Instructional Methodology: 

This Fall 2025 PSYC 2301 class will be taught as a hybrid lecture section. That means that one half of the instruction will be in the form of required face-to-face lectures. Note that student attendance of lectures is required and expected. The other half of the instructional material will be presented, examined and graded in Blackboard, i.e. online. All of the major exams, Chapter Quizzes, and Discussion Boards will be administered in Blackboard. The instructional format of the class will be that of a lecture course, with required Discussion Board participation, chapter quizzes, and online exams. Student participation in the form of questions, comments and discussion is greatly desired. Students will be expected to learn the lecture material! They will also be expected to read and study the textbook for this class. Written learning objectives accompany this syllabus. These objectives inform the student as to what textbook material is likely to be covered on the exams.

Technology Support Services:

Austin Community College now provides free, secure drive-up WiFi to students and employees in the parking lots of all campus locations. WiFi can be accessed seven days a week, 7 am to 11 pm. Additional details are available at Drive-up Wifi.

The Student Affairs Help Desk can assist with questions you have about ACCmail, ACCeID, Admissions and Records, Financial Aid, and general Advising questions:

Email: helpdesk@austincc.edu

For Information & live chat visit austincc.edu/help

Students who submit the Student Technology Access Form and indicate they need help accessing their online learning environment to successfully complete their courses are eligible to check out an ACC iPad for use during the semester. You must be registered for a credit course, Adult Education, or Continuing Education course. 

Grades will be determined by thirteen chapter quizzes, contributing a potential maximum total of 200 grade points. and four major hour exams, each counting 100 points toward the final grade. There will also be required homework in the form of Discussion Boards in Blackboard. The exams and chapter quizzes will be multiple-choice in nature. The exams and quizzes are open book, open notes, open internet and open collaboration exams with a specified time window for availability. Exams, discussion boards, and chapter quizzes will be made available in Blackboard for limited time with a stated deadline. The deadlines for the discussion boards, chapter quizzes and major exams will not be extended for any reason. See the course schedule for your class to view the various deadlines for the activities in this class. The exams and chapter quizzes may be taken multiple times within their time window of availability and the highest score will be recorded in the grade book.

Make-Up Exams will be provided in Blackboard for students who fail to take the First, Second, and/or Third Exam before the deadline. The Make-Up Exams are only for students who fail to take a regularly scheduled major exam. They will be deployed in Blackboard and will be open book exams, just like the initial exams. They too can be taken multiple times to raise the score. The Make-Up Exams must be taken before the date of the next regularly scheduled major exam. If not taken, a score of zero will be maintained for the missing required exam. The Make-Up Exams will have 100 questions on them instead of the 50 questions on the initial exams and will place a stronger emphasis on the studying of the textbook. The regular major exams are to be preferred, unless necessity indicates otherwise. There is no Make-Up Exam for the Fourth Exam because the semester ends with that exam.

Homework is required in the form of thirteen required Discussion Boards in Blackboard, i.e. one for every chapter in the course. A rubric will be utilized to provide a score from 1-5 points for the quality of your Discussion Board participation. The rubric can be seen in Blackboard.

• 1 point is unacceptable quality
• 2 points for poor quality
• 3 points for acceptable quality
• 4 points for good quality
• 5 points for Excellent quality

Each required Discussion Board Homework assignment has a specific time window during which it is available for student participation. Please Note: The deadlines for the Discussion Boards will not be extended for any reason. Late work will not be accepted. Students who do not post their comments during the window of availability for any Discussion Board will forfeit the opportunity to participate in that Discussion Board for points toward the course grade. Similarly, the required Chapter Quizzes, which will be automatically scored in Blackboard, will have a specific time window of availability. The deadlines for the Exams, Chapter Quizzes, and Discussion Boards are itemized in the Class Schedule for the class.

