LECTURES Tuesday and Thursday 9:35-10:50 a.m.
DR. OAKLEY RAY
Phone: Day - 343-2068
Night - 269-3529
Office: Room 320, Wilson Hall
Office Hours: Wednesday 9-11:00; Tuesday, 2-4:00
I am usually in my office from 9:00 to 4:00 Monday through Friday. You can just drop in during these hours. When you want to talk with me in my office, it's best to make an appointment. If I am not available, leave your name and phone number. My assistant will make an appointment or call you back to set up a time convenient for both of us.
TEACHING ASSISTANTS:
Name: Bill Hudenko
Office: 426 Wilson Hall
E-mail: b.hudenko@vanderbilt.edu
Office Hours: Tues.12:30-1:30, Wed. 1:30-2:30
Name: Carol Bilbrey
Office: 517 WilsonHall
Phone: 292-4909
E-mail: carol.bilbrey@vanderbilt.edu
Office Hours: Fri. 12:00-2:00
Talk with the Teaching Assistant before or after class to make appointments, or drop in during their office hours. If you do not understand the material in the book or lecture, the time to talk to a Teaching Assistant is before the exam--not after!
TEXT: Basic Psychology: Gleitman et al.; 5th Edition, Norton. Password to excellent website is included in the cost of your textbook.
FORMAT OF THE COURSE
I will lecture each Tuesday and Thursday morning on the topics listed in the Course Schedule. You are responsible on exams for all of the lecture material and for the assigned chapters and videos and handouts. If thereare guest lecturers, you are responsible on exams for their material.
The lectures and the book cover many at the same basic concepts. They do not overlap directly, and this is intentional. Neither one can substitute for the other. That means you need to read the text, and come to class. To make it easier to learn and remember what is discussed in class, you should read the assigned chapters before the assigned date.
You will receive a lecture outline for each lecture. They are to help you. Use them to help you take notes.
INTRODUCTORY COMMENT TO THIS COURSE
The course content is regularly updated and the concepts gradually evolve. The science of behavior has reached a new plateau in the year 2000. We are now officially in The Decade of Behavior. Psychology is exciting and very different from the psychology your parents or older siblings may have studied. Prepare yourself for a treat, and a change in your way of thinking.
A science has four important components: its assumptions; its methods; its content; its uses. A first course should be aimed at the needs of the student. This course is directed toward making you a consumer and a userof behavioral and psychological knowledge rather than a producer of knowledge. As such, it will not concentrate on methods but will emphasize concepts and applications and assumptions.
This is not an easy course. I will work hard to help you learn, butyou must work hard to do the learning. IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IAM TALKING ABOUT, OR WHAT POINT I'M MAKING--RAISE YOUR HAND, ASK A QUESTION. If you are confused, be assured, others are also! It means I am not doingmy job well. I need you to tell me when that happens.
This course is about behavior, and experiences, and feelings. It will increase your effectiveness in dealing with the world by increasing yourawareness and understanding of behavioral principles. I have four specificgoals for you in this course.
1. I expect you to learn a point of view about behavior, a way of thinking about behavior. This point of view includes an appreciation that behavior is lawful and follows rules--some of which we know. It also includes some assumptions about behavior.
2. I expect you to learn a framework for psychological facts, a framework into which you can later add new facts and concepts, from Psychology and other fields.
3. I expect you to learn some facts and many concepts about behavior , experiences, and feelings.
4. I want you to be able to use your knowledge, your understanding of the laws of behavior, to better appreciate the meaning of the behavior, the experiences, and the feelings which all of us generate and see each day.
The exams will test you on the first three goals listed above; onlyyou will know whether the fourth goal has been achieved--you may know thatthe first week of the semester, or you may not know that for several years!
SIX REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE
A. Examinations
1. The examination requirement is that you must take three exams. There are 3 class exams and a final. If you take all 3 class exams, you do notneed to take the final. If you take all four exams, the one with the lowestgrade will be dropped before the semester grade is calculated.
2. Each class exam contains 70 multiple choice questions covering the assigned reading material , video content, and the content for the lectures since the previous exam.
3. The Final exam contains 100 multiple choice questions covering the entire course.
4. Only the Regular Final Exam will be given.
5. All exams have equal weight in determining the semester grade.
6. There are no make-up exams. If you have a conflict between an exam and a religious holiday--talk to Dr. Ray in the first week of the semester.
7. It is essential that you know your Vanderbilt ID number for the exams and that you bring and use a No. 2 pencil for the exams.
8. If you wish to discuss or dispute or debate your score or grade on an exam, you must do it with a Teaching Assistant, and then, if necessary, with me, before the next scheduled exam.
Copies of student answer sheets from each exam are destroyed two days before the next exam. (Those from the final are destroyed during the second week of the next semester.) If you wish to review your answer sheet (and/or your test score for an exam), you must do so before the answer sheet is destroyed.
9. Low Grade on an Exam - If you receive a grade of F on anyof the first two class exams, you must call and make an appointmentto talk with me in my office the week after the posting of the grades.
B. Laboratory Experience
You will be given material which explains quite well the LaboratoryRequirement for this course. You must complete the Laboratory Requirementor the letter grade turned in at the end of the semester will be one fullletter grade lower than that earned on the exams. E.g., if you earned a B+on the exams but did not complete the Laboratory Requirement, a grade ofC+ will be your semester grade.
If you are not credited with the correct number of experiments in which you have participated, please contact Dr. Smith at 2-0065 or at Cynthia Barrett at 2-2874. Neither the teaching assistant, Psychology office staff, nor I have any knowledge of the experimental credits. If you have questions please call the phone number(s) just given to you.
There are two writing requirements for this section of Psychology
101. Both must be completed and turned in on the dates indicated.
The writing is evaluated on grammar and spelling only marginally
(Do not trust spell-check). The crucial evaluation is on the
logical and persuasive presentation of data to support a particular
position on the topic you select and to refute the opposing position(s).
No points are given for selecting a particular position. The
papers must be printed/typed, double spaced, no covers, no less
than 3 and no more than 4 pages, stapled, your name and ID number
at the top of each page, and no less than 4 references. The references
must include the title of the reference and the information necessary
for the reader to locate the reference. (Journal name, volume,
page, date, etc.) The first page of your paper must have the
topic printed at the top. Possible topics will be given to you
two weeks before the papers are due. Together these papers constitute
15% of your semester grade.
To pass this course you must earn at least 2 VANDERBILT CHIPS over the course of the semester. Chips can be earned by asking or answering content (not administrative) questions in class. Chips can also be earned by meeting with the Teaching Assistant during the office hours.
When you have accumulated 2 chips, put them in an envelope with your name printed on it and hand it to the T.A. before or after class. Failure to obtain 2 chips has the same effect on grades as failure to meet the Laboratory Requirement.
You must follow the Vanderbilt Honor Code. The rules for Vanderbilt are the same as they are for life:
You don't use something belonging to, or created by, someone else without asking them and then attributing the idea/material to the originator.
You don't ask for, take, or accept help from another person in completing a task which will be evaluated as your personal product.
You don't let someone else's ideas or work get passed off as your own.
You don't cheat, lie, or steal; you don't borrow without asking permission and then giving credit.
Please bring a No. 2 pencil to class on the last day of class. Course and Teaching Assistant evaluations need to be completed. These evaluations are very important and helpful to the Dean, so please make an effort to come to class that day. I have been told that only a C- or better is converted to a Pass when the course is taken on the Pass-Fail system.