Psyc 1301: Introduction to psychology
Crn: 21215
Meets: MWF 10:30 am- 11:20 am in LART 107
Instructor: Randy Taylor, M.A. Contact: rstaylor@utep.edu Office hours: Psyc 209 MW from noon-1 pm, or by appointment.
Text: Myers, D. G. (2014). Psychology (10th ed). New York: Worth Publishers.
ISBN-13: 978-1-46416474-3
ISBN-10: 1-4641-6474-6
(If it is cheaper an earlier edition will probably work just fine)
Course Objective: The purpose of this course is to provide students with exactly what the title states, an introduction to psychology. Over the course of the semester students will be exposed to a variety of topics such as the history of psychology and the study of human behavior, an examination of current models and theories of psychology and modern methods for scientific research in psychology. Additionally, upon completion of the course students should see improvements in critical thinking and information processing skills as they relate to information about psychological topics encountered on a day-to-day basis.
Course Structure: This will be a lecture style course in which students will complete assigned readings outside of class and attend lecture to gain insight and take additional notes. Student performance will be assessed through four multiple-choice exams. Material for these exams may be drawn from lecture, readings and any supplemental readings/activities/or multi-media used in class. Grading: Final grades will be based on two factors, performance on the four exams and completion of the research participation requirement (explained below). Each exam will be worth 25% of your grade and students will be graded on a traditional 100 pt scale (100-90 = A, 89-80 = B, 79-70 = C, 69-60 = D, 59-0 = F). At this time there are no planned extra credit opportunities but this may change.
Exams: All exams will be multiple choice and non-cumulative. All exams will be completed using scantron sheets. Students are required to provide their own scantron sheets and pencils for the exams.
Final Exam: At this time I have not scheduled a final exam (5th exam). One option would be to schedule a final exam, which would be mandatory and longer than the previous exams and would also cover material from the entire course (cumulative). This final would allow students to essentially drop the lowest of all their exam grades. I will let the class decide if we take this route. Research Participation: As we will discuss in class, modern psychology is based on scientific research and the vast majority of this research is conducted at research universities such as UTEP. Students will be required to get involved in this research process by participating in psychological research studies here at UTEP. See the research handout for full information.
Students will be required to complete 8 research credit-hours by the end of the semester. Suggestion: DO NOT WAIT until the end of the semester to complete your research credits.
To sign up and receive credit for research participation visit https://utep.sona-systems.com and click on request account. From there, fill out the required information. Note: you will be asked to select which intro psyc course you are enrolled in, be sure you select the correct course (the one that says Taylor) or I will not be able to see any credits you have completed. Also be advised: if you sign up for a research session and fail to show up or properly cancel you will have credits deducted from your total. Students who cannot, or choose not to, participate in research will complete an alternative research based term paper. If you will be utilizing this option you must let me know by the third week of class. Failure to complete this requirement will result in the loss of 1 letter grade on your final course grade (ie an A would drop to a B).
Policies: Academic honesty: Students are expected to know and follow University policy regarding academic dishonesty (including but not