With thirteen Discussion Boards, the maximum score for the Discussion Boards would thus be 5 X 13=65 points. The required Chapter Quizzes will provide a potential total of 200 points. With the four 100 point major exams providing up to 400 points, Chapter Quizzes providing up to 200 points, and the Discussion Boards providing up to 65 points, the course grade will be based on the percentage of the maximum available points, which is 665 points.
• A point total of 90% or more of the available 665 points, i.e. 599 or more, will result in a grade of A in the course.
• A point total of 532 - 598 points, i.e. 80 - 89.9% of the available points, will result in a grade of B in the course.
• A point total of 466 - 531 points, i.e. 70 - 79.9% of the available points, will result in a grade of C in the course.
• A point total of 399 - 465 points, i.e. 60 - 69.9% of the available points, will result in a grade of D in the course.
• A point total equal to or less than 399 points, less than 60% of the available points, will result in a grade of F in the course.
The major Exams in this class count 60% of the course grade. The required Discussion Boards count 10% of the course grade. The required Chapter Quizzes will count 30% of the course grade.

You can check your grades throughout the course by selecting the My Grades link in Blackboard.

Attendance/Class Participation 

Regular and timely class attendance and participation in online discussions and completion of chapter quizzes is expected of all students. If attendance or compliance with other course policies is unsatisfactory, the instructor may withdraw students from the class. The student is responsible for communicating with their professor and completing any assignments or other activities designated by their professor.

Incomplete Grades 

An incomplete (grade of "I") will only be given in Fall of 2025 due to extenuating circumstances. What constitutes “extenuating circumstances” is left to the instructor’s discretion. If a grade of I is given, the remaining course work must be completed by a date set by the student and professor. This date may not be later than two weeks prior to the end of the Spring 2026 semester. A grade of I also requires completion and submission of the Incomplete Grade form, to be signed by the faculty member (and student if possible) and submitted to the department chair.

If an Incomplete is not resolved by the deadline, the grade automatically converts to an “F.” Approval to carry an Incomplete for longer than the following semester or session deadline is not frequently granted. 

Austin Community College offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request reasonable accommodations through the Office for Student Accessibility Services on the campus where they expect to take the majority of their classes. 

A word about Scholastic Dishonesty: This is a serious problem and is one of the most self-defeating behaviors which any student may display. Acts prohibited by the college for which discipline may be administered include scholastic dishonesty, including but not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing outside work. Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their thought, research, or self-expression. Academic work is defined as, but not limited to tests, quizzes, classroom presentations, discussion boards, and homework. Plagiarism is the submittal of someone else's work as one's own. It will not be tolerated. Nor will any form of cheating during exams. If convicted of scholastic dishonesty in this course, the student will receive an F. This topic and many others are covered in the official ACC College Catalog. 

Students are expected to be mature and responsible citizens. Any student whose conduct or dress at any time is in violation of the law, is a public nuisance, or is deemed improper or detrimental to the College may be subject to disciplinary action. Students are expected to respect the rights and welfare of other members of the College community and its guests. Violence, the threat of violence, any disruption to the learning process, or intimidation will be subject to disciplinary action. 

The Department of Psychology respects Academic Freedom. Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, there are bound to be many differing viewpoints. Students may not only disagree with each other at times, but the students and instructor may also find that they have disparate views on sensitive and volatile topics. It is my hope that these differences will enhance the class and create an atmosphere where students and instructors alike will be more encouraged to think and learn. Therefore, be assured that your grade will not be adversely affected by any beliefs or ideas expressed in class or assignments. Rather, we will respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussions. 

Although the instructor reserves the right to drop any student from this class when it is appropriate and indicated, your registration is your responsibility! If you stop engaging and participating in this class for any reason, be sure to submit an online withdrawal form provided by the Office of Admissions. This may prevent you from receiving a grade of F. The deadline for withdrawal in the second 8 week session is Monday, December 8, 2025. Students are responsible for understanding the impact withdrawing from a course may have on their financial aid, veterans benefits, international student status, and academic standing. Students are urged to consult with their instructor or an advisor before making schedule changes. Per state law, students enrolling for the first time in fall 2007 or later at any Texas college or university may not withdraw (receive a W) from more than six courses during their undergraduate college career. Some exemptions for good cause could allow a student to withdraw from a course without having it count toward this limit. Students are encouraged to carefully select courses; contact an advisor or counselor for assistance. 

