PSY 402: ADVANCED LAB IN SOCIAL
& PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
Instructor:
Connie Wolfe, Ph.D.
Office: 215
Moyer
Email: wolfe@muhlenberg.edu
Office Hours: see web page
Phone: 484-664-3686
Note: You are required to visit the
class web page.
Check weekly/daily for revisions, updates, announcements, assignments,
etc.
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/psychology/cwolfe/PSY402/PSY402.html
Course
Description and Objectives
This course is designed to be your "capstone" or
"culminating" experience as a psychology major. Although you
will learn new information about social/personality psychology and
research methods, the most important objective for the class is to give
you a chance to hone the skills you've learned throughout your
time at Muhlenberg. I hope that this course helps your
knowledge coalesce and helps you realize your strengths and weaknesses
as you prepare for graduate school or a career. The "skills"
and "knowledge" that I am referring to are captured best in the
Psychology Department Mission Statement, found on-line at
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/psychology/mission.htm. Please review that mission statement and
consider where you stand right now, and what areas you may want to
focus on particularly this semester.
This is a 400, senior-level course. As such, you
are expected to take primary responsibility for your learning. I am
here less as an instructor and more as a mentor or guide. You should
expect to participate in discussions, complete and reflect on readings
in preparation for class, and keep a careful eye on the "big picture"
with respect to when various assignments are due. You should also
expect to be proactive in your learning: ask me questions about things
you don't understand, visit my office hours, generalize feedback from
one assignment to other parts of the course. Because this course will
be largely discussion-oriented, regular class attendance is
essential.
Readings
- Required:
Custom reader available in the bookstore only
- Recommended:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
(2009, APA, 6th Edition- 2nd printing) ISBN: 978-1-4338-0561-5
- Other readings will be in the library or distributed via
Blackboard PDF
COURSEWORK
10%
Mastery Test/Assignment
In
order to quickly get all students in the class up-to-speed, the course
will begin with a mastery test. Your first mastery test is today (the
first day of class). The test covers basic topics you learned in
PSY 104. There will be a second opportunity to take a mastery
test
the 4th week of classes. Those
scoring below 80% on the first test must take the second test. Other
students may also take the second test, but the first test score will
then be thrown out - even if it is higher than your second test score.
All
students who score below 80% on the second test (including those who
voluntarily took the second test) will have to complete an alternative
assignment consisting of problem sets; the score on this alternative
assignment will be the
final grade for the Mastery category.
15%
Exam
We
will be
reviewing & expanding on topics such as ethics,
reliability/validity, experiments, power and effect size.
We will also cover multiple regression and ANCOVA as more
sophisticated analysis strategies.
There will be one exam covering ethics and all topics (including SPSS
skills).
35%
Group Project Paper (an individual assignment); 15% Group
Project Presentation
The
focus of the course will be your semester-long group project.
We will be
taking class time to go through various texts for topic ideas, discuss
more specific research areas, and debate the import and rigor of your
hypotheses. We will also discuss your group's final design ideas and,
later in
the semester, your results. Each group will give an oral presentation
at Psychology Research Day, and each individual member of the group
will write an empirical paper about the project. It is obvious that there will be significant
collaboration when designing your study, gathering background readings,
running the study, analyzing results and interpreting their meaning.
Thus, there will be a great deal of shared information. However, each
individual member of the group needs to independently write his or her
paper. You may not discuss drafts, # of references or pages, wording or
phrasing with any group member. Please see me or a Writing Tutor for
assistance.
15% Participation
You'll note that a great deal of this course
involves independent work, class participation, and team collaboration.
As such, "participation" counts for a larger percentage of your grade
than is typical (in my courses). Participation includes the
traditional measures of involvement in discussions and demonstrable
completion of readings. Participation also includes, however, completion of homework assignments, ratings
provided by your project collaborators, and participation (as subjects)
in no fewer
than two Advanced
Lab or Research Methods student projects.
10%
Reflection Essays
In
the spirit of this course as a culminating experience (and as a Writing
Intensive course), I am assigning a formal essay in addition to your
empirical paper. After participating in and presenting at Psychology
Research Day, I would like for you to use those experiences
as a starting point for a critical analysis of your intellectual
development throughout college. This paper should be approximately 4-5
pages, double-spaced. Although it is a "personal" essay, please note it
is also a formal
essay which requires a thesis (I have given you a topic, but you must
develop a thesis
and properly explain/defend that thesis).
Graded for accuracy of summaries (use of vocab terms), development of
thesis, sophistication of thought and clarity of writing
style. Please include the following
elements:
- summarize
the topic of your own presentation plus one other presentation AND one
poster (use proper citations for conference presentations)
- comment upon, and compare and contrast those projects on criteria
such as the topics, the rigor and import
of the hypotheses, design
sophistication
- the larger purpose of the essay is to recall your own
experiences as a psychology major from first year to now;
discuss
what information and skills you have learned, the "habits of thought"
you have developed for analyzing and evaluating information, and, more
generally, the ways in which your analysis of and attitudes or values
about your social world have (or haven't) changed as a consequence of
your study of psychology as part of a liberal arts education. This
analysis may include positive and negative changes (as judged by you),
and also areas (skills, attitudes) in which you feel you need more
development. Feel free to use the mission statements of the college
and/or psychology department for inspiration.
*Note:
You will not receive an
"A" or
equivalent on any homework
assignment or paper that has more than three grammatical, formatting,
punctuation or other syntax errors. Common errors are failing to follow
assignment directions, failure to properly cite your sources, noun-verb
agreement, a confusion
of "then" and "than," and failure to use apostrophes appropriately.
Proof-read and spell check everything you hand in and work on these
basic writing skills. Remember there are writing tutors at the Writing
Center who can help (as can I). If you are working regularly with a
writing tutor (or me) and I have documentation of this, I will be more
lenient.
*Note: I
expect you to
use proper APA
style on all
assignments. Consider especially in-text citations, presentation of
statistical
information, reference page formatting, structure and headings for
empirical papers, avoidance of language biases, basic grammar and the
use of Endnotes, Tables, and Figures. Using proper APA style is largely
a matter of careful proof-reading and study of the APA manual. It is
tedious and extremