TEXT: Psychology (mypsychlab) Custom Ed. by Wade & Tavris, 2008 . If you want to use the original 2008 hardback edition that's fine - you can use their online generic Study Guide then click on Test your knowledge of Psychology

Textbooks are available at our bookstore.  Copies of the text are on reserve at the Cabrillo College Library.

TESTING: There will be four multiple choice tests, so you'll need four Apperson answer sheets. Be sure to bring a #2 pencil to each test. Cheating: During tests try to sit so that every other seat is empty. Put away all notes and books. Turn off your cell phone. NO talking. It is your responsibility to make it abundantly clear that you are not cheating. Anyone caught cheating will receive an F in the class.
How to take a test

GRADING:   There will be three tests (300 points total) and a comprehensive final exam worth 200 points. Each test will cover the material from the readings and lectures since the previous test. The content of the final will contain approximately ¼ new material the rest will be previous material.

How to study for a test.

You will also be required to participate for one hour in an experiment for the Research Methods class (10 points). This experience is intended to give you a better understanding of the scientific basis of the material covered in this course. Sign-up sheets and descriptions of the experiments will be posted on the bulletin board outside of the psych lab (Rm 401 - on the ocean side). If you have personal objections to participating in scientific research, an alternate activity will be made available. You must arrive for an experiment on time.  If you wait 15 minutes for the experimenter and the study does not take place, leave a message on the large table in the Psych Lab at the front of the room and write my name and note the date and time of your scheduled experimental session.  You will still get credit for the full time of the study.

       
You can take this course for a Credit/No Credit grade. To receive a "Credit" you must complete the course with a "C" or better. If you want this option tell me by October 4th. There are NO make-up tests during the semester. Make sure you see me if you must miss a test. If you do miss a test see me immediately.

Your grade will be calculated based on a total of 510 points as follows:

    A = 90% -100% =  459 to 510 pts.

   B = 80% - 89%  =  408 to 458 pts.

    C = 70% - 79%  =  357 to 407 pts.

     D = 60% - 69%  = 306 to 356 pts.

     F =   0% -  59%  =    0 to 305 pts.

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RESPONSIBILITIES: It is essential that you attend every class meeting. I expect each of you to keep up with the reading and to be prepared to discuss the material in class.  You are responsible for the material presented in class (and for any changes to the schedule). If you miss class, it is your responsibility to get the missed material from a classmate, review it carefully, and come to my office hours if you have any questions. After three absences you can be dropped from class. However, do not assume you will be dropped and remember to drop yourself via HawkTalk or WebAdvisor if you wish to withdraw from the course. 
It is your responsibility to come to class on time in order to minimize interruptions. Respect each other’s rights.  Turn off the sound on cell phones.  Students walking in late to class or leaving early tend to disrupt the whole class, and chatting, text messaging, playing games, listening to music, and eating noisily during lecture are also distracting. 
I encourage you to bring in newspaper or magazine articles and TV or radio stories on relevant topics to share with the class. I also encourage you speak up during class with relevant questions.

NEED HELP? Got a problem? Need to talk? Get in touch with me! When you have a question, don't hesitate to ask. I encourage students with disabilities, including “invisible”disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning, and psychological disabilities, to explain their needs and appropriate accommodations to me during my office hours.  If you need accommodations, please bring verification of your disability from the Learning Skills Program (479-6220, for students with learning disabilities or attention deficit disorder) or Disabled Student Services (479-6379) and their recommendations for accommodating your needs. If you think you may have a disability that might require accommodations for this class, please contact the Learning Skills Office and make arrangements to visit them as soon as possible. Both of these programs are staffed by great people. Their lives are dedicated to helping others, and that means you. Please talk to them and see how they can help.  

Here's a site with information on Attention Deficit Disorder

I'm in Room 457B.  If you aren't free during my office hours make an appointment (479-6489).tefetter@cabrillo.edu
Don't forget the tutorial center in the library Rm 1080-drop in or call to see about times (479-6470).

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TEST 1

1 What are the different kinds of Psychologist? What's a Psychiatrist & Psychoanalysist? How do they differ?
History– Know the founders, subject matter, and methods of the following schools: Structuralism; Functionalism; Behaviorism; Gestalt and Psychoanalysis
More recently   – What’s Humanistic Psych? Cognitive Psych?

2 Research Methods
Naturalistic Observations, Case Studies, Surveys, Tests, Archival research, Experiments.
Know their strengths and weaknesses. When each should be used:
Correlation (strength & direction) Can correlation prove causation? Why?
Experimental Method
What are Independent and Dependent Variables? Make up some examples using several hypotheses.
What are Operational Definitions? Give several examples
Why do we need Control and Experimental Groups? What's a placebo?
What’s the difference between Random Selection and Random Assignment?
What is the Double Blind method and why is it used? What is Meta-analysis?
Statistics
What are Descriptive Stats? What do Measures of Central Tendency tell us?
What are the Mean, Median & Mode? When should we NOT use the mean?
What do Measures of Variability tell us? Define Range & Standard Deviation
Describe "The Normal Curve."  What is reliability and validity?
What are Inferential Stats? What is the difference between a Sample and a Population?
p < .05 (What does this mean in everyday language?)

Genetics What does DNA do? What are the 4 nucleotide bases? What’s a codon? What does a codon code for?  What’s a gene? What does a gene do? Why is the sequence of amino acids that make up a protein so important?  What’s a mutation? Find a couple of examples of behavioral disorders caused by mutation? What is the difference between MZ (monozygotic) and DZ dizygotic twins? What is the logic behind twin studies? How does evolution work? What is natural selection? To what environment are modern humans adapted?

 
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General Psychology                                                                              Terry Fetterman

TEST 2

Neuroscience Identify the parts of a neuron – soma, axon, dendrites, myelin, and axon terminal. What is myelin/ What is gray matter? What's a synapse? What are neurotransmitters and what do they do?

Central Nervous System
BRAIN (Know the parts and their functions)
medulla, pons, cerebellum, ARAS (reticular formation)
Thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary
Cerebral hemispheres, Cortex: occipital, parietal, temporal and frontal lobes
Corpus callosum, limbic system (hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate cortex, hypothalamus)
Spinal Cord (and reflexes)
Peripheral Nervous System
Reflex Arc - Sensory & Motor Neurons (Somatic Nervous System )
Autonomic N S - Sympathetic – fight or flight / Parasympathetic – rest and digest

Know what common drugs are in each classification below? What are their behavioral effects?
Stimulants; Depressants (Sedatives); Opiates; Hallucinogens

Sensation What are the parts of the eye?  In what order does light passes through them?
What is the visual spectrum? Long wavelengths are seen as what color? Short?
The retina is made up of three basic layers of cells; receptors, bipolar and ganglion cells.
Rods and cones are the photoreceptors. Which are associated with the fovea, detail,
brightness and color?  Which are associated with peripheral vision, sensitive, dark and
no color?  Where is the blind spot and what causes it?

What are the parts of the ear?  What's in the outer, middle and inner ear?
What and where are the receptor cells? What are frequency, amplitude, pitch, and loudness?
What frequencies can humans hear?

Taste and Smell are the chemical senses.  Where are the receptors?  How do they work?
What’s a pheromone?

Somatosenses, Kinesthetic and Vestibular senses What are they? Where are they?

Perception Is perception of depth innate or learned?  Support your answer.
What does research such as the visual cliff studies tell us about depth perception being learned or innate?  What are the monocular cues for depth?  What are the binocular cues for depth?
What are top-down and bottom-up processing?
Why do we see Illusions? Illusion 1  Illusion 2  Do you think different cultures see them differently?  Why?
What are Perceptual Constancies?  What is selective attention?
What kinds of things (Internal and external, learned and innate) affect what we attend to,
and therefore our perception of the world? What is the mere-exposure effect?
What effects can subliminal messages have?  Can they make you buy a product, or have more self-esteem, or a better memory?

Why do we sleep?  What are the differences between REM and NREM?
What are the theories about dreams?  What’s a lucid dream?

What is Hypnosis? How can it be used?  Does it help eyewitness testimony?

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General Psychology                                                                            Terry Fetterman

 TEST 3

What are habituation & sensitization? What is the survival value of each?
What is preparedness?  How might it be adaptive?
Describe Classical Conditioning and give several examples
What are US, CS, UR and CR’s and how are they related? Use them in your examples.
Describe Operant Conditioning and give several examples.
What are the differences between Classical and Operant, including being active or passive, voluntary or involuntary?
Which would be involved in learning the consequences of a behavior? Find an example.
Define reinforcement. What’s the difference between positive and negative reinforcement, and between negative reinforcement and punishment?
Give some examples of primary and secondary reinforcers.
Define the following in your own words and give a good example of each.
Generalization, discrimination, extinction and shaping.
What are the different schedules of reinforcement?  What effect do they have on learning and extinction?
What is observational learning? Modeling the behavior of others

Stereotyping - Where does it come from?  Is it good or bad?  Does it have evolutionary significant?  (Does it have survival value?) Can stereotyping be reduced?

