TELECOURSE: Spring, 2004
Instructor: Donald Bowers
Department of Psychology
Office: Br-21
Phone: 215-751-8448
Information about the
course will be sent to you throughout the semester through e-mail. It is imperative that you have access to an
e-mail account. Upon receiving this
syllabus, please send me your e-mail address.
If you move or change your phone no. during the semester, be sure to let
me know. Here is the way to reach me: dbowers@ccp.edu
Welcome to the world of psychology, the
study of human behavior. In choosing to
take this telecourse, you have presented yourself with a challenge, one that
will require great discipline and hard work.
As your instructor, I am here to help you ever step of the way. We will get together on a number of
occasions and I will correspond with you throughout the semester. Be sure to log on to my web page to
see exam review questions, interesting links, and other information for this
course.
Dr. Bowers Web page
It is important that you
have Internet access and an email account.
Text: Psychology
and Life
Publisher: Allyn
and Bacon
Authors: Gerrig and Zimbardo
Study Guide: Psychology
and Life Telecourse Study Guide by
Companion Website for Review and Quizzes
VIDEO LESSONS
The video package for this course consists of a
total of 26 lessons; each video lesson is 30 minutes in length. The
programs are shown on WHYY, Channel 12.
You should watch two 30-minute lessons per week to keep up with the
course. The video you watch may not
correspond directly to the text; it will eventually. Usually WHYY shows
two lessons per week. Channel 53, if you have cable TV, usually shows
four units per week and then repeats the series. You’ll have to check your
local listings for the times. If you
watch the lessons in the library, you will be watching an older series which is
comprised of fewer lessons than the updated TV version. Do not rely on
the library tapes as one or more are usually missing.
When you set your VCR, be sure
you set it for the correct day, after
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Discovering Psychology |
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Channel 12 WHYY |
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Exams:
There will be a midterm and a final exam. Each will be preceded by a review session.
Each exam will consist of 60-75 multiple-choice questions, based on the videos
and the text. The Midterm will cover the
content of the program and reading assignments for programs 1 through 13. The final will cover the content of the
programs and reading assignments from programs 14 through 26.
Journal Assignments:
Journals of all the programs will be handed in on the night of the
mid-term and the final exam. It will
consist of brief (one Paragraph) summaries of each program
watched and a discussion of one main thing you learned from that program. Discuss one experiment/study that was of
particular interest to you in each program. Discuss why you made your choices. How was each program relevant to you? Again,
each 30-minute lesson is one journal piece.
The
first journal should cover programs view up until the mid-term
exam. The second journal should cover
the remaining programs. Your journals must be neatly
typed. Pages are to be stapled. Be sure to include a cover page with your
name on it. Do not turn in a
hand-written journal. Journals will not
be accepted late.
Grades: The exams will be worth 80% of the course grade. The journal will count for 20%.
Midterm Review:
Midterm Exam:
Final Review:
Final Exam:
The sessions will be held in Room S3-14B. (Student life building)
If you want your midterm or final grades sent to you after taking the exams, send me an email message asking for the grade and I will send it to you through cyberspace.
BRING A NO. 2 PENCIL TO
THE MIDTERM AND FINAL!!!
(The exams are marked by computer scanning)
Here is a
list of the 26 half-hour programs and their corresponding textbook
pages.
1.
Past, Present, and Promise - Pages 1-
17
An introduction to
psychology as a science at the crossroads of many fields of
knowledge, from
philosophy and anthropology to biochemistry and artificial
intelligence.
2.
Understanding Research - Pages 18-46
An examination of the
scientific method and the ways in which data are collected and analyzed-in the
lab and in the field-with an emphasis on sharpening critical thinking regarding
research findings.
3.
The Behaving Brain - Pages 47-81
The structure and
composition of the brain: how neurons function, how information is collected
and transmitted, and how chemical reactions determine every thought, feeling,
and action.
4.
The Responsive Brain - Pages 47-81
How the brain controls
behavior, and conversely how behavior and environment influence the brain's
structure and functioning.
5.
