Introduction to Psychology – PSY 105
PSY105003016*201003 Introduction to Psychology  
 
Quarter Winter 2010
Meeting Days/Time Online 
Instructor Dr. Michelle T. Ross 
Instructor Phone 760-484-4288
Instructor E-mail Michelle.ross@strayer.edu;
Alternative email: coachross@aol.com
 
Instructor Office Hours/Location  Online – 24 -48 hour commitment to respond to email.
Academic Office Phone Number  
Online Academic Office    877-540-1733
eCollege Help Desk                         866-448-6703 or  303-873-0005
Strayer Online Technical 877-642-2999
Support              
 
 
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL
( including all mandatory software)

1.  Baron, R. A.; & Kalsher, M. J. (2008). Introduction to psychology (Custom Edition). Boston.
MA:  Allyn & Bacon (Pearson). 
 
I.         COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course introduces psychology as a human and scientific endeavor.  It includes, among
other topics, an examination of the concepts and methods in learning, motivation,
development, personality, and social behavior.
 
 
II.        EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
 
Upon the successful completion of this course the student will be able to:
a.       Appreciate the broad range of topics and perspectives that make up the
discipline of psychology
b.      Understand selected theories, terminology and findings from prominent sub-
fields of psychology, as outlined in the textbook
c.       Relate the course material to real-world situations
d.      Effectively communicate ideas about psychology in writing
e.       Understand that biological, cognitive, behavioral, social and developmental
perspectives are not mutually exclusive and are often complementary
 f.        Recognize historical and modern schools of thought within the field of
psychology and explain how they have changed over time
g.       Distinguish between psychological theories that are based on scientific
evidence and those which are based on other viewpoints
h.       Distinguish between experimental and correlational research strategies and
understand their limitations
i.         Understand key measurement issues in psychology (reliability, validity,
generalizability) and relate them to measurement issues in the world of
business
j.        Recognize major diagnostic categories of mental disorders
k.      Know about the most common modern treatments for mental disorders
(pharmacological, cognitive and behavioral); specialized therapies for certain
conditions (flooding, systematic desensitization, biofeedback, etc.); rare
treatments for intractable cases (psychosurgery, electroconvulsive therapy).
 
*Course instructor may provide additional outcomes in this section as well.
 

III.       EXPECTED WEEKLY LEARNING OUTCOMES

The following weekly learning outcomes will be addressed:
 
Week1
 
Chapter 1, “Psychology:  What it is”
         Give a modern definition of psychology.
         Correctly define theory and hypothesis.
         Describe several methods for gathering psychological data.
         Distinguish between experimental and correlational research and give pros and cons for each.
         Explain why random assignment to treatment conditions is essential in a between-subjects
experimental design.
         Understand the concepts of independent variable and dependent variable.
         Distinguish between Behavioral, Cognitive, Biological, Developmental, Psychodynamic,
Sociocultural and Evolutionary perspectives to psychology and how these perspectives interact.
         Describe the difference between an experimental psychologist and a clinical psychologist.
Week 2
 
