PSY 101: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Fall 2021
Instructor: Assist. Prof. Gaye Soley
Online office hours: Wednesdays 20:00-20:50
Course assistants: Selma Hekim, Sevgi Yakın, Beliz Korkut
Contact: bounpsych101@gmail.com

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will be a brief and selective introduction to topics in contemporary
psychology. As can be seen in the schedule below, the topics to be covered are diverse, including research methods
in psychology, biological basis of behavior, consciousness, learning, language, cognition, intelligence, development,
social relations, and psychological disorders.

TEXTBOOK: Psychology by Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner & Nock (3rd ed.) A hard-copy is reserved at the library. E-
copies of the selected chapters are also available on e-reserve at the library.

LECTURES: Lectures will be pre-recorded and lecture videos will be uploaded on Moodle. PDFs of lecture slides will
be uploaded on Moodle after each chapter is finished.

Student questions will be addressed during the weekly office hours. These sessions will NOT be recorded and
attending them is not mandatory. Information about these live sessions will be posted on Moodle.

Students need to log in to Zoom and Moodle with their “boun.edu.tr” email address to be able to access
office hours as well as to watch lecture videos later.

Additional resources (e.g., videos, articles) will be posted on the course website (Moodle).

IMPORTANT NOTES

• READ THE ENTIRE COURSE SYLLABUS.

• For any course-related inquiries (e.g., problems accessing course materials, technical issues with live sessions,
questions about the exams, etc.), please contact us via: bounpsych101@gmail.com
• No form of academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating, plagiarism) will be tolerated. See “Psychology Department
Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy” document for details.

EXAMS

There will be one midterm (%50) and one final exam (50%). Exams will be in multiple-choice format and will cover
material from the lectures, videos and the textbook. Students are responsible for all the information contained in all
of these. The final exam will be non-cumulative (i.e., it will only cover material from the lectures and readings after the
first exam).

Midterm can be made up only with appropriate documentation (e.g., doctor’s note) AND if you let the course
instructor know within two days after missing the exam. The exam must be made up within a week of
administration date or a grade of “0” will be entered for the exam. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the
instructor and schedule a make-up time. Make-up exam for the final will be given to those whose excuses are
approved by the excuse committee:

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http://www.boun.edu.tr/tr_TR/Content/Ogrenciler/Ogrenci_Isleri/Yonetmelik_ve_Ic_Tuzukler/Mazeret_Sin
avi_Uygulama_Esaslari

Make-up/excuse exams might consist of multiple choice AND/OR short essay questions. Extra credits will be available
as detailed below and will be added to your final grade (midterm + final exam).

Your final grade will be determined by your rank in the distribution of Total Scores. This practice (sometimes called
“curving”) ensures that grades are based on realistic standards for student performance.

Students with special needs (e.g., students with disabilities) that require certain arrangements for the lectures or the
exams should inform the course assistant at the beginning of the semester by sending a notification e-mail to the
course assistant.

EXTRA CREDIT INFORMATION

As a PSY 101 student, in exchange for extra course credit, you can participate in the experiments conducted at the
Psychology Department by current faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students. All of these studies are
reviewed and approved by appropriate Institutional Ethics Review Boards. If you choose to attend these experiments,
you are expected to take these experiments seriously and follow the experimenters’ instructions carefully.

For every 30 minutes of participation in an experiment, you will receive 0.5 credit (0-30min: 0.5 credit; 30-60min: 1
credit; 60-90min: 1.5 credits). The total number of credits you earn will be added to your final grade at the end of the
semester. You can receive a maximum of 5 extra credits from these experiments.

Important things to consider regarding participation in experiments: Available experiments will be posted online
and following the add/drop period you can sign up for the experiments you are interested in at https://rps.boun.edu.tr/

When you attend an experiment, please record the experiment number, location, date and the contact info of the
person conducting the experiment. You might refer to this information in case there is any mismatch in the calculation
of your credits at the end of the semester. You need to inform the experimenter beforehand in case you won’t
be able to attend the experiment. If you fail to show up at the time assigned to you, you will lose credit worth
of that particular experiment.
Please ask your questions about the experiment credits to the relevant researchers, not to the course instructor
or the course assistant. At the end of the semester, we will post the credits that are transferred to us from the
researchers and ask you to check whether they are calculated correctly. In case of miscalculation, you can contact us.

International students whose native language is not Turkish are often not eligible for the experiments conducted at
the Psychology Department. Therefore, international students should inform the course assistant to make the
necessary arrangements.

TOPICS & SCHEDULE

DATE ACTIVITY TOPIC Reading
6/10/2021 Lecture 1 Course logistics Course syllabus
8/10/2021 Lecture 2 Introduction to Psychological science Chapter 1
11/10/2021 Lecture 3 History of Psychology Chapter 1
13/10/2021 Video Evolution of Mind and the Brain
15/10/2021 Lecture 4 Research methods I Chapter 2
18/10/2021 Lecture 5 Research methods II Chapter 2
20/10/2021 Lecture 6 Research methods III Chapter 2
22/10/2021 Video Stanford Prison Experiment
25/10/2021 Lecture 7 Neuroscience and Behavior I Chapter 3

