General Psychology and Introduction to Profession

PSY 125

Fall 2018

Instructor: Elena Kosterina, Ph.D.

kosterina_e@auca.kg
Office hours: By appointment; Room 315

eCourse code: PSY125

Textbooks:
1. Main course textbook: Psychology by Spielman, R. M., from OpenStax. Available on
the E-course in General section.
2. Morris, C. G., & Maisto, A. A. (2005). Basic psychology. Pearson/Prentice Hall.
3. Santrock J. (2000). Psychology. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6th addition. (or any
similar book; ask in AUCA Library)
4. Hock, R. (2012). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of
psychological research. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. (see posted on
the e-Course in the General section of the course)

Course Description
This introductory course will help you get a basic understanding of psychology as field of
knowledge. This course will help you clarify your motivation of choosing psychology as your
major. You will acquire basic knowledge of mental processes and behavior and will also learn
necessary principles of research design in psychology. You will be exposed to a variety of topics
in psychology, including history of psychology, psychological research methods, biological bases
of behavior, social psychology, abnormal psychology, psychological counseling and many more.
This course will also provide a background for more advanced courses in psychology.

Course Objectives
1. Provide overview of key topics in psychology and facilitate their discussion in class
to develop a critical understanding of these topics.
2. Provide an overview of practical implications of psychology as science and art, and
provide an introduction to professional pathways in psychology.
3. Develop critical thinking in application to strengths and limitations of psychological
science.
4. Provide students with basic understanding of history of psychology and
contemporary applications of psychological knowledge.

Grading Policy
Letter Grade Percentages
A 91-100%
A- 86-90%
B+ 81-85%
B 76-80%
B- 71-75%
C+ 66-70%
C 61-65%
D+ 56-60%
D 51-55%
D- 46-50%
1
 F <45%
Case-by-case decision; student is to complete at least 50% of the
I work required and to complete the rest by the deadline
established by the University.
X Withdraw by professor.
W Withdraw.

* Note: the obtained points will be rounded to determine the letter grade – for example: 90,55 will be rounded to
90% and “A”, but 90,45 points will be rounded to 90% and “A-”.

Missed classed and Make-up Exams

Students are expected to attend all classes. Missing up to two classes will not affect the
final grade if students provide appropriate documentation. Students are expected to provide valid
documentation clarifying the reason for their absence shortly after the class that they missed.
Students are not allowed to miss exams. Only in cases of medical emergencies upon
timely provision of valid documentation students will be allowed to re-write one exam during
semester (either midterm of final). The maximum exam grade in this case will constitute 80% of
the original grade.

Cheating policy
Students are expected to review the AUCA Student Honor Code for cheating and
plagiarism policy.

Course evaluation criteria:

Please note: Not all course evaluation criteria will be presented in class by the professor,
students are responsible for reading this syllabus carefully and for checking the e-Course version
of this course to be sure they catch up with all the class requirements.

Attendance - 5%
Students are expected to attend all sessions. Up to two missed sessions may be forgiven and
made up, provided that the students are able to provide documentation clarifying the reason for
their absence. In cases of missing classes, students will be responsible for studying the material
themselves and for completion of the homework assignments on that day independently. Coming
in 15 or more minutes late qualifies as missing a class.

Participation – 9%
Students are expected to actively participate during both lectures and seminars. Students will be
offered additional readings, discussion questions, small group discussion assignments and
homework assignments to help them demonstrate their knowledge of the material discussed and
engage them into discussions in class. Many of the in-class assignments and homework
assignments will qualify as Participation.

Presentations - 20 %
Every student will be offered to prepare ONE presentation in class (in groups of 2 students).
Topics will be chosen from the book “Forty studies that changed psychology” by Roger Hock,
which is posted at www.e-course.auca.kg in the general section of the course. Your class quizzes
and exams will cover all the topics of students’ presentations, so, please be attentive while
listening to your classmates and please read carefully the assigned readings from the Hock book
in advance. The list of topics for presentations will be provided in class by the professor for the
students to sign up.

Presentation guidelines:

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 All presentations must be based on the readings from the Hock book. You can use
additional reliable sources of information in addition to the reading for the Hock book.