Chapter 2, "The Biological Bases of Behavior" :
         Identify key parts of a neuron
         Explain how neurons communicate at the synapse
         Identify the major divisions of the nervous system
         Distinguish between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system
         Explain the function of selected brain areas, which are described in the text
         Identify the lobes of the cerebral cortex and explain what functions each is associated with
         Describe methodologies that are used to study the brain
         Understand the difference between fraternal and identical twins, and how studies of twins raised
apart can address the nature versus nurture issue
  Chapter 3, "Sensation & Perception"
         Understand the concept of transduction, and explain where transduction takes place for each of the
sensory modalities discussed in the chapter.
         Explain what is meant by a threshold and name two different types of threshold.
          Explain why sensory adaptation is so important for the visual system (and other sensory modalities).
         Describe the basic anatomy and function of the visual, auditory, kinesthetic and vestibular systems,
as well as the chemical senses
         Describe the gate-control theory of pain and its relationship to the two different types of pain we
experience
         Differentiate between sensation and perception.
         Describe the contributions of Gestalt psychology to our understanding of perception
Week 3
Chapter 4, "States of Consciousness”
         Describe the characteristics of human circadian rhythms and explain how they are affected by jet-lag
and shift-work.
         Distinguish between automatic- and controlled-processing
         Describe how sleep is studied in the laboratory
         Describe the defining characteristics of REM sleep and deep sleep
         Explain the psychodynamic, physiological and cognitive viewpoints about the content of dreams
         Contrast two differing viewpoints about hypnosis
         Describe the effects of drugs of abuse on consciousness
Chapter 5, "Learning"
         Distinguish between operant conditioning, classical conditioning and observational forms of learning
         Understand basic terminology of the classical conditioning paradigm including: Unconditioned
stimulus; unconditioned response; conditioned stimulus; conditioned response
         Discuss the limitations of the classical conditioning paradigm
         Describe the processes of extinction, reconditioning and spontaneous recovery
         Understand which factors lead to more rapid acquisition of a classically-conditioned response
         Distinguish between discrimination and generalization (these may apply to both operant and classical
conditioning)
         Understand the basic terminology of the operant conditioning paradigm, including: reinforcement,
punishment, schedule of reinforcement, extinction, shaping, chaining and instinctive drift
         Describe the evidence against a purely behaviorist explanation of operant conditioning
         Discuss the principles of observational learning
         Describe some applications of observational learning
Week 4
Chapter 6, “Memory and Cognition”
         List and define the three tasks of memory, according to the information processing approach:
encoding and storage and retrieval
         Explain the role of working memory
         Distinguish between semantic, episodic and procedural memory
         Name and describe factors that influence the retrieval of memory
         Explain the relationship between concepts and semantic networks
         Name two types of interference and explain their role in forgetting
         Define memory distortion and memory construction and discuss their implications for the criminal
justice system
         Distinguish between anterograde and retrograde memory loss.
         List two diseases that are associated with memory loss.
         Describe the limitations of human cognition, including common errors and biases
         Recognize and define concepts, propositions and mental models
         Describe the decision-making process
         Define the term heuristics and give some examples of types of heuristics described in the text
         List and describe the factors that may converge to give rise to creativity
Week 5 (MIDTERM EXAM): 
 
     To successfully prepare for and complete the midterm exam.                  
                    ----------------------------------       
 
Week 6
 
Chapter 7, Human Development 
         Trace the course of physical growth and development throughout the lifespan
         Describe Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
         Discuss factors that affect social development
         Define and correctly use the term temperament
         Define Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral understanding
         Describe Erik Erickson’s stages of development across the human lifespan
         Describe the physical and cognitive changes that occur during adulthood
         Explain the two cognitive changes during adulthood
         Describe the five stages of confronting death postulated by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Chapter 8, “Motivation and Emotion”
         Distinguish between and describe drive theory, expectancy theory, goal-setting theory.
         Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and its relationship to motivation
         Discuss biological aspects of feeding and sexual motivations
         Define intrinsic motivation
         Distinguish between the Cannon-Bard, James-Lange and Schacter-Singer theories of emotion
         Describe the roles of the right and left cerebral hemispheres in emotion
         List and describe several external expressions of emotion
         Describe how emotion  influences cognition and vice versa
         Discuss the factors that are associated with happiness
Week 7
 
Chapter 9, “Personality and Intelligence”
         Define personality
         Explain Freud’s psychoanalytic approach to personality
         Describe the key concepts of the theories of two of Freud’s followers, Adler and Jung. 
         Describe the basic approach and key concepts of humanistic approaches to personality
         Describe the basic approach and key concepts of trait theories of personality
         Describe the cognitive-behavioral approach to personality
         List and describe some ways that psychologists attempt to measure personality
         Contrast as unitary or multifaceted theoretical conceptions of  intelligence
         Describe the prominent theories of personality described in the text
         Name and explain how the two leading tests measure intelligence
         Describe the cognitive and neural correlates of intelligence
         Describe the contributions of genetic versus environmental factors to intelligence
         Explain the conception of “emotional intelligence”
Week 8
Chapter 10,  “Health, Stress and Coping”
         Define  health psychology
         Explain how lifestyle is thought to contribute to risk of mortality
         Describe Hans Selye's theory of stress
         List and describe the two types of cognitive appraisal that determine whether a particular
circumstance is stressful
         Describe a list of stressful life events that was developed by Holmes et al. Explain the meaning of the
stress score. Explain how the stress scale is correlated with health risks.
         List and describe some factors that are correlated with work-related stress
         Name some specific techniques for managing stress
         Explain what the "Health Belief Model" is supposed to model and list its two components
Week 9
Chapter 11, "Mental Disorders”
          Explain the use of the DSM-IV, its multiaxial nature, and distinguish between axis 1 and axis 2.
         Describe the major mental disorders outlined in the text
         Recognize symptoms of mental disorders outlined in the text
         Explain how a personality disorder is differ from a major diagnosis
         Describe the symptoms of schizophrenia and theories that attempt to explain it
          Chapter 12, “Psychological treatments”
         Describe several approaches to psychotherapy and understand their differences
         Explain the critical role that drugs play in the modern treatment of mental illness
         List some non-drug biological treatments and describe the circumstances under which they would be
employed.
Week 10. 
 