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27/10/2021 Lecture 8 Neuroscience and Behavior II Chapter 3
29/10/2021 HOLIDAY
1/11/2021 Lecture 9 Neuroscience and Behavior III Chapter 3
311/2021 Video Selected videos on the brain
5/11/2021 Lecture 10 Attention and Consciousness Chapter 5
8/11/2021 Lecture 11 Consciousness Chapter 5
10/11/2021 Lecture 12 Sleep & Dreams I Chapter 5
12/11/2021 Lecture 13 Sleep & Dreams II Chapter 5
15/11/2021 Video Consciousness
17/11/2021 Lecture 14 Learning I Chapter 7
19/11/2021 Lecture 15 Learning II Chapter 7
22/11/2021 Lecture 16 Learning III Chapter 7
24/11/2021 Lecture 17 Language I Chapter 9
26/11/2021 Lecture 18 Language II Chapter 9
29/11/2021 Lecture 19 Higher order thinking Chapter 9
1/12/2021 Video Language and decision making
3/12/2021 Lecture 20 Intelligence I Chapter 10
6/12/2021 Lecture 21 Intelligence II Chapter 10
8/12/2021 Lecture 22 Development I Chapter 11
10/12/2021 Lecture 23 Development II Chapter 11
13/12/2021 Lecture 24 Development III Chapter 11
15/12/2021 Video Thinking and learning during infancy
17/12/2021 Lecture 25 Social Cognition Chapter 13
20/12/2021 Lecture 26 Social Cognition- Influence Chapter 13
22/12/2021 Lecture 27 Influence Chapter 13
24/12/2021 Video Prejudice and discrimination
27/12/2021 Lecture 28 Psychopathology I Chapter 15
29/12/2021 Lecture 29 Psychopathology II Chapter 15
31/12/2021 Lecture 30 Psychopathology III Chapter 15
3/1/2022 Video Mental disorders

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 Psychology Department Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy

Academic dishonesty:
The university provides severe penalties for different forms of academic dishonesty, such as cheating, plagiarizing and
falsification or fabrication of data in order to obtain some form of credit that is not properly earned. Any suspected
instance of academic dishonesty will be reported to the academic committees for disciplinary action.

Please note that in case of copied homework/assignments etc. the students who delivered their work to others will
run the risk of being equally punished since it is not a professor’s duty to try to find out who had prepared the original
work as opposed to who had cheated by copying and submitting it as if it were their own work.

Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is using others’ ideas and words as if they are your own, without clearly indicating the source of that
information. Students are continually exposed to other people’s ideas through texts, lectures, talks. When you are
using these materials, it is crucial that you give credit to their sources. If you don’t, you are plagiarizing, which is whether
intentional or unintentional considered a serious academic dishonesty.

Plagiarism (from APA manual, 5th Edition) - directly quoted:

Psychologists do not claim the words and ideas of another as their own; they give credit where credit is due. Quotation
marks should be used to indicate the exact words of another. Each time you paraphrase another author (i.e. summarize
a passage or rearrange the order of a sentence and change some of the words), you will need to credit the source in
the text.

The key element of this principle is that the author does not present the work of another as if it were his or her own
work. This can extend to ideas as well as written words. If an author models a study after one done by someone else,
the originating author should be given credit. If the rationale for a study was suggested in the Discussion section of
someone else’s article, that person should be given credit. Given the free exchange of ideas, which is very important
to the health of psychology, an author may not know where an idea for a study originated. If the author does know,
however, the author should acknowledge the source; this includes personal communications. (pp. 349-350)

Unacceptable paraphrasing occurs when: (from Indiana University web

site: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml )

• "the writer has only changed around a few words and phrases, or changed the order of the original’s sentences."
• "the writer has failed to cite a source for any of the ideas or facts."

Examples: Here’s the ORIGINAL text, from page 1 of Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890s by
Joyce Williams et al.:

The rise of industry, the growth of cities, and the expansion of the population were the three great developments of
late nineteenth century American history. As new, larger, steam-powered factories became a feature of the American
landscape in the East, they transformed farm hands into industrial laborers, and provided jobs for a rising tide of
immigrants. With industry came urbanization the growth of large cities (like Fall River, Massachusetts, where the
Bordens lived) which became the centers of production as well as of commerce and trade.

Here’s an UNACCEPTABLE paraphrase that is plagiarism:

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The increase of industry, the growth of cities, and the explosion of the population were three large factors of
nineteenth century America. As steam-driven companies became more visible in the eastern part of the country, they
changed farm hands into factory workers and provided jobs for the large wave of immigrants. With industry came the
growth of large cities like Fall River where the Bordens lived which turned into centers of commerce and trade as well
as production.

Acceptable paraphrasing:

• accurately delivers the original information, BUT AT THE SAME TIME

• uses the writer's own wording, where both the structure and the words have been modified from the original
source
• provides the reader with the source of the information

Here’s an ACCEPTABLE paraphrase:

Fall River, where the Borden family lived, was typical of northeastern industrial cities of the nineteenth century. Steam-
powered production had shifted labor from agriculture to manufacturing, and as immigrants arrived in the US, they
found work in these new factories. As a result, populations grew, and large urban areas arose. Fall River was one of
these manufacturing and commercial centers (Williams, 1890).

Please also visit the “Avoiding Plagiarism” webpage of the Boğaziçi University Writing
Center: http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/fbuowlstudentsinfo.htm

NOTE: Please be aware that all the written documents you submit will be checked by an online plagiarism detection software.

Consequences of Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism for Undergraduate Students

In case of plagiarism or any other act of academic dishonesty, as a department policy, your act will be reported to the
entire departmental council and you (and/or your group/team) will:
• directly receive a “0” for that assignment or paper
• NOT be able to receive any grade above DD
• NOT be able to take any Readings & Research courses from the department
• NOT be accepted to any of the department’s double-major, exchange, and graduate programs
• NOT receive recommendation letters from any of the faculty members

Note: In case you submitted a paper or assignment as a team, all listed consequences will apply to everyone of the
team since it is not the professor’s duty to investigate who did it and who did not; so please note that you will all be
responsible for each other.