Prof. Deborah Bryant
Email: dsbryant@rci.rutgers.edu Office: Tillett Hall 515 (LIV)
Office hours: by appointment

Required Textbook: Nairne, J. S. (2006).  Psychology:  The Adaptive Mind, 4th Edition.

Strongly suggested (meaning that after the first exam will you want it because you’ll realize it will help you):  Study Guide to accompany Nairne, 4th Edition.

Course Overview:
This course is designed to introduce you to major topics in psychology and help you begin to appreciate the complexity of your thoughts, feelings and behavior. We will look at historical theories of psychological phenomena as well as new research and their implications. We will examine brain anatomy and physiology and how these translate into behavior.  By the end of the course you should be more aware of where your own thoughts, feelings and behaviors are coming from, more appreciative of the origins of the feelings and behaviors of others, and better able to distinguish genuine psychological science from pseudoscience and folklore.

Grading:

Exams
There will be four noncumulative exams during the course.  Each exam will be worth 75 points.  Questions will include information covered in any assigned texts as well as any additional information presented in lectures; therefore, attending lectures can be to your benefit.  Remember to bring several sharpened #2 pencils to each exam, as answers written in pen or crossed out and corrected can be misread during scoring and can easily result in your failing to receive credit for correct answers.  Make-up exams will be given only in cases of medical emergency that have been related immediately to the Psychology Department and can be documented by the student.

Paper
Students will also be required to write a paper for this course. For the paper, think about the last five years of your life and how you have developed as a person.  Be sure to consider physical changes, as well as changes in your thoughts, feelings, and behavior.  Imagine yourself in another five years, and describe what further changes you expect in your physical condition, lifestyle, relationships, ideas, emotional state, and behaviors.  Compare the changes that have taken place in your life with the topics described in your textbook and in lecture.  Read at least two journal articles related to a topic you have chosen to discuss that relates some of the ideas discussed over the course of the class with experiences that you have had personally.  These articles must be from a professional psychology journal (such as those accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA)).  APA journals can be found in the periodical section of the library, or some can even be accessed on the internet.  Be sure to include a bibliography of all references cited.  This paper should be about 7-10 pages in length, double-spaced with one-inch margins and Times New Roman 12-point font.  The paper will be worth a maximum of 75 points.

The following grading scale will be used:  100-90% = A, 89-85% = B+, 84-80% = B, 79-75% = C+, 74-70% = C, 69-60% = D, 59% and below = F.

Experiment Participation
Research is an essential part of the field of psychology and it is important for students to be exposed to either actual participation as a subject in an experiment or to learn from technical articles how research is done. Therefore, all sections of general psychology require either 5 credits of experiment participation (called RPUs) or a paper assignment. To sign up as a subject for these experiments, or to learn the detailed requirements for the paper assignment, click on ‘Register for Experiment Participation’ in the undergraduate links above. Failure to complete this portion of the course requirements will result in a deduction from your final course grade that could lower your final grade a full letter grade (i.e., A to B, B to C, etc.)

Extra Credit
There will be no extra credit opportunities offered for this course. Please keep in mind, when studying for your exams, that poor performance will remain with you.  I understand the desire to seek to elevate your grade at the eleventh hour by performing extra credit activities, but any requests to do so will be denied.  This is in fairness to your classmates who have not permitted themselves to fall into a similar predicament.  Keep up with your coursework.  Period.

Class cancellations:

In the event that a class is canceled, you will receive an email from me.  I have access to class lists and can easily notify everyone of a cancellation.  If you ever come to class and a notice has been posted outside the door (especially on exam days) even if it looks professional, don’t believe it.  Someone just isn’t prepared for the exam and doesn’t want to take it.  Class will be held unless I have notified you via email or the university has officially closed.  If you leave because of a notice such as this you will NOT be allowed to make up the exam.

Contact:
The best way to contact me is by email, or before or after class.  I try to check my email three times a week, but scheduling can prohibit this, and there can be a lot of volume (if I have hundreds of students), so don’t save your questions until the last minute, since my reply might come too late to help you.  If you need to meet, contact me to schedule an appointment.
Assignments:

**Note that this is not your regular classroom; you must come to SCOTT HALL 123 to turn in your paper.