How do STM (working) and LTM differ?
What is Rehearsal?  What’s the importance of the hippocampus in memory?  How do procedural (implicit) and declarative (explicit) memory differ?  What are Episodic and Semantic Memory?
Give examples of state and context dependent memory.
Explain encoding, storage and retrieval
What are Semantic Networks? What does it mean to say that memories are Reconstructions?  How good is eye witness testimony?
What are the theories forgetting?  What are the ways to increase memory or decrease forgetting?

Cognition - What are Concepts and Prototypes?
What are the “Problems in Problem Solving?” – Why can functional fixedness, mental set, confirmation bias, and belief preservation cause problems?
What is the difference between algorithms and heuristics?
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General Psychology                                                                         Terry Fetterman

FINAL  All the "old stuff" and  Personality and Social Influence

Schools of Psych (founder, method),
Methods (esp. Scientific Method), Brain (structures and functions)
Structure and function of: eye, ear.  How do taste and smell work?
What about perception is learned and what is innate?
Monocular and binocular depth cues, Perceptual constancies
What gets your attention and why?
Which drugs are; stimulants, depressants, opiates or hallucinogens and
what are their behavioral effects?
Preparedness / Simple learning (habituation & sensitization)
Classical Conditioning (Respondent) - Passive, Involuntary
US, CS, UR, CR
Instrumental Learning (Operant) - Active, Voluntary, Consequences
Reinforcement (Positive and Negative)
Punishment / Schedules of Reinforcement / Shaping
Generalization, Discrimination and Extinction
Social Learning – Observational
How does STM (working memory) differs from LTM
Rote and elaborative rehearsal/ Mnemonics
Declarative and procedural memory
Retrograde and Anterograde Amnesia/ Consolidation
False memories/ Reconstructive memories
State and context dependent memories
Homeostasis, Negative Feedback
Hunger, VMH
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Motivations)
Autonomic Nervous System/Biofeedback/Polygraph (Lie Detector)
Theories of Emotion
Common-sense/James-Lange/Cannon-Bard/Schachter (Cognitive)
Ekman (Facial Feedback Theory) Where’s the damned bear?

What is Homeostasis?  Describe negative feedback using the ideas of needs; set point/optimal level, sensors and corrective mechanisms.
What are needs and drives?  What are incentives?
Hunger - What is the function of the hypothalamus (VMH)?  Is obesity genetic or is learning involved? What nonhomeostatic mechanism is involved in hunger? What are eating disorders?
Sex drive – why do animals have it?  What’s the evidence concerning the origin of homosexuality? (Genetic or environmental?)

What’s the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? (Can one affect the other?)
Describe Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Motivations) – What’s on the bottom (most basic) and what’s on the top? How did Maslow think it worked? Describe the need for affiliation, intimacy, achievement.

What is learned helplessness?  What kind of attributions are internal vs. external; stable vs. unstable?
What is self-efficacy and how do you think you might  increase it?

What is the Opponent-Process Theory of emotion?
Explain how addiction might be explained using the concept of emotional contrast.

Briefly describe the following theories of emotion:
Common-sense;  James-Lange; Cannon-Bard
Schachter's Two-Factor (Cognitive) Theory
Ekman Facial Feedback Theory
What is supported by the evidence?

Are facial expressions of emotion innate or learned?  What evidence leads you to your conclusion?

Review the Autonomic Nervous System (sympathetic/parasympathetic) What is Stress?
What is Biofeedback and what does it allow you to do?
How does a polygraph (Lie Detector) work?  Does it detect lies?

