COURSE SYLLABUS
FALL 2010
Psychology 2- Reedley College
Dinuba Vocational Center, Room 104, 8:00 AM to 9:15 AM
Course Section: PSY-2-71543
Instructor: Dr. Ann Reitan
E-mail addresses: 
annreitan@sbcglobal.net
ann.reitan@fresnocitycollege.edu
Office hours: by appointment only

Course Description:  The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.  Topics include history, methodology, biopsychology, lifespan development, sensation and perception,   consciousness and altered states, learning and memory, thought and language, intelligence, motivation and emotion, personality, psychopathology and therapy, stress and health, and social and cultural influences.

Course Objectives: Students should be able to demonstrate the following:

•		 An understanding of the breadth or scope of the field of psychology
•	       An understanding of the basics of psychological study and techniques	
•	       Knowledge of the various theories, such as cognitive and psychodynamic theories	                 
•	       Understanding of terms and concepts within the domain of psychology

Required Text: Wade and Tavris, Invitation to Psychology, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2008.  Note that the following course schedule for the Fall Semester of 2010 is subject to revision as necessary. 

Week One
August 16:   	Introduction to the Course, Syllabus
	 18:    	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 1

Week Two
	23: 	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 2
	25:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 2

Week Three
	30	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 3
Sept	01:	Topic to be announced

Week Four 
	06: 	Labor Day Holiday
	08:	Read/ Lecture Chapter 4

Week Five
	13:  	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 4
	15:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 5
Week Six
	20:	Review for EXAM 1*
	22:	EXAM 1 (Chapters 1-5)

Week Seven
	27:	Review of EXAM 1 results
	29:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 6

Week Eight
Oct.	04:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 7
	06:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 7
	
Week Nine
	11:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 8
	13:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 9

Week Ten
	18:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 9
	20:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 10

Week Eleven
	25:	Review for EXAM 2*
	27:	EXAM 2 (Chapters 6-10)

Week Twelve
Nov	01:	Review of EXAM 2 results
	03:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 11

Week Thirteen
	08:	Read/ Lecture; Chapter 12
	10:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 12

Week Fourteen
	15:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 13
	17:	Read/ Lecture: Chapter 14

Week Fifteen:
	22:	Group Presentations
	24:	Group Presentations

Week Sixteen:
	29:	Group Presentations
Dec.	01:	Group Presentations

Week Seventeen:
	06:	Review for EXAM 3*
	08:	Topic to be announced

Week Eighteen:
Dec.	13:	Final EXAM 3 (Chapters 11-14)
	
Note that Review Sessions (indicated by a “*”) are particularly important to attend.

Attendance and Participation: Please note that attendance and participation are course requirements.  Regular and appropriate classroom participation can affect your grade in a positive way.  Failure to attend class regularly will result in poor performance, in terms of both the learning and the examination processes.  Note that two points will be deducted from your overall score in the event that you are absent from the class without a doctor’s note.  Consistent failure to attend class, (i.e., missing four or more hours of class prior to the drop date), may result in your being dropped from the course or your receipt of a failing grade.  Moreover, class attendance may be derived from students’ written answers to daily questions and/or pop quizzes, pertinent to daily class lecture material.  Excessive tardiness may also affect your grade.  The instructor reserves the right to take roll anytime to determine if you are in attendance during the class session. Note that tardiness to class will result in a one point deduction in your overall grade for each incident of tardiness on your behalf.  If a student arrives late to class, after roll has already been taken, the student must notify the instructor of his or her attendance at the end of the of the class session.  If you intend to miss a class, please attempt to notify the instructor in advance. Note that cell phone usage is not allowed during the class, unless such usage is due to an emergency. Laptop computers and recording devices are permitted in classroom at the discretion of the instructor, and only in the event that they are being used to facilitate student learning. Note also that individuals not enrolled in the class may not attend the class.  Auditing of courses is not allowed.

Dates to Remember-- Please note the following important dates:

	Labor Day Holiday: 	11/11/10

	Exam #1: 		09/22/10		
	Exam #2: 		10/27/10
	Exam #3: 		12/13/10
	(Note: Final EXAM 3 is not cumulative)

	Group Project 
	Presentations:	11/22/10, 1/24/10, 11/29/10, 12/01/10

(Note that presentation dates, as well as lecture dates on specific chapters, are subject to change as necessary.)

Note the following dates:

Fee refund deadline for full-term classes: 08/27/10
Last day to add or drop (w/o “W”) full-term class in-person: 09/03/10
Last day for students to add full-term classes via TouchTone: 09/06/10
Last day for students to drop full-term classes via TouchTone & WebAdvisor w/o receiving a “W”
Last day to apply for Pass/No Pass for full-term classes: 09/17/10
Last day for students for drop full-term classes: 10/15/10
Last day for faculty to drop students from full-term classes via WebAdvisor: 10/15/10
Note that the individual student should make an attempt to drop the class if he or she no longer wants to be enrolled in the class. 
Reading Assignments: All required readings should be completed before the corresponding lecture so that students are prepared to participate in class discussions.  It should be emphasized that students’ grades will be affected positively if students participate meaningfully in class discussions.

Note: It is essential that all students enrolled in this course either purchase, (new or used), borrow, or have access to the required text.  The correct edition of the text is the 4th Edition of Invitation to Psychology, by Wade and Tavris.  The lab edition of this text should be noted to be essentially the same as the other edition.

Exams: There will be three exams, worth 100 points each.  The material covered in the exams will be drawn from your textbook and class lectures.  Exam questions will be multiple choice and short-answer in format. Each exam consists of thirty-five multiple choice questions and two essay questions.  The multiple choice component represents seventy percent of the grade on each exam, and the essay component represents thirty percent of the grade on each exam.  Each student is required to bring both a new 8.5 inch by 7 inch blue book and a SCANTRON Form No. 882-E to each of the three exams.

