Psych A100: General Psychology
Fall 2021 CRN 26779
OCC MW 9:35-11:00
Kenneth L. Tangen, Ph.D.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an introduction to the field of psychology. It is a scientific study of mental processes and behavior. The following psychology topics are explored: methodology, physiology, sensation, perception, states of consciousness, learning, memory, intelligence, thought, language, development, motivation, emotion, sexuality, health, stress, personality, abnormal disorders, and therapies.
Note: The course syllabus is as an educational contract between the instructor and students. At times, changes may be made to the syllabus as deemed necessary for errors or updates. Students will be notified in a timely manner of any syllabus changes via the course site Announcements.
Also: the course modules begin on Sunday morning and end Saturday night.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
There are three major things you’ll be able to do at the end of the course. First, you’ll be able to analyze the biopsychological aspects of behavior. This includes seeing things from a holistic biopsychosocial point of view. This may impact your general world view. Second, in addition to gaining a great deal of knowledge about the body, the brain and the nervous systems, you’ll be able to apply this knowledge to everyday situations. Third, you’ll be able to develop and analyze research programs that are both ethical and effective.
Course Outcomes
- An introduction to psychology, including the brain, learning, memory, personality and other topics.
Program Outcomes:
- Apply the major theories, principles, and concepts of psychology to everyday life.
Institutional Outcomes:
- Analyze and critically evaluate the psychological components of behavior.
- Apply general concepts and theories of psychology as these relate to everyday life.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the APA Code of Ethics in the treatment of human and nonhuman participants in the design, data collection, interpretation, and reporting of psychological research.
Course Policies
Course Drop Policy
During the first week of this course, you are required to participate or you may be dropped from the course. To participate during the first week, please complete the Syllabus Quiz, post your introduction and respond to at least one classmate. These activities are very important so you won’t be dropped from the course for non-participation during this first week. If you have any challenges with these tasks during the first week, please notify me as soon as possible so we can get you started!
Throughout the semester, I will review your participation and assignments. If you have not participated or logged in within the previous 10 days, you may be dropped from the course. It’s your responsibility to notify me if you have any challenges as soon as possible. It is also your responsibility to drop the course if you feel you can no longer participate and complete the course.
NOTE: Not taking the exams will be considered non-participation.
Please refer to your “Student Class Program/Web Schedule Bill” in MyCCC for specific course refund, drop and withdrawal/“W” deadlines. If you don’t drop the course before the end of the course, you will unfortunately earn a failing grade for the course. After the final withdrawal deadline, you will receive a grade regardless of whether you completed the work or not, potentially resulting in a failing grade on your permanent academic record.
Late Work Policy
In this online course you are required to submit the discussions and assignments by the due date. Assignments can completed earlier than the due date but not after. You can submit them any time during the week they are due.
NOTE: No points are awarded for late assignments.
Once a discussion closes, you won’t be able to post or respond so please set a reminder for those due dates. Check the calendar in Canvas for due dates and reminders. A handy tip is to set a calendar item or alarm on your phone to remind yourself of the due dates.
Copyright and Fair Use
Academic work, especially criticism and research, involve using the work of other writers, researchers, and artists. Students need to know they are allowed to use this material, so long as they supply attribution. In addition, if you use the work of any other writer, researcher, or artist, even an image from the internet, you need to provide attribution and ensure you are modeling fair use. Refer to the Creative Commons (Links to an external site.) page for further information.
COURSE DESIGN
Learning is an interactive process. It is the instructor’s responsibility is to provide an environment within which you can explore this corner of the universe of knowledge. Your responsibility is to use all of the resources available to you to achieve your educational goals. These resources include:
READINGS
Required Text: Myers, David & DeWall, Nathan W. Psychology (cur ed.). ISBN:9781319132101
CLASS SESSIONS
Class sessions will be on Zoom. They will build upon the information gained from the assigned readings and will incorporate a variety of presentation media. Before coming to class, do the assignments and review the notes on Canvas. Attendance and participation are required throughout the semester. Failure to attend may negatively impact your grade. If you decide to drop the class, it is your responsibility to officially withdraw. Failing to withdraw risks your receiving a failing grade in this class.
