INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY Psychology 1315 Section 008 Fall 2008 Tuesdays and Thursdays 2 00 pm 3 30 pm Life Science Building Room 122 122 LS Instructor Nicolette Lopez Ph D Office Life Sciences Building Room 308 E mail nlopez uta edu Office Hours Tuesday Thursday 3 30pm 4 30pm or by appointment Student Learning Outcomes Objective and Goals This course will cover a wide range of Psychological concepts and topics Successful completion of this course will require students to a be able to describe and integrate the basic theories of psychology b able to identify and apply the techniques and methods used by psychologists c be able to explain and the application of psychology and d be able to begin answering questions that they may have about themselves and the people around them Psychology is the scientific study of behavior cognition and emotion The basic unit of study in psychology is the human being As a species human beings are and have been fascinated with ourselves for millennia Psychology is the result of this fascination It developed as a method for answering questions that we have asked about ourselves since earliest times Questions such as Why do I do the things I do What is love How can I be sure you understand my experience Why do I remember certain things and not others How can I ever survive this experience Overall we still have more questions than we have answers The overarching purpose of this course is to share with you the empirically derived answers that we do have to help you apply this knowledge to solve problems and increase your understanding of everyday life and to formulate better more objective questions about human agency It is critical that students read the assigned material before coming to class Discussions and lectures will be based on the assigned readings Students are expected to budget enough time during the week to read the material from the text Required Text The Science of Psychology by Laura A King 1st edition McGraw Hill The study guide optional but recommended The text is also available as an eBook at http www coursesmart com or http textbooks vitalsource com Research Participation Requirement Students enrolled in Psychology 1315 must complete a research participation requirement Research participation is an experiential learning opportunity which enhances and deepens students understanding of and appreciation for the scientific study of Psychology Failure to meet this requirement will result in an Incomplete or failing grade This requirement may be satisfied by serving as a participant in psychological research or by summarizing and evaluating published studies in journals or in other sources More details will be provided in an orientation session and in an informational handout This handout can be viewed on the department of Psychology website https www uta edu psychology under Participant Pool Information Points are not added to the course grade for completion of this requirement Communications When communicating with faculty members and other professionals all students are expected to communicate in a professional and formal manner regardless of the communications media phone e mail face to face etc This includes addressing one s audience using their proper title using proper grammar and using proper spelling How one delivers a message is often as important as the message itself Thus I expect students to communicate professionally when sending e mail communications to me and to use grammar and spell check functions before the e mail is sent Communications deemed inappropriate will not receive a response Electronic Mail UT Arlington provides all students with an official UT Arlington electronic mail e mail address UT Arlington and this instructor will use students UT Arlington e mail accounts for official communication with students All communications regarding this course will be sent to students UT Arlington e mail accounts Assignments All assignments and projects should be written in a professional manner Students should use all of the resources available working knowledge real world experience Internet text etc to support arguments and explanations Specific instructions regarding the assignments and projects will be provided when they are assigned Evaluation Grading is based on a mastery model There is NO curve You may all get A s you may all fail or you may sort yourselves out across a normal distribution of grades It depends on the time and effort you put in to mastering the material Grades for the course will be computed as follows Exam 1 30 Points Exam 2 30 Points Exam 3 30 Points Final Exam 30 Points Participation attendance 10 points The course grades will be assigned as follows A 90 100 Points B 80 89 Points C 70 79 Points D 60 69 Points F 0 59 Points Exams There will be four 4 exams which will include three 3 regular exams and one 1 Comprehensive Final exam The exams will cover material from lectures assignments discussions videos presentations and the corresponding readings in the textbook All of the exams will consist of multiple choice items A student arriving late after the scheduled class start time on an exam date will not be allowed to take the exam after the first exam is returned Students are required to provide their own Scantron answer sheets and pencils for the exams The lowest exam score will be dropped If an exam is missed that will be the score that is dropped Any additional exams missed will result 0 points for the exam grade Students are not exempt from any exams There are a total of 90 points to be earned through exam performance If an exam is canceled due to inclement weather or other unexpected reasons it will take place in the subsequent scheduled class time and at the same place as originally scheduled An official UT Arlington picture I D is required to take exams Missed Exams Because the lowest exam score is dropped this instructor will only give makeup exams due to extraordinary circumstances and when official paper documentation is provided Makeup exams will ONLY be administered at 7 00 am on December 15 2008 Class Participation Class participation includes attendance contributing to class discussions in class exercises and or quizzes and outside of class assignments Class attendance and participation are mandatory Psychology is all about human interactions To learn psychology you have to interact and personalize it If you have difficulty speaking up in class see me and we will work it out You get a
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