Make-up exams: If you are planning to miss an exam, you have one week to complete a make-up essay exam. As this represents a reasonable amount of time to take a make-up exam, and there will be no exceptions to this rule.  Make-up exams will be essay or short answer in format.  Note that this does not apply to the final Exam 3.  You must attend class on the date of the final Exam 3.  Moreover, you must obtain approval from the instructor to take a make-up exam.  Note: Any student who does no notify the instructor prior to missing an exam may not be eligible to take a make-up exam, and all students who miss an exam should notify the instructor as soon as possible to schedule a make-up exam.

Pop Quizzes: Periodically, there will be a quizzes based on the material covered during specific weeks of the class.  You will not be notified in advance of the date that each quiz will take place, and you will be required to attend class in order to take each quiz and receive credit for each quiz.  There will be an opportunity to earn a total of 100 points for all quizzes combined.  The points for each quiz will be determined as the class proceeds, depending on the availability of class time during which the quizzes can take place.

Group Project:  Each student will have to opportunity to participate in a group project that will allow each student within a group to earn a maximum of 50 points for their group participation and 50 points for their individual work in terms of this group project, rendering a total score of 100 possible points for each student’s work in terms of his/her overall project.  Each student should be aware that participation in this group project can substantially influence his or her final grade in a positive way.  Each student who engages in the group project may utilize time in-class and outside of class to complete this project. Groups will consist of approximately five individual students.  After these groups have been formed, each group will be assigned a psychological perspective to research in depth.  Examples of such perspectives include the Psychodynamic and the Behavioral perspectives.

Note that the assigned perspective will provide a basis for the assignment. A description of the subject matter to be investigated by means of this assignment will be distributed to the class early in the semester.  Groups of students will investigate the theoretical and practical aspects of their assigned perspectives, and they will be required to create a demonstration for the class regarding their perspective.  Students within the groups should be aware that the demonstration of their perspective should educate other students about their perspective.  Because learning proceeds from auditory, visual and experiential demonstrations of knowledge, groups of students will be required to use all three of these components within their demonstrations. 

Please note the following:

•		“Social loafing” is a topic that students will learn about in this class.  Social loafing of 	students in terms of this group project will not be tolerated!

Participation: The instructor will award points for participation on an irregular basis throughout the semester by assigning in-class (individual or group) work that may be collected on the day it is assigned. Assignments may be distributed at the beginning, the middle or the end of class.  Regarding these assignments, you may be allotted a specific amount of time for completion.  This means that students who are absent or tardy may not receive all or any of the points for missed in-class participation.  Please be aware that there may be no opportunities to make-up missed assignments required by in-class participation if you are not in attendance at class on the day(s) that such assignments are distributed or assigned. All participation points accrued by the individual student will represent the amount of extra credit points received.  There is a total of 50 points that a student may receive in terms of extra credit, meaning that, if you earn more than 50 points, you will still receive a maximum of 50 extra credit points.

Grading: Grading is based upon the following:  

•			The three exams, each of which is worth 100 points.

•			The in-class weekly quizzes, worth a possible overall score of 100 points.

•			The group project, worth up to 100 points per group member.

•			Extra credit assignments are worth up to 50 points in total. 

You may earn as many as 500 points in totality.  However, the extra credit points may allow you to earn more that the amount of points that will allow you to achieve a high score.  Thus, it is possible to earn more points than is required for an A grade.  Because this is rarely the case, you are strongly encouraged to complete all class work.

Letter grades are assigned as follows:

A 	(89.9%) =				360--400 points
B 	(79.9%) = 				320--359 points
C 	(69.9%) = 				280--319 points
D 	(59.9%) = 				240-- 279 points
F   <(less than 59.9 %)=  	<240 points

Cheating and Plagiarism: You are expected to be honest in terms of presentation of your academic work.  Any incidents of cheating or plagiarism may result in various sanctions and penalties, ranging from obtainment of a failing grade on a particular assignment to obtainment of a failing grade for the entire course. The determination of the sanction or penalty in question is at the discretion of the instructor, depending on the severity and the frequency of such incidents.  
Note that plagiarism is a type of cheating wherein there is misrepresentation of someone else’s work as your own.  Copying information verbatim (word-for-word) from another source in a research assignment is considered to be plagiarism.  When you complete an assignment, you should either paraphrase or quote materials that are utilized and give appropriate credit to the true author within the body of your work and in the Reference Section.  Plagiarism is easily avoided; do not jeopardize your grade by means of cheating and plagiarism.

If you are having trouble in the class:  If at any time you find that you are having trouble succeeding in this course---whether you are enduring a change in life circumstances or because you do not understand the material---please see the instructor.  There are a variety of services available to assist Reedley College students.

Suggestions for success: Psychology is a field of study that can be both interesting and fun.  If you follow these suggestions, you will be up-to-date in terms of progress in the class, you will have better success in terms of exams, and you will find the class to be much more enjoyable.

•	Always read the assigned chapter(s) prior to the lecture.

•	Schedule your study time.  Students who succeed in college learn to structure their time, 		and they recognize that study time is as important as class time.  Be sure to regularly 		schedule time for studying.  A good rule of thumb is to study two hours for each hour of 		lecture. 

•	Know when you need assistance and seek it out.  All of us have strengths and 	weaknesses.  It is wise to get help when you are having difficulties.  Be sure to see your 	counselor or the instructor if you are struggling in this class.

If you have a verified need for an accommodation or materials in alternate media, (i.e. Braille,
large print, electronic tests, etc) per the Americans With Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act, please contact your instructor as soon as possible in the semester.