General Psychology Syllabus

MWF 9:30-10:20 a.m.—Eisenhower Hall Room 015
Spring 1999 Course Syllabus

Course/Instructor Evaluations

Instructor:	Patricia Marsh
Email:
Web:	http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~pmarsh
Mailbox:	Bluemont Hall 492
Office:	Bluemont Hall 5109
Phone (main office):	532-6850 (after 5 p.m. call 532-6851)
Course listserve:	psych110b@ksu.edu
Text web site:	http://www.prenhall.com/kassin

Office Hours for Spring 1998

Monday & Wednesday	10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday & Thursday	10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
	or by appointment

Course Description

General Psychology is an introduction to the field that emphasizes the basic principles of behavior and factors that influence it. Emphasis is placed on the relationship of the principles to the problems of everyday life.

Course Material Packet (Required)

Text	Kassin, S. (1998). Psychology (2^nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Study Guide	Regan, P. (1998). Study Guide for Psychology (2^nd edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Internet Guide	Stull, A. (1998). Psychology on the Internet 1997-1998: A student’s guide. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Supplemental Course Material (Optional)

CD-ROM

1998. Psychology (Interactive ed.). Zane Publishing & Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Course Objectives

To develop a better understanding of the field of Psychology
To apply psychological principles in meeting our own goals in life
To understand the common terminology used by psychologists
To convey thoughts and ideas about psychological principles through writing.

Attendance Policy

Attendance allows you the opportunity to maximize your learning potential, and is therefore expected. Class attendance is a serious and vital responsibility for all students. Missing class puts you at a significant disadvantage. Obtaining lecture notes for missed classes is your responsibility. If you know in advance that you will be missing class on major due dates or for long periods of time, please notify me immediately and make sure that any missed work is made up in advance.

Course Requirements

Score	Points	Assignments	Description
____	10 (x 6)	Quizzes	During the semester there will be seven (7) in-class quizzes. The top six quiz scores will be counted toward the final grade (e.g., a maximum of 60 points can be earned), therefore there will be no makeup quizzes. Quizzes will be graded and handed back before an exam.
____	5 (x100)	Exams	There are four exams and a final in this course; each is worth 100 points. The final is NOT comprehensive. The exams (covering 3-4 chapters) are a mixture of different question formats – multiple choice, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and matching. If you have to miss an exam, then let me know before the exam by phone or email. If I do not hear from you before the exam, you receive a 0. If makeup exams are granted then you must take the makeup (consisting of different questions) within 5 business days. Tests will be passed back as soon as they are graded but I reserve the right to keep the completed exams.
____	3 (x20)	Think Papers	The purposes for this assignment are twofold: (1) to improve your writing skills and (2) to apply information learned in the course to events in your daily life. The assignments (1-2 pages in length) will become progressively more challenging and the grading more stringent. Finer details of the papers will be discussed in class.
REQUIRED		Experiment	All General Psychology students are required to meet the departmental (or Reaction requirement of participating in three psychological experiments or Papers) writing three reaction papers. For each "no show" (i.e., I receive a blue card), 3 points will be ducted from the final course grade. You can make-up the no show by completing a reaction paper to compensate for the missed experiment and then another experiment to earn your experiment credit.) Failure to complete this requirement will result in an incomplete for the course. Please see the departmental regulations for more details of this requirement.
620		Total Points

Course grades will be assigned by the number of possible points accumulated in the class.

A = 558 – 620

B = 496 – 557

C = 434 – 495

D = 372 – 433

F = < 372

Because your grade is based on the work you do and not on the performance of your classmates, there is no reason that everyone cannot get an "A" in the course. In addition, because your grade will reflect your mastery of the material rather than your relative position in the class, curving of test grades (and final grades) will not be a regular occurrence. However, because I recognize that a poorly worded test question may pop up here or there, I reserve the right to shift the class’ grades on individual exams upward to a reasonable level.

Extra Credit

Extra credit may be earned in a few different ways. These "ways" include, but are not limited to, attendance checks on days with special activities (e.g., guest speakers, films, etc.) or extra/surprise homework assignments.

Late Policy

Missed assignments are the responsibility of the individual student. Written work is due at the beginning of class; late papers are deducted 3 points every subsequent 24-hour period. Take home message: turn things in on time. Turning things in late hurts, but it is better than not at all.

Course Outline

Below are listed chapters/readings, assignments, test dates, quiz dates, and due dates for the writing assignments. I reserve the freedom to keep this schedule flexible, and to assign daily homework as is necessary. Reading assignments are expected to be completed by the due date. Students who do well tend to keep up in the reading. Discussion of reading material is highly encouraged. Feel free to work ahead.

