Psychology 7: Introduction to Experimental
Psychology
Spring 2005
Syllabus
Tuesday, Thursday 12:30-1:45 PM
Location: Engineering I 1104
Professor Jim Roney
Office room #: 3243
Phone #: 893-4871
Email: roney@psych.ucsb.edu
Office hours:
Thurs. 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, or by appointment.
Course
website: http://mentor.lscf.ucsb.edu/course/spring/psyc007/
Teaching
assistant: Meghan Roarty; roarty@psych.ucsb.edu
office hours Mondays 12:30-2:30 pm; Bldg
429/Room 111B
Exam
Dates: First Exam: Tuesday, April 19
Second Exam:
Thursday, May 12
Final Exam: Monday,
June 6 12:00 PM
Course
Description and Goals:
The purpose of this course is to introduce
you to the diverse field of Experimental Psychology. One aim of the course is
to familiarize you with the methods of psychology, including hypothesis
testing, operational definitions of variables, experimental design and control,
surveys, case studies, quasi-experimental designs, statistical inferences, and
so on. Another aim is to expose you to a variety of past and current
psychological research. In the end, we hope that you will have some of the
basic tools necessary to critically evaluate reports, scientific and otherwise,
about the mind and behavior.
Course
Methods in Behavioral Research;
Eighth Edition. Paul Cozby. Published by McGraw-Hill 2004.
Additional journal articles will
also be assigned for reading during the course, and they will be made available
in a pdf format on the course website.
Course
Requirements and Grading:
Exam #1: 25%
Exam #2: 25%
Final Exam: 50%
Grading Scale:
As you may know,
your performance in this class will affect whether you will be eligible to
declare a major in Psychology. Consequently, the Psychology Department has
determined that this class be graded on a curve. The department grading policy
appears below:
Psychology Department Equalization of Grading Policy
In order to ensure that grading procedures are consistent across
all courses required for entrance into the major, the Psychology Department
utilizes a grading policy that is applied to all pre-major courses (Psych 1, 3,
5 & 7). This policy ensures that all students will be evaluated
consistently across different classes and different instructors.
According to this policy, approximately 10-15% of the class can receive a grade of A- or
higher, approximately 40-45%
of the class can receive a grade of B- or higher, and approximately 80-85% of the class can receive a
grade of C- or
higher. Thus, the final distribution of
grades in this course will be based on these guidelines and on overall student
performance. This means that your final grade will be based both on your
absolute performance and on your performance relative to other
students in the course.
Exams:
All three exams consist of
multiple-choice questions based on both the lectures and readings. The first
two exams will be given during class time and the third exam will be given
during the final exam period. Exam 1 will cover material from the first unit,
Exam 2 will cover material from the second unit, and the Final Exam will be
cumulative. ANY material covered in the lectures or reading may appear on the
exam. Some of the material in the reading will not be covered in the lecture
and some of the material in the lecture will not be covered in the reading. You
are responsible for both!
Exams must be taken on the date
scheduled. No make-ups of the multiple-choice test are given for any reason!!
If you must miss an exam due to some emergency, then you can make it up by
taking an essay exam. All make-up exams are ESSAY in format and must be taken
during a make-up period convenient for the teaching assistant. Make-up exams
must be completed prior to the next exam.
No use of notes is allowed for any
exam. Please be aware that cheating on an exam results in a grade of 0 for the
exam and reporting the incident to the University Ethics Board. Cheating
includes use of notes, books, or copying from someone else’s exam.
Course
Website: The power point
slides used for the lectures will be made available on-line after each lecture.
SCHEDULE OF CLASS
TOPICS AND
|
DATES |
CONTENT |
Chapter |
|
|
Unit 1 |
|
|
|
|
3/29 |
Course
introduction |
|
|
|
3/31 |
The Science of
Psychology |
1 |
|
|
4/5 |
Hypotheses and
Variables |
2 & 4 |
|
|
4/7 |
Research
Ethics |
3 |
|
|
4/12 |
Measurement |
5 |
|
|
4/14 |
Evolutionary
Psychology |
|
Buss 1989 |
|
4/19 |
EXAM 1 |
|
|
|
Unit 2 |
|
|
|
|
4/21 |
Observational
Research |
6 |
|
|
4/26 |
Survey
Research |
7 |
|
|
4/28 |
Survey
Research |
|
|
|
5/3 |
Experimental Design |
8 |
|
|
5/5 |
Experimental
Research |
9 |
|
|
5/10 |
Experimental
Research |
|
TBA |
|
5/12 |
EXAM 2 |
|
|
|
Unit 3 |
|
|
|
|
5/17 |
Complex
Designs |
10 |
|
|
5/19 |
Quasi-Experimental
Research |
11 |
|
|
5/24 |
Description
and Correlation |
12 |
|
|
5/26 |
Statistical
Inference |
13 |
|
|
5/31 |
Research
Applications |
|
TBA |
|
6/2 |
Review session |
|
|
|
|
EXAM 3 |
|
|