing Across the Curriculum: The last question on every test will be "What else did you learn from the current course material that was not otherwise covered by this test?" For that question, you will need to explain concepts in complete sentences, making certain that you are not simply copying the wording as it appears in the book. Convince me you understand. There can be other essay questions to assess your understanding of material.
COURSE GRADE
1/2 Tests 1-5 (4 best tests after dropping your lowest score)
1/4 Final examination
1/4 Assignments