Chapter 13, Social Thought and Social Behavior
         Define the role of attribution in social cognition
         Name some common biases and/or fallacies in social cognition
         Define the term "attitude" from the psychology perspective
         Explain the difference between the central and peripheral routes to attitude change
         Define cognitive dissonance and explain its hypothesized role in attitude change
         Explain the nature of prejudice and ways to overcome it
         Describe some tactics of social influence, which may be used by compliance professionals
         Describe Milgram’s study on obedience and discuss modern situations that are affected by obedience
         Discuss the basis of attractiveness and attraction
         Name the factors that cause love to last and love to fade.
Chapter 14, “Industrial/Organizational Psychology” 
         Describe the purpose of a job analysis
         Define criterion-related validity
         Explain how structured interviews, standardized tests, "assessment center" method and work sample
tests are used
         Define the term "needs analysis"
         Describe some examples of specific training methods
         Explain how training is evaluated
         Define four types of appraisal errors
         Explain the nature of the relationship between job satisfaction and performance
         Explain which characteristics are associated with effective leadership
         Describe the characteristics which are associated with transformational leadership
         Describe the three theories on leadership which are covered in the text
         Discuss how to form teams and the two ways to manage team conflict

Week 11. (FINAL EXAMINATION):    

            
     To successfully prepare for and complete the final exam. 
 
 
 
IV.       COURSE OUTLINE
 
DATE CHAPTER INFORMATION
Week 1 Complete APA/Plagiarism
  Chapter 1: Psychology: What it is… Quiz;  assignment posted, and
Jan 11-17   discussion responses due by
Sunday, Jan 17, midnight, EST
Week 2 Assignment and discussion
Chapter 2: The Biological Bases of Behavior
  responses due Sunday, Jan 24,
Chapter 3: Sensation and Perception
Jan 18-24 midnight, EST
Week 3 Assignment and discussion
Chapter 4: States of Consciousness
  responses due Sunday, Jan 31,
Chapter 5: Learning
Jan 25-31 midnight, EST
Week 4  Discussion responses due
  Sunday, Feb 7, midnight, EST
Feb 1-7 Chapter 6:  Memory and Cognition”  
       CLP Session #1, Feb 4th from
8-9 PM EST, Thursday
(optional).
Week 5    Midterm Exam – open from
Midterm Examination
  Monday thru Sunday, Feb 8-
 
Feb 8-14 14, midnight, EST
Week 6 Assignment  and discussion
Chapter 7: Human Development
  responses due Sunday, Feb 21,
Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion
Feb 15-21 midnight, EST
Week 7 Assignment  and discussion
  Chapter 9: Personality and Intelligence responses due Sunday, Feb 28,
Feb 22-28   midnight, EST
     
Week 8 Assignment  and discussion
  responses due Sunday, March 7,
March 1-7 Chapter 10: Health, Stress & Coping midnight, EST
        CLP Session – March 4 from 8-
9 PM   EST, Thursday
(optional)
Week 9  Assignment  and discussion
Chapter 11: Mental Disorders
  responses due Sunday, March
Chapter 12:  Psychological Treatments
March 8-15 15, midnight, EST
Week 10 Discussion responses due
  Chapter 13: Social Thought & Social Behavior Sunday, March 22, midnight,
March 16- Chapter 14: Industrial/Organizational Psych. EST
22       Final Exam open March 16-
Final Examination       22, midnight, EST
 
Week 11   Final Week – Final Exam
March 22- open March 22-
 
28       28, midnight, EST

 
 
V.        COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND TEACHING STRATEGIES
This course will be conducted via lectures and discussions based on the text and supplemental
materials, group exercises, and individual assignments.  Group discussions and assignments are
designed to enhance collaborative learning and exercise the techniques and considerations
presented in the course.  Student comprehension of course content will be assessed through
examinations, group exercise assignments, individual research on current topics, and active
participation in class discussion.
 