Hock, Roger (2005). Forty studies that changed psychology: explorations into the history of
psychological research. Fifth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersy, USA
(The book with readings can be found on the e-course in the General section)

Slides should include:

1. Clear statement of the article title, topic, year of publication and authors.
2. Summary of the research method discussed in the article: hypotheses, setting, methods
and participants.
3. Summary of results.
4. Summary of discussion section.
5. Description of the contribution the study made to the science of psychology.
6. Brief discussion of long-term implications of the study.
7. Two-three discussion questions or an assignment offered to the class (class can work in
small groups or discuss questions in a larger group).

Presentation requirements and scoring criteria:

- Sending the presentation slides and discussion questions to the instructor at least a week
in advance – 4 points
- 15-20 minutes of clear full summary of the reading – 10 minutes
- Offering two not obvious discussion questions to the class and leading a 10-minute
discussion of small groups practice – 5 points
- Posting the presentation slides to the e-course (see the link in the general section) – 1
point

Pop-Quizzes – (8 x 2% each) = 16%

Students will be offered 8 pop-quizzes on seminar classes to help them learn the material
assigned. Some of the questions used in the quizzes will be used in the midterm and final exams
in modified form. The students might not be warned about a quiz in advance.

Homeworks – (5 x 2% each) = 10%

Students will be expected to complete 5 homework assignments during the semester. The
homework assignments can be found on the e-Course, each assignment corresponding with a
specific topic. Not each topic would have an assignment attached, so students are kindly asked to
look carefully and attentively for each assignment to make sure they complete all of them.

Exams (20% x 2) = 40%

There will be two major exams during the semester (midterm and final). Students will be
provided with Study Guides for both exams in advance and will be expected to study
independently. The exam questions will be primarily multiple-choice and a few open questions.
Exams will include a few bonus questions as well, which will give the students an opportunity to
make up for up to 2 points that will be added to the exam grade. Students have an option to not
complete the bonus questions.

Class Schedule
(The order of topics is tentative and can be modified by instructor without notice not later than two weeks in
advance)
Dates Topic

Sep 3 NO CLASS
3
 Sep 5 Introduction to the course.
Lecture: What is Psychology? Psychology as a science, brief introduction to
the history of psychology. Psychologist as a profession.
Sep 10 Seminar: What is psychology?
Sep 12 Seminar: Research methods in psychology.
Sep 17 Seminar: Research methods in psychology.
Sep 19 Lecture: Biological bases of behavior.
Sep 24 Seminar: Biological bases of behavior.
Presentations: Reading 2: More experience = bigger brain (see the Hock
book on e-course)
Reading 3: Are you a “Natural”?
Sep 26 Seminar: Sensation and perception.
Oct 1 Seminar: Sensation and perception
Presentation topics:
What you see is what you've learned (on the e-course only!)
Reading 5: Take a long look
Oct 3 Seminar: States of consciousness. Sleep.
Presentation topics:
Reading 6: To sleep, no doubt to dream
Oct 8 Seminar: Memory (50 minute class)
Oct 10 Seminar: Memory
Presentation topic:
Reading 16: Thanks for the memories
Seminar: Learning
Presentation topics:
Reading 11: Knock wood!
Reading 12: See aggression… do aggression!
Oct 15 Seminar: Learning
Oct 17 Seminar: Learning
Presentation topics:
Reading 11: Know wood!
Reading 12: See aggression…do aggression!
Oct 22 Seminar: Thinking and Intelligence
Presentation topics:
Reading 13: What you expect is what you get
Oct 24 Seminar: Human Development
Reading 17: Discovering love.
Oct 29 Seminar: Human Development
Presentation topics:
Reading 19: How moral are you?
Reading 20: The effect of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the
aged
Oct 31 Preparation for Midterm Exam
Nov 5-11 MIDTERM EXAM
Nov 12 FALL BREAK
Nov 14 Seminar: Motivation and Emotion
Nov 19 (50-minute class)
Seminar: Motivation and Emotion
Presentation topics: Reading 22: I can see it all over your face
Reading 24: Thoughts out of tune
Nov 21 Lecture: Theories of Personality
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Nov 26 Seminar: Theories of Personality
Presentation topics: Reading 25: Are you the master of your fate?
Reading 26: Masculine or Feminine… Or Both?
Nov 28 Lecture: Abnormal Psychology
Dec 3 Seminar: Abnormal Psychology
Presentation topics: Reading 30: You are being defensive again
Dec 5 Seminar: Social psychology
Dec 10 Seminar: Social Psychology
Presentation: Reading 39: To help or not to help
Reading 40: Obey at any cost?
Dec 12 Lecture: Introduction to psychotherapy approaches.
MIDTERM EXAM – date to be announced