Describe the fundamentals of the major theories of personality
Explain the Fundamental Attribution Error
Influence – Compliance: Conformity (Asch), Obedience (Milgram)
Helping – Bystander effect / Diffusing of responsibility, Task Load
Cooperation and competition
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotyping
Changing Attitudes

Attraction – Why do we like who we like?
Proximity, similarity, competence, etc
Theories of Liking – Reinforcement, Equity, Exchange, etc
Lookin’ good
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HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

Essentially the philosophers and physiologists were asking the same question from opposite ends. Psychophysics took up this challenge using information from both. They tried to "measure the mind", using experimental methods on psychological phenomena. They carefully examined the relationship between stimuli and sensation. Determining absolute threshold is an example.

2 Functionalism  1890’s
a) founder – William James
b) zeitgeist – survival of the fittest, adaptation
c) definition – how the mind works
d) method – introspection, animal observation
e) importance – learning, study animals and kids

3 Behaviorism  1915
a) founder – Watson
b) zeitgeist – science, logical positivists
c) definition – objectively observable behavior
d) method – experimental
e) importance – threw the mind out of psychology, made it a science
 

4 Gestalt  1915
a) founders – Koffka, Kohler, and Wertheimer
b) zeitgeist – field theory
c) definition – find innate tendencies to perceive patterns
d) method – naive introspection
e) importance – “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”

5 Psychoanalysis  1880’s
a) founder – Sigmund Freud
b) zeitgeist – puritanical sexual attitudes
c) definition – unconscious conflicts cause abnormal behaviors
d) method – free-association, dream analysis, slips of the tongue
e) importance – unconscious, sex, childhood, psychiatry, art & lit

Hysteria – and the use of hypnosis and free-association
Id, Ego, and Superego  -   Repression
 1)  id-ego conflicts cause anxiety
 2)  to control anxiety,  thoughts and feeling are repressed (to the unconscious)
 3)  as “pressure” builds up it is released as symptoms, dreams, and Freudian slips
 
 

Psychology – 1960’s to the present: A quick and dirty overview

1  Psychodynamic (includes Freud and those who came after him) – human nature is basically bad.  Unconscious motivation

2  Humanism (Maslow) – human nature is basically good. Human potential movement.

3  Behaviorism (Watson, Skinner) – people have no “nature,” they are neutral. Humans are molded by rewards and punishment: learning is everything.

From traditional behaviorism evolved Social Learning – direct rewards and punishment remain important but the power of observational learning is recognized.

Cognitive Psychology develops from these ideas and knowledge about the information processing capabilities of the computer. The "Cognitive revolution" continues to this day. Cognitive psychology focuses on mental processes such as perception, learning, memory, decision-making, and problem solving.

Back to the beginning
 
 

           ~ Preparing for a Test ~
 

            SIMULATE THE REQUIRED BEHAVIOR

                When studying for an examination, the most effective approach is to closely simulate the behavior you'll ultimately be required to perform. For example, if you're studying for a difficult closed-book exam in Social Psychology, it's important that you practice answering difficult social psychology questions without access to your notes or textbook. Equally important, you need to practice answering questions that someone else has chosen. After all, you're not the one picking items for the exam, so asking
yourself questions that you have made up on your own is usually a poor way to simulate the behavior called for on an exam. That's one of the reasons why workbooks and test batteries are so essential when preparing for the Graduate Record Examinations -- they provide you with difficult practice items that someone else has written.

                For introductory courses like Social Psychology, one of the best study strategies is a two-tiered approach in which you study alone at first and study with others afterward. During the first phase, carefully review your notes and the textbook, perhaps creating flashcards to help you remember definitions, theories, and other important material. Then, once you feel confident of the material, study with your group (one or more classmates.) During this second phase, trade off asking each other questions without allowing the person who is answering to look at the textbook or any notes. If you are studying with more than one partner, just form a circle and rotate the role of question-asker.

                This kind of studying is highly efficient because it allows others to pick the material, thereby exposing gaps in your knowledge (just as an exam does). Moreover, if the questions people ask are comparable in difficulty to exam questions, you'll be able to estimate your performance on the upcoming exam (e.g., if you can answer 80% of the study questions, you'll probably get about 80% correct on the exam). The only serious drawback to this method is that it can be a waste of time if you or your partners haven't finished reading all the material in advance.
 

            SPACED PRACTICE IS BETTER THAN MASSED PRACTICE

                Suppose you have a tight schedule and can only afford to spend 6 hours studying for a major exam. One common question is whether you should "mass" the hours together right before the exam (to keep the material fresh in memory), or whether you should "space" the hours apart over a few weeks. Quite a bit of research suggests that spaced practice is generally superior to massed practice. For example, all things being equal, you'll get more mileage out of three 2-hour blocks than one 6-hour block, even though the total amount of time studying is identical in both cases. So if you have a particularly busy schedule and can only spend a few hours studying, be sure to use them well. Late-night cramming is usually a recipe for poor retention, mental and physical fatigue, and careless mistakes on the exam.
 