EXAMS
Four tests will be given. There will be no makeup, alternative form, or rescheduled tests. Test dates are listed in the course schedule. The lowest score of the first three tests will be dropped. This allows you the flexibility needed for illness, death in the family, unexpected emergencies or your desire to skip a test. You can elect to skip any test, including the last one. But skipping a test doesn’t eliminate the attendance requirement for class sessions. Standard OCC honesty policies apply.
TEAMS
Since social science is a team effort, it is highly recommended that you become an active participant of a student study group. In addition to providing opportunities to check answers and compare notes with others, teams will provide an opportunity to practice your cooperative skills. Your success will not be hindered by helping others study.
CONSULTATION
In addition to your independent study and our in-class work, I am available by email (put Honors Psych in the subject line and send to ken@kentangen.com. We can also go to www.calandly/tangen to set up a phone, Skype or Zoom appointment.
GRADING AND EVALUATION
Your performance on the exams is a key indicator of mastery level. The lowest of the 4 exams will be dropped. In general, I use 90% as A, 80% as B, etc. Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
Exams (3 of 4) 300
Assignments 100
Class Prep 25@2 points each 50
Discussions 10@2 points each 20
Progress Checks 10@3 points each 30
EXTRA CREDIT
Quizzes. There are several extra credit opportunities, including a syllabus quiz, a retrospective survey, a personal introduction, statistics knowledge quiz, APA format quiz and an exploration paper.
Write A Exlporation (Research) Paper
A modified research paper is required. Select any theorist, concept or idea covered in the course and explore it in more depth. The topic is up to you.
One approach is to select single topic, such as the brain, reinforcement or memory, and a thorough investigation of the topic. Another approach is to compare and contrast two approaches or theorists (Skinner vs. Bandura).
The paper should include seven parts: title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references. This is a format for a typical journal article in psychology journals. All of these should be written in 3rd person and follow APA format. In addition, add a writer’s note at the end.
The title page is a single page which gives the name of your paper and your name.
The abstract is a single page and should give a short (less than 150 words) overview of the paper. “Abstract” is a section title and is centered.
The introduction has the title of the paper (centered), followed by the body of the paper (left justified). It does not say “introduction” anywhere on the page. In research, the introduction is a literature review; a thorough summary of what others have done before. Research builds on the previous work of others. In our case, it is a summary of what you knew about the topic before you did your work. It’s a bit awkward to write this in 3rd person but do your best.
Methods is where you describe what you did. Did you spend an afternoon Googling the topic, did you use the PsychInfo database, or did you do something else? If your reader wanted to replicate your work, what would they do? “Methods” is a section title and centered.
Results is where you describe what you found. This is the main part of the paper. Tell what you found: “Forkish proposes that… but Chan concludes…” “Results” is a section title and centered.
“Discussion” is a section title and is centered. Discussion includes any conclusions you reached and future recommendations of where you would head next to find out more about the topic. What avenues would you have liked to follow further? Essentially, this is giving your reader a head start by telling them what they should do next.
“References” is a section title and is centered. Reference should be a list of 5-7 sources to used. This can include books, articles, and websites.
“Writer’s Note” is a section title and centered. Though not typical of a research report, add a writers note. This should be in first person, and should describe your personal interests or reactions to the paper’s content. Let me know how your thinking has changed.
schedule
Kenneth L. Tangen, Ph.D.
General Psych Fall 2021
Week Date Monday Wednesday
1 8/30 History Research Methods
2 9/6 HOLIDAY Biological Psych
3 9/13 Perception Consciousness
4 9/20 Lifespan Development Death
5 9/27 Test Anxiety TEST 1
6 10/4 Classical Conditioning Aversion
7 10/11 Operant Conditioning Change
8 10/18 Memory Systems Mnemonics
9 10/25 Cognition Problem Solving
10 11/1 Drugs TEST 2
11 11/8 Emotion Motivation
12 11/15 Social Psych Decision Making
13 11/22 Personality Habits
14 11/29 Disorders Treatments
15 12/6 Positive Psych TEST 3
16 12/13 Synthesis TEST 4