The textbook for this course is: Introduction to Psychology by Charles Stangor; FlatWorld Knowledge Publishers. (ISBN (Digital): 978-1-4533-4167-4) Click here to go to the publisher's web site. An All Access Pass to a digital version of the book is available for purchase in the ACC Bookstore and paperback versions can be ordered directly from the publisher by the student at the option of the student. The All Access Pass contains the Online Web Book (Read it through your browser), eBook (Pub and mobi files compatible with your iPad, Kindle, or other device), PDF Book (Print-it-Yourself or read offline), & Study Aids (Interactive tools help reinforce key terms and concepts.). Flat World offers students a variety of low-cost digital and print choices, starting at just $35.95. All of the formats can be purchased at students.flatworldknowledge.com, where you can also find more detailed explanations of each format. For those who prefer it, there is an OER (no cost) version of the textbook, which is: Stangor, Charles. Introduction to Psychology (PDF - 14.0MB). 2010. (Courtesy of Charles Stangor and the Saylor Foundation.)This is the first version of Stangor's book, which was published in 2010. It will suffice for this class. There is also a html version of this zero cost textbook at this link. 

Note: The no-cost textbook options described here do not provide access to the optional practice quizzes that are provided in the commercially available e-book option cited above. It is the student's responsibility to read the assigned chapters of this book in a timely manner.

Course Learning Outcomes:

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Lower Division Academic Course Guide Manual:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

Identify various research methods and their characteristics used in the scientific study of psychology. 

Describe the historical influences and early schools of thought that shaped the field of psychology. 

Describe some of the prominent perspectives and approaches used in the study of psychology.

Use terminology unique to the study of psychology.

Describe accepted approaches and standards in psychological assessment and evaluation.

Identify factors in physiological and psychological processes involved in human behavior.

Program Level Student Learning Outcomes:

Understand psychological concepts and be able to recognize them in real-world contexts.

Acquire a basic understanding of major perspectives in the field.

Gain an awareness of the breadth of the academic discipline of psychology.

Understand the various research methods psychologists use and critically evaluate evidence.

General Education Student Learning Outcomes for PSYC 2301:

Critical Thinking Skills
• Gather, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and apply information for the purposes of innovation, inquiry, and creative thinking.

Communication Skills
• Develop, interpret, and express ideas and information through written, oral and visual communication that is adapted to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.

Empirical and Quantitative Skills
• Apply mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods through the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions.

Personal Responsibility
• Identify and apply ethical principles and practices to decision-making by connecting choices, actions and consequences.

Social Responsibility (Civic and Cultural Awareness)
• Analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.

Teamwork
• Consider different points of view to work collaboratively and effectively in pursuit of a shared purpose or goal.

Chapter Learning Objectives

Chapter One:  Psychology as a Science

1. Explain why using our intuition about everyday behavior is insufficient for a complete understanding of the causes of behavior.
2. Describe the difference between values and facts and explain how the scientific method is used to differentiate between the two.
3. Explain how psychology changed from a philosophical to a scientific discipline.
4. List some of the most important questions that concern psychologists.
5. Outline the basic schools of psychology and how each school has contributed to psychology.

Chapter Two:  Psychological Science

1. Describe the principles of the scientific method and explain its importance in conducting and interpreting research.
2. Differentiate laws from theories and explain how research hypotheses are developed and tested.
3. Discuss the procedures that researchers use to ensure that their research with humans and with animals is ethical.
4. Differentiate the goals of descriptive, correlational, and experimental research designs and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each.
5. Explain the goals of descriptive research and the statistical techniques used to interpret it.
6. Summarize the uses of correlational research and describe why correlational research cannot be used to infer causality.
7. Review the procedures of experimental research and explain how it can be used to draw causal inferences.
8. Outline the four potential threats to the validity of research and discuss how they may make it difficult to accurately interpret research findings.
9. Describe how confounding may reduce the internal validity of an experiment.
10. Explain how generalization, replication, and meta-analyses are used to assess the external validity of research findings.