               DON'T PSYCH YOURSELF OUT

                It's been demonstrated that when you carry extra emotional baggage -- "I've got to ace this exam" or "If I screw up, I'll never get into graduate school" -- performance suffers, so don't lose the big picture. The most constructive approach is to focus on the task at hand, put in as much time studying as you can afford, and just do your best. Returning to the luggage metaphor: all the excess baggage can be dealt with later, if you're so inclined. Unpack after the exam.

                A certain amount of anxiety is normal (or even useful) when studying for an exam, but if you feel overwhelmed or feel that uncontrollable emotions are interfering with your exam performance, you may be suffering from test anxiety. If you think this is a possibility, you should alert your instructor and ask for help. Your instructor may be able to recommend techniques to reduce your anxiety (e.g., relaxation training) or may allow you to take the exam in a less stressful environment (e.g., by moving you to a quieter room, or giving you a few extra minutes to complete the exam). In a case of severe test anxiety, the worst thing you can do is to continue taking the exams without notifying your instructor that there is a problem.
 
 

            ~ Taking a Test ~
 

            LOOK OVER THE TEST AND PACE YOURSELF

                When you first get the exam, don't just plunge into answering test items. Instead, thumb through the pages and get the lay of the land. How many questions are there? How many different sections? Are some questions worth more points than others? Once you've looked through the entire test, try to estimate what pace you should maintain in order to finish approximately 10 minutes before the period is over. That way, you'll have a little time at the end to check for careless mistakes like skipped questions or misread items.

                Some of the worst problems occur when students enter a time warp and forget to check the clock, or when they spend too much time on one or two difficult items. To prevent this from happening, one trick you can use is to scribble the desired "finish time" time for each section right on the test booklet. That way, you'll be prompted to check the clock after completing each part of the exam.
 

            TAKE SHORT BREAKS

                Try taking a few breaks during the exam by stopping for a moment, shutting your eyes, and taking some deep breaths. Periodically clearing your head in this way can help you stay fresh during the exam session. Remember, you get no points for being the first person to finish the exam, so don't feel like you have to race through all the items -- even two or three 30-second breaks can be very helpful.
 

               DON'T SKIP AROUND

                Skipping around the exam can waste valuable time, because at some point you will have to spend time searching for the skipped questions and re-reading them. A better approach is to answer each question in order. If you are truly baffled by a question, mark the answer you believe to be right, place a question mark next to the question, and come back to it later if you have time. Try to keep these flagged questions to a bare minimum (e.g., fewer than 10% of all items).
 

            FIRST ANSWERS ARE OFTEN CORRECT

                Don't speed through the items with the idea of going back to change answers you are unsure of. If you take time to think through each question, your initial answer will usually be the correct one. Although there are always exceptions to this rule, the best approach in most cases is to carefully answer each question the first time you go through the exam, and change only those answers that are clearly mistakes.
 

            WHAT TO DO IF MORE THAN ONE ANSWER SEEMS CORRECT

                If you're utterly stumped by a question, here are some strategies to help you narrow the field and select the correct answer:
                   1. Ask yourself whether the answer you're considering completely addresses the question. If the test answer is only partly true or is true only under certain narrow conditions, then it's probably not the right answer. If you have to make a significant assumption in order for the answer to be true, ask yourself whether this assumption is obvious enough that the instructor would expect everyone to make it. If not, dump that answer.

                   2. If you think an item is a trick question, think again. Very few instructors write questions intended to be deceptive. If you suspect that a question is a trick item, make sure you're not reading too much into the question, and try to avoid imagining detailed scenarios in which the answer could be true. In most cases, "trick questions" are only tricky because they're not taken at face value.

                   3. If, after your very best effort, you cannot choose between two alternatives, try vividly imagining each one as the correct answer. If you are like most people, you will often "feel" that one of the answers is wrong. Trust this feeling -- research suggests that feelings are frequently accessible even when recall is poor (e.g., we can still know how we feel about a person even if we can't remember the person's name). Although this tip is not infallible, many students find it useful.