PSYC 100, Introduction to Psychology

University of Maryland-Mannheim Campus

1200-1315 MW

Term I, 2002-2003

Brian K. Price, Ph.D.

Office Telephone: ext. 117 Home Telephone: 33-3-88-36-91-16 (France)

Office: 117 McGraw Office Hours: 11-12 p.m. Mondays

Email: bprice@faculty.ed.umuc.edu Class Website: www.angelfire.com/md2/psyc/index.html

Notes for First Exam Unit

Updated Notes for Second Unit

Study Guide Questions for Midterm

Notes for Third Exam Unit

Study Guide Questions for Final

Course Description: (from UMUC Undergraduate catalogue) A survey of the basic principles, research concepts, and problems in psychological science. The biological, cognitive, and social perspectives of human thought and behavior are addressed. Topics include neuroscience, sensation and perception, learning and conditioning,, memory, motivation, language and intelligence, personality and social behavior, and psychopathology and therapy. Applications of psychology are also presented. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: BEHS 101 or PSYC 100.

Text: Myers, D. (2000). Exploring psychology (6^th ed.). New York: Worth Publishing.

Student Evaluation: Students’ performance will be graded based upon a percentage of total possible points obtained during the course. In general, it will be necessary to obtain a minimum of 90% of the course points to achieve an A, at least 80% of the points for a B, at least 70% of total possible points for a C, at least 60% for a D, and anything below 60% is a F.

Student Assignments: The student tasks for this course include:

1. Exams (2 total; 80% of total points). There will be two exams that will each cover roughly one-half of the course and lecture materials, respectively. The exams will contain multiple-choice items and will address equally the information presented in lectures and in the assigned readings. Dates of exams will be announced in class.

2. Quizzes and In-class Exercises (5 total; 5% of total points). There will be five unannounced quizzes and/or in-class exercises to facilitate the learning of the information provided by the text and lectures.

3. Journal Article Reviews. (2 total; 10% of total points). Students will select two articles to review from journals available in the UMUC online proprietary in class. The topics should address an area of psychology that may be of some interest to the student. The reviews must include the title article, an overview of its content, and your personal reaction. The papers must be typed with one-inch margins and a printed copy of the article must be attached.

4. Reaction Papers (1 total; 5% of total points). A reaction paper covering any subject in psychology addressed in class will be assigned during the Wednesday of the final exam week. This is a two-page paper of approximately 500-1000 words. The paper is essentially an essay in format and is designed for the student to personalize the information he or she read or discussed in class.

Other Class Policies and Information. This course will comply with the UMUC-ED policy guidelines regarding attendance, academic honesty, excused absences, make-up exams and assignments, incompletes and withdrawals. Please refer to the University of Maryland Student Handbook for clarification of these policies.

1. Attendance. Attendance is expected; in general, a grade of F will result if a student attends fewer than three-fourths (75%) of the class sessions without proper justification with appropriate documentation.

In the event of an illness, accident, or an emergency, students should directly contact the instructor, preferably before the class takes place. Contact can be made by phone, e-mail or by leaving a note for the instructor in the Mailroom. Of note, quizzes will typically be administered at the beginning of the class period; late students may not take the quiz, even though the student may not be considered absent. The instructor does reserve the prerogative of granting students make-up work for excused absences

2. Fifteen-Minute Late Policy: Should the instructor be delayed at the beginning of a class, students are expected to remain in the classroom for at least 15 minutes unless instructed differently by the administration. This policy does not apply to final examinations, during which time students must remain in the classroom until the instructor arrives or until instructions are given by the administration.

3. Classroom Etiquette. Food, drink and cell phones are not permitted in the classroom. When talking, and when entering the classroom, please demonstrate respect of others by avoiding unnecessary noise or loud personal conversations.

4. Friday Field Trip. September 6. Rothenburg

Tentative Course Outline

Week	Date	Topics	Text Chapters or Other Readings
1	19-Aug	Class orientation	Syllabus
1	21-Aug	Using the UMUC web proprietary databases to research papers	Handout
2	26-Aug	Defining Psychology	Chapter One
2	28-Aug	The Scientific Method	Appendix A
3	2-Sep	Biological Basis of Behavior	Chapter Two
3	4-Sep	Biological Basis of Behavior, cont.
4	9-Sep	Biological Basis of Behavior, cont.
4	11-Sep	Consciousness	Chapter Five
5	16-Sep	Consciousness, cont.
5	18-Sep	Sensation	Chapter Six
6	23-Sep	Sensation, cont.; Perception	Chapter Seven
6	25-Sep	Perception, cont.
7	30-Sep	Learning	Chapter Eight
7	2-Oct	Learning, cont.; Memory	Chapter Nine
8	7-Oct	Memory; Midterm review
8	9-Oct	Midterm Exam; First Article Review due
		Midterm Break 11-15 Oct
9	16-Oct	Midterm Exam results; Cognition	Chapter Ten
9	21-Oct	Cognition, cont.; Intelligence	Chapter Eleven
10	23-Oct	Motivation	Chapter Twelve
10	28-Oct	Motivation, cont.; Emotion	Chapter Thirteen
11	30-Oct	Emotion, cont.
11	4-Nov	Developmental Basis of Behavior	Chapter Three
12	6-Nov	Developmental Basis of Behavior, cont.	Chapter Four
12	11-Nov	Personality	Chapter Fourteen
13	13-Nov	Personality
13	20-Nov	Abnormal Psychology	Chapter Fifteen
14	25-Nov	Abnormal Psychology
		Thanksgiving Break 27-Nov to 1-Dec
15	2-Dec	Social Psychology	Chapter Seventeen
15	4-Dec	Social Psychology
16	9-Dec	Final Exam; Second Article Review due
16	11-Dec	In Class Reaction Essay