Faculty

PSYC-2301 Introduction to Psychology

Ziv Shafir

Credit Fall 2024

Section(s)

PSYC-2301-045 (92047)
LEC MW 10:30am - 11:50am HYS HYS1 01211.00

Course Requirements

Exam Locations and Procedures

Exams are taken in class on the assigned date. No textbook or notes will be allowed during the exams. There are five mandatory exams for this course. Each exam’s total is 100 points. Exams will cover material from the lectures, textbook, “Key Terms” and “Chapter Notes” sections (the latter three found in Blackboard). The exams will consist of 50 multiple choice questions (each question will be worth 2 points). The total points that can be earned on the exams, thus, are 500 points. No makeup exams will be given unless you email me the day before the exam. (Note, also, that there are no retakes on the exams.)

Extra Credit Assignments

For each chapter, you will have the opportunity to complete extra credit assignments (found in the “Course Content” tab in each unit); these assignments involve reading articles related to the chapter; there is one extra credit assignment for each chapter. (Each extra credit assignment is worth one point.) If your answers on the extra credit assignment are detailed and well-thought out and show mastery of the chapter topic, you will get one point for that assignment. The total points that can be earned on the extra credit assignments are 15 points, one point for each chapter. (Each extra credit assignment will have step-by-step instructions in the document itself.)

The extra credit assignments need to be completed on or before the due date for the exam covering the chapters in order for you to receive the extra credit points. Do not skimp on your answers – a one or two sentence answer is not detailed enough. Be sure to explain your answers in a comprehensive manner.

Final Grade Calculation

Your grade in this class is based on the total number of points you earn on the exams (and extra credit assignments, if you complete them) throughout the term. (Do not calculate an average to determine your letter grade.) The grade scale for this class is as follows:

*Grade*	*Total Points* *Unit 1*	*Total Points* *Units 1 - 2*	*Total Points* *Units 1 - 3*	*Total Points* *Units 1 - 4*	*Total Points* *Units 1 - 5*
A	90 or above	180 or above	270 or above	360 or above	450 or above
B	80 - 89	160 - 179	240 - 269	320 - 359	400 - 449
C	70 - 79	140 - 159	210 - 239	280 - 319	350 - 399
D	60 - 69	120 - 139	180 - 209	240 - 279	300 - 349
F	Below 60	Below 120	Below 180	Below 240	Below 300

The table above will help you note where you are after we complete each unit. For example, if you have earned a grade of 90 on the exam for Unit 1 and a 92 on the exam for Unit 2, you have earned 182 total points (as of that point). Looking at the column labeled "Total Points Units 1 - 2," you will see that you are earning (as of that point), a "B" in the class. The column in yellow indicates the points needed to earn your final grade: to earn an "A" in the class, you need to accumulate 450 points or above; to earn a "B" in the class, you need to accumulate between 400 and 449 points; to earn a "C" in the class, you need to accumulate between 350 and 399 points; etc.

Completing the extra credit assignments only increases your chances of earning a higher grade, since you will be adding to your overall total. In other words, extra credits only help you (they cannot lower your grade). To illustrate this point further, if, in the above example, you earned a 90 on the exam for Unit 3, a 90 for the exam for Unit 4, and an 80 for the exam on Unit 5, you would have earned a total of 442 points in the class. Referring to the yellow column, you would note that it translates to a “B” in the class. In this situation, you are eight points away from an “A.” In our class, you have 15 extra credit opportunities (the 15 Extra Credit Article Assignments), each worth two points. Thus, you can earn an extra 30 points to your total. In this example,completing just eight of those extra credit opportunities would have increased your total to 450 points, which is the magic number for an “A.” Since you don’t know how many extra credit points you possibly might need at the end of the term, my recommendation is that you do them all. Don’t pass up free points. (And, also, this prevents a situation at the end of the term, where you did not complete any extra credits, and are a few points away from the next letter grade up, and are asking me to reopen extra credits which have already closed; once an extra credit deadline has passed, it will not be reopened.) Bottom line: the more extra credit assignments and discussion board forums you complete, the better your chance of earning a higher grade in the class. If it were me, I would do them all.

-- Additional (detailed) course requirement information will be available in our syllabus --

Readings

This class utilizes a free open educational resource textbook (Psychology; Senior Contributor Author: Rose M. Spielman; published by OpenStax and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0).

Course Subjects

Unit 1

Ch. 1 - Introduction to Psychology

Ch. 2 - Psychological Research

Ch. 3 - Biopsychology

Unit 2

Ch. 4 - States of Consciousness

Ch. 5 - Sensation and Perception

Ch. 6 - Learning

Unit 3

Ch. 7 - Thinking and Intelligence

Ch. 8 - Memory

Ch. 9 - Lifespan Development

Unit 4

Ch. 10 - Emotion and Motivation

Ch. 11 - Personality

Ch. 12 - Social Psychology

Unit 5

Ch. 14 - Stress, Lifestyle, and Health

Ch. 15 - Psychological Disorders

Ch. 16 - Therapy and Treatment

-- Note that we are not covering ch. 13 in this course --

Student Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives

The goal of the course is to understand the major elements that constitute the field of psychology. We will cover topics such as sensation and perception, memory, human development, abnormal behavior, and social psychology. By the end of the course, students will have an understanding of psychological research and psychological theories and will be able to apply concepts learned in class to everyday life and their chosen careers. Furthermore, students can apply this course towards an associate’s degree at Austin Community College.

Office Hours

M T W 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM Hays 1204.37

NOTE Mon. and Wed., 8:30 - 9 a.m., 12 - 1 p.m. - office or online; Tue., 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. - online chat/video only