The Developing Child - Pages 317-336
The nature versus nurture
debate, and how developmental psychologists study the contributions of both
heredity and environment to the development of children.
6.
Language Development - Pages 336-340
The development of
language, and how psychologists hope to discover truths about the human mind,
society, and culture by studying how children use language in social
situations.
7.
Sensation and Perception, Pages 82-151
How visual information is gathered and processed,
and how our culture, previous experiences, and interests influence our
perceptions.
8.
Learning
- Pages 179-214
Explains the basic
principles of learning and the methods psychologists use to study and modiy
behavior. Demonstrates how cognitive
proceses such as insight and observation influence learning.
9.
Remembering and Forgetting - Pages 215-251
Explores complex mental
process that allows us to store and recall previous experiences. Looks at the ways cognitive psychologist
investigate memory as an information processing task. Discusses the way neurobiologists study how
the structure and functioning of the brain affect what we remember and why we
forget.
10. Cognitive
Processes - P. 252-280
The study of mental
processes and structures – perceiving, reasoning, imagining, anticipation, and
problem solving.
11. Judgment
and Decision Making, - Pages
280-288
Explores the decision-making
process and the psychology of risk taking.
Reveals how people arrive at good and bad decisions. Looks at the reasons people lapse into
irrationality and how personal biases affect judgment.
12. Motivation
and Emotion - Pages 362-405
Delves into the
psychological study of motives and emotion.
Explains the different motives people have for the same behavior.
13. The Mind
Awake and Asleep - Pages 152-178
Describes how
psychologists study the nature of sleeping, dreaming, and altered states of conscious
awareness. Explores the way we use
consciousness to interpret, analyze, and even change behavior.
14. The Mind
Hidden and Divided - Pages 152-178
Considers the evidence
that our moods, behavior, and even our health are largely the result of
multiple mental processes, many of which are out of conscious awareness.
15. The Self - Pages 430-465
How psychologists
systematically study the origins of self-idenity and self-esteem, social determinants of
self-concepts, and the emotional and motivational consequences of beliefs,
about oneself.
16. Testing
and Intelligence - Pages 289-316
The field of
psychological assessment and the efforts of psychologists and other
professionals to assign values to different abilities, behaviors, and
personalities.
17. Sex and Gender - Pages 355-356 and pages 375-383.
The ways in which males
and females are similar and different, and how sex roles reflect social values
and psychological knowledge.
18. Maturing
and Aging - Pages 340-354
What really happens,
physically and psychologically, as we age, and how society reacts to the last
stages of life.
19. The
Power of the Situation - Pages
534-544 and pages 550-558 and pages 564-595
How social psychologists
attempt to understand human behavior within its broader social context, and how
our beliefs and behavior can be influenced and manipulated by other people and
by subtle situational forces.
20. Constructing
Social Reality - Pages 544-550 and 558-563
The factors that
contribute to our interpretation of reality and how understanding the psychological
processes that govern our behavior can help us to become more empathetic and
independent members of society.
21. Psychopathology
- Pages 466-501
The major types of mental
illness, including schizophrenia, anxiety, affective and manic-depressive
disorders, and the major factors that influence them-both biological and
psychological.
22.
Psychotherapy - Pages 502-533
The relationships among
theory, research, and practice, and how treatment of
psychological disorders
has been influenced by historical, cultural, and social forces.
23.
Health, Mind, and Behavior - Pages 405-429
How research is forcing a
profound rethinking of the relationship between mind and body-a new
biopsychosocial model is replacing the traditional biomedical model.
24.
Applying Psychology
in Life - Pages 161-165, pages
246-247, pages 583-595
This program looks at
some of the innovative ways psychology is being applied to practical situation
and professions in area concerning human factors, law, and conflict
negotiations.
25.
Cognitive Neuroscience - Pages 55-81
26.
Cultural Psychology - Pages 456-457, 576-578. and 589-593.
What is culture, and how
does it affect who we are? This program
ex[;pres the mutual interactions between culture, interpersonal interactions,
and individual experience.
___________________________________________________
Good
Luck this semester!