1.                  Mid-term examination
2.                  Final examination
3.                  Completion of all written and oral assignments
4.                  Active class participation
5.                  Regular class attendance
 
This section outlines major course events, including an overview of the conduct of the course
and summarizes any basic mechanisms of course events (may include class sessions, group
negotiation exercises, presentations, quizzes and examinations, etc). And describes the
nature/context/intent of assignments, provides a basic classroom format, any reference or
research requirements, due dates, turn in process, and any late work policy (if applicable).  
 
VI.       EVALUATION METHODS

Plagiarism/APA Quiz 40 points -   10%

Mid-Term Examination 100 points - 25%
Final Examination 100 points - 25%
Assignments 70 points –  17.5%
Discussions 90 points –  22.5%
TOTAL POINTS: 400 points – 100%
 
This section outlines key objectives or assignments upon which a student’s grade will be based;
including how students will be assessed (including but not limited to exams, quizzes, group
exercises, presentation, etc.).
 
Grading Scale
90-100 A
80-89 B
70-79 C
60-69 D
Below 60 F
 
VII. UNIVERSITY NOTICES
Honor Pledge
All work submitted for this course is subject to the University’s Academic Integrity Policy available in
the Student Handbook and the University’s Honor Pledge, printed below:
 
I have read and understand Strayer University’s Academic Integrity Policy.  I promise to
 conduct myself with integrity in the submission of all academic work to the University
and will not give or receive unauthorized assistance for the completion of assignments,
research papers, examinations or other work.  I understand that violations of the
Academic Integrity Policy will lead to disciplinary action against me, up to and
including suspension or expulsion from the University. I understand that all students
play a role in preserving the academic integrity of the University and have an obligation
to report violations of the Academic Integrity Policy committed by other students.
 
Academic Integrity
Strayer University holds its students to high standards of academic integrity and will not tolerate acts of
falsification, misrepresentation or deception.  Such acts of intellectual dishonesty include, but are not
limited to, cheating or copying, fabricating data or citations, stealing examinations, the unauthorized use
of instructor editions of textbooks, taking an exam for another student or having another student take an
exam intended for oneself, tampering with the academic work of another student, submitting another’s
work as one’s own, facilitating other students’ acts of academic dishonesty, using internet sources
without citation and plagiarizing. 
 
Information Literacy
The University recognizes the development of skills to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information is
critical to the academic success of each student and to the fostering of continued lifelong learning and
intellectual growth.  Assignments supporting this development are included in many course syllabi as
well as in the learning outcomes in all programs at all degree levels.  Strayer is committed to adding
value to its courses and programs through a defined Information Literacy Plan.
 
Course Participation Guidelines for Students
The University encourages open discussion within its courses and often asks students to draw from
personal experience in their responses to course assignments.  Though such information should be used
only for educational purposes, the University cannot guarantee that such information will remain
confidential.  Students are responsible for knowing the applicable polices of their employers and others
with regard to the sharing of confidential information and using appropriate discretion.  Additional care
should be used when posting to online discussion boards where written comments are preserved.  The
University is not legally responsible for any inappropriate postings through its online discussion boards
(i.e. those that violate University policy, defame another person, etc.).  In order to preserve an open
discussion within the classroom environment, students may choose to not specifically identify their
current or previous employers by name or withhold other similar identifying information. Questions or
concerns regarding this policy should be directed to the course instructor or the applicable Campus
Dean, Strayer University Online Dean of Students or the Dean of Student Affairs.
 
Attendance Policy
Students are expected to attend all regularly scheduled classes.  Should absences be necessary, students
are responsible for the material covered during the absences.  Faculty cannot grant requests for excessive
amounts of make-up material, and they may request written documentation detailing the reason for the
absences.
 
Excessive absences make it almost impossible for a student to meet the academic objectives of a course;
they frequently cause a student to receive a lower grade, even though, the absences were unavoidable.
 
Strayer University requires all faculty members to take attendance during each class period and to
records it accurately on their permanent roster.  This data is available for verification of attendance by
the appropriate governmental agencies and educational accrediting organizations.
 
A student who is absent from four consecutive class meetings, excluding holidays and emergency
cancellation of classes, will be withdrawn automatically from that course.  A student will be withdrawn
automatically from a mini-session course when he/she misses two consecutively scheduled class
meetings.
 
Grade Dispute Policy
If you have questions with regard to the grading policies in this course, please contact the instructor for
clarification.  Disputes with regard to final grades received in this course are handled in accordance with
the University’s grade dispute policy as set forth in the Student Handbook.
 
Inclement Weather Policy
In the event of inclement weather, consult the Strayer University student website at
http://studentserver.strayer.edu for information on University closings and delays.