Chapter Three:  Brains, Bodies and Behavior

1. Describe the structure and functions of the neuron.
2. Draw a diagram of the pathways of communication within and between neurons.
3. List three of the major neurotransmitters and describe their functions.
4. Describe the structures and function of the “old brain” and its influence on behavior.
5. Explain the structure of the cerebral cortex (its hemispheres and lobes) and the function of each area of the cortex.
6. Define the concepts of brain plasticity, neurogenesis, and brain lateralization.
7. Compare and contrast the techniques that scientists use to view and understand brain structures and functions.
8. Summarize the primary functions of the CNS and of the subsystems of the PNS.
9. Explain how the electrical components of the nervous system and the chemical components of the endocrine system work together to influence behavior.

Chapter Four:  Sensing and Perceiving

1. Review and summarize the capacities and limitations of human sensation.
2. Explain the difference between sensation and perception and describe how psychologists measure sensory and difference thresholds.
3. Identify the key structures of the eye and the role they play in vision.
4. Summarize how the eye and the visual cortex work together to sense and perceive the visual stimuli in the environment, including processing colors, shape, depth, and motion.
5. Draw a picture of the ear and label its key structures and functions, and describe the role they play in hearing.
6. Describe the process of transduction in hearing.
7. Summarize how the senses of taste and olfaction transduce stimuli into perceptions.
8. Describe the process of transduction in the senses of touch and proprioception.
9. Outline the gate control theory of pain. Explain why pain matters and how it may be controlled.
10. Describe how sensation and perception work together through sensory interaction, selective attention, sensory adaptation, and perceptual constancy.
11. Give examples of how our expectations may influence our perception, resulting in illusions and potentially inaccurate judgments.

Chapter Five:  States of Consciousness

1. Draw a graphic showing the usual phases of sleep during a normal night and notate the characteristics of each phase.
2. Review the disorders that affect sleep and the costs of sleep deprivation.
3. Outline and explain the similarities and differences among the different theories of dreaming.
4. Summarize the major psychoactive drugs and their influences on consciousness and behavior.
5. Review the evidence regarding the dangers of recreational drugs.
6. Review the ways that people may alter consciousness without using drugs.

Chapter Six:  Growing and Developing

1. Review the stages of prenatal development.
2. Explain how the developing embryo and fetus may be harmed by the presence of teratogens and describe what a mother can do to reduce her risk.
3. Describe the abilities that newborn infants possess and how they actively interact with their environments.
4. List the stages in Piaget’s model of cognitive development and explain the concepts that are mastered in each stage
5. Critique Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and describe other theories that complement and expand on it.
6. Summarize the important processes of social development that occur in infancy and childhood.
7. Summarize the physical and cognitive changes that occur for boys and girls during adolescence.
8. Explain how adolescents develop a sense of morality and of self-identity.
9. Review the physical and cognitive changes that accompany early and middle adulthood.
10. Review the physical, cognitive, and social changes that accompany late adulthood.
11. Describe the psychological and physical outcomes of bereavement.

Chapter Seven:  Learning

1. Describe how Pavlov’s early work in classical conditioning influenced the understanding of learning.
2. Review the concepts of classical conditioning, including unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned stimulus (CS), unconditioned response (UR), and conditioned response (CR).
3. Explain the roles that extinction, generalization, and discrimination play in conditioned learning.
4. Outline the principles of operant conditioning.
5. Explain how learning can be shaped through the use of reinforcement schedules and secondary reinforcers.
6. Understand the principles of learning by insight and observation.
7. Review the ways that learning theories can be applied to understanding and modifying everyday behavior.
8. Describe the situations under which reinforcement may make people less likely to enjoy engaging in a behavior.
9. Explain how principles of reinforcement are used to understand social dilemmas such as the prisoner’s dilemma and why people are likely to make competitive choices in them.

Chapter Eight:  Remembering and Judging

1. Compare and contrast explicit and implicit memory, identifying the features that define each.
2. Explain the function and duration of eidetic and echoic memories.
3. Summarize the capacities of short-term memory and explain how working memory is used to process information in it.
4. Label and review the principles of encoding, storage, and retrieval.
5. Summarize the types of amnesia and their effects on memory.
6. Describe how the context in which we learn information can influence our memory of that information.
7. Outline the variables that can influence the accuracy of our memory for events.
8. Explain how schemas can distort our memories.
9. Describe the representativeness heuristic and the availability heuristic and explain how they may lead to errors in judgment.

