Psychology 110.6 Course Syllabus 2010/2011

Course Name: Introductory Psychology 110.6 Section 97

Academic Year: Fall / Winter 2010 / 2011

Biographical Information Originally from Southern Ontario, where he earned his living as guitarist and singer, Br. Kurt enterered the Benedictines in 1983, becoming a fully-professed monk in 1987. He earned a B.A. Summa Cum Laude in Philosophy from St. John's Collegeville Minnesota, and an M.A. Magna Cum Laude in East/West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco. He is currently Project Director for the Loehr Organic Project, and the Abbey Webmaster. He recently completed his term as President of the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate.

Time & Place: Tuesdays 9:00 to 11:50 am. Room 301 Michael Hall Muenster

Course Description: An introduction to the study of individual differences in behaviour and cognition, with an accent on the neuroscientific underpinnings of human experience.

Required Reading: Myers, David G. Psychology 9th Ed. Worth Publishers ISBN: 1-4292-1597-6

Course Objectives

Psychology 110.6 is a course intended to survey the entire field of psychology. Since psychology is such a large area of study, it would do to define it in relation to the other social sciences. Broadly defined, psychology is the study of human behaviour and mental processes. Another way of looking at it:psychology is the study of individual differences among human beings, as well as their behaviour in a variety of contexts.These definitions allow us to examine not only the latest research on the brain, but also the most ancient beliefs about human nature as well.

Our main text –Psychology, Ninth Edition (Myers, 2008) is designed to focus our attention on the biological and developmental bases of psychological realities. Simply put, the text's approach can be summed up as: "Where is it in the brain?" For each three-hour session we will do group work on an up-to-date web article dealing with one of the four main topics: Critical Thinking in Psychology; Mathematical Modelling in Psychology; Evolutionary Psychology; and Technological Neuroscience. After that we will discuss the Myers text, highlighting each chapter, and finishing with a multiple-choice drill from the Myers 9th Edition website: http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/myers9e

At Hallowe'en time, we will have an in-class Parapsychology experiment, which will allow us to look at Mathematical Modelling in Psychology.

New This Year

A note on class participation:
Now that you are adults, you may find other activities in your life conflict with your ability to attend in body a particular lecture in Psychology 110.6. With current technology, that is no longer a problem. This year you will log on to the Psychology 110.6 forum when class begins; whether you are physically present or not. This of course assumes that you have either a laptop or a cell phone with internet access.

There are four writing seminars, at which attendance is mandatory. That means you are expected to attend in body, or log on to the forum through the internet. At each writing seminar, you will be expected to create and submit a text specific to the seminar. All four seminars constituted ten per cent of your grade.

Exams and Writing Assignments

Examination Regulations

Students will be subject to Examination Regulations on incomplete course work if the required elements are not completed. In addition, students are responsible for determining whether they have completed the appropriate prerequisites for the course. Credit for this course will not be granted without previous completion of the prerequisites or permission of the Department.

Academic Honesty

Plagiarism is defined by the University of Saskatchewan as the presentation of the work or idea of another in such a way as to give others the impression that it is the work or idea of the presenter. Plagiarism in the age of the Internet is a topic of concern to all serious students. Because of the long essay section of the midterms, it is possible to create a 'fingerprint' of writing style that will make copying of the work of others quite difficult. For more information on this important matter, access the link for the University of Saskatchewan Academic Honesty documents: http://www.usask.ca/university_secretary/honesty/

Assignment and Examination Marking Schemes

Midterm examinations are divided into three sections: Multiple Choice, worth 40 points; Short Essay, worth 10 points, and Long Essay, worth 10 points. Multiple Choice questions are derived from the Myers Test Bank, and Short Essay questions from our Web Articles. The Long Essay question will deal with an over-arching topic in during a six-week course period: for example. the acquisition of language during the course of human evolution, and its place in understanding human behaviour. The final exam is twice the length and twice the value of a midterm, and is worth 40% of your final grade.

There are two connected writing assignments: the Movie Review and the Term Paper. These two assignments will be the culmination of your work in the Writing Seminars, and will be typed paper-format. You must follow the American Psychology Association guidelines for referencing source documents; that is one of the goals of the Writing seminars. The source URL can be found at: http://www.apastyle.org

The paper documents are graded in five sections, each worth 12 points:

Introduction and Conclusion;

Verbatim (in the Movie Review), Topic A (in the Term Paper);

Real World Example (in the Movie Review), Topic B (in the Term Paper);

Character Effectiveness (in the Movie Review), Topic A x Topic B (in the Term Paper);

Reference List.

You are free to chose a movie title of your choice, provided that it contains a character with a psychological struggle (or a disorder) worthy of two papers. Your term paper will be an-depth study of the struggle (or disorder). Both papers are double-spaced, and a minimum of eight pages, not including the title page and the reference list. The due dates are in the following tables. A paper can be handed in on the due date until midnight. Papers can be submitted either to me during the appointed class time, and at the Main Office outside of class time.

Course Calendar

Readings in both the Myers text and web articles will be posted no less than three days before the class; students are expected to read ahead so as to contribute to group work. The rule about information regarding exams is that if it is on the web site, you can expect to find it on the exam. Any notes written in class during discussions that aid student performance will be uploaded to the web site also.

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