Day	Date	Chapter	Topic	Notes
F	1/15		Introductions; review of syllabus
M	1/18		No class – University holiday	Martin Luther King Jr. Day
W	1/20	1	Introducing Psychology & Its Methods	Think Paper 1 assigned
F	1/22	1	Introducing Psychology & Its Methods
M	1/25	2	Behavioral Neuroscience	QUIZ 1 (Ch. 2)
W	1/27	2	Behavioral Neuroscience
F	1/29	3	Sensation and Perception
M	2/1	3	Sensation and Perception	Due: Paper #1
W	2/3		Sensation and Perception
F	2/5	1 – 3	EXAM 1
M	2/8	4	Consciousness
W	2/10	4 & 5	Consciousness & Learning	QUIZ 2 (Ch. 5)
F	2/12	5	Learning
M	2/15	5	Learning
W	2/17	6	Memory	QUIZ 3 (Ch. 6)
	2/18		Last day to drop course w/o a W being recorded
F	2/19	6	Memory	Think Paper 2 assigned
M	2/22	8	Motivation
W	2/24		Motivation
F	2/26	4, 5, 6, & 8	EXAM 2
M	3/1	9	Emotion
W	3/3	9	Emotion
F	3/5	10	Infancy & Childhood	QUIZ 4 (Ch. 10)
M	3/8	10 & 11	Infancy & Childhood, Adolescence …
W	3/10	11	Adolescence & Adulthood	Due: Paper #2
F	3/12	12	Intelligence	QUIZ 5 (Ch. 12)
M	3/15	12	Intelligence
W	3/17	9 – 12	EXAM 3
F	3/19		Film and/or class activity; last day to drop a course
M	3/22-3/26		No class - SPRING BREAK
M	3/29	13	Social influences
W	3/31	13	Social influences
F	4/2	14	Social and Cultural Groups	QUIZ 6 (Ch. 14)
M	4/5	14	Social and Cultural Groups
W	4/7	14 & 15	Social and Cultural Groups, Personality
F	4/9	15	Personality
M	4/12	15	Personality
W	4/14	13 – 15	EXAM 4
F	4/16	16	Psychological Disorders	Think Paper 3 assigned
M	4/19	16	Psychological Disorders
W	4/21	16 & 17	Psychological Disorders & Treatment	QUIZ 7 (Ch. 17)
F	4/23	17	Treatment
M	4/26	17	Treatment
W	4/28		Class Activity - Small group assignment
F	4/30		Class Activity - Small group assignment
M	5/3	18	Health & Well-Being
W	5/5	18	Health & Well-Being
F	5/7	18	Health & Well-Being	Due: Paper #3
W	5/12	16 – 18	FINAL EXAM

University and Instructor Policies

Take-home assignments are to be typed or word-processed, double-spaced, with 1" for all margins, and in 12 point font. Proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling are expected on all assignments.
Please take advantage of office hours and appointments. They are set aside so that you can clarify any questions or concerns you have about the class or assist you if you are having difficulty with the class or a particular assignment. My goal in this course is for you to excel and learn something useful, but I cannot do this without some effort on your part.
I will not drop students from the class. It is the student’s responsibility to drop from the course if s/he chooses. Simply not attending class or not taking tests is not sufficient. Any student on the roster at the end of the semester will receive a grade regardless of attendance or test performance.
The class schedule listed here is tentative, and while I do not plan too many changes, I reserve the right to adjust it as necessary. Any changes in quiz dates and/or material covered on a particular quiz will be announced at least one week in advance. Thus, if you miss a lecture, you should contact someone in the class to find out if I have made any announcements.
Anyone caught cheating will automatically receive a zero on the assignment and fall under the jurisdiction of KSU’s Statement on Academic Integrity, listed below. Simply, don’t do it.

Statement on Academic Integrity (as required by KSU policy)

"Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and may be punished by failure on the exam, paper, or project; failure in the course; and/or expulsion from the university. For more information, refer to the ‘Academic Dishonesty’ policy in Inside KSU."

Accommodation for Disability

If you have a condition (e.g., physical or learning disability) that will require special academic accommodations, please see me within the first two weeks of classes.

Copyright Ó 1999 Patricia Marsh as to this syllabus and all lectures. Students are prohibited from selling (or being paid for taking) notes during this course to or by any person or commercial firm without the express written permission of the instructor teaching this course.