Chapter Nine:  Intelligence and Language

1. Define intelligence and list the different types of intelligences psychologists study.
2. Summarize the characteristics of a scientifically valid intelligence test.
3. Outline the biological and environmental determinants of intelligence.
4. Explain how very high and very low intelligence is defined and what it means to have them.
5. Consider and comment on the meaning of biological and environmental explanations for gender and racial differences in IQ.
6. Define stereotype threat and explain how it might influence scores on intelligence tests.
7. Review the components and structure of language.
8. Explain the biological underpinnings of language.
9. Outline the theories of language development.

Chapter Ten:  Emotions and Motivations

1. Explain the biological experience of emotion.
2. Summarize the psychological theories of emotion.
3. Give examples of the ways that emotion is communicated.
4. Define stress and review the body’s physiological responses to it.
5. Summarize the negative health consequences of prolonged stress.
6. Explain the differences in how people respond to stress.
7. Review the methods that are successful in coping with stress.
8. Understand the important role of positive emotions and happiness in responding to stress.
9. Understand the factors that increase, and do not increase, happiness.
10. Understand the biological and social responses that underlie eating behavior.
11. Understand the psychological and physiological responses that underlie sexual behavior.

Chapter Eleven:  Personality

1. Outline and critique the early approaches to assessing personality.
2. Define and review the strengths and limitations of the trait approach to personality.
3. Summarize the measures that have been used to assess psychological disorders.
4. Describe the strengths and limitations of the psychodynamic approach to explaining personality.
5. Summarize the accomplishments of the neo-Freudians.
6. Identify the major contributions of the humanistic approach to understanding personality.
7. Explain how genes transmit personality from one generation to the next.
8. Outline the methods of behavioral genetics studies and the conclusions that we can draw from them about the determinants of personality.
9. Explain how molecular genetics research helps us understand the role of genetics in personality.

Chapter Twelve:  Defining Psychological Disorders

1. Define “psychological disorder” and summarize the general causes of disorder.
2. Explain why it is so difficult to define disorder, and how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is used to make diagnoses.
3. Describe the stigma of psychological disorders and their impact on those who suffer from them.
4. Outline and describe the different types of anxiety disorders.
5. Outline and describe the different types of dissociative disorders.
6. Explain the biological and environmental causes of anxiety and dissociative disorders.
7. Summarize and differentiate the various forms of mood disorders, in particular dysthymia, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder.
8. Explain the genetic and environmental factors that increase the likelihood that a person will develop a mood disorder.
9. Categorize and describe the three major symptoms of schizophrenia.
10. Differentiate the five types of schizophrenia and their characteristics.
11. Identify the biological and social factors that increase the likelihood that a person will develop schizophrenia.
12. Categorize the different types of personality disorders and differentiate antisocial personality disorder from borderline personality disorder.
13. Outline the biological and environmental factors that may contribute to a person developing a personality disorder.
14. Differentiate the symptoms of somatoform and factitious disorders.
15. Summarize the sexual disorders and paraphilias.

Chapter Thirteen:  Treating Psychological Disorders

1. Outline and differentiate the psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive approaches to psychotherapy.
2. Explain the behavioral and cognitive aspects of cognitive-behavioral therapy and how CBT is used to reduce psychological disorders.
3. Classify the different types of drugs used in the treatment of mental disorders and explain how they each work to reduce disorder.
4. Critically evaluate direct brain intervention methods that may be used by doctors to treat patients who do not respond to drug or other therapy.
5. Explain the advantages of group therapy and self-help groups for treating disorder.
6. Evaluate the procedures and goals of community mental health services.
7. Summarize the ways that scientists evaluate the effectiveness of psychological, behavioral, and community service approaches to preventing and reducing disorders.
8. Summarize which types of therapy are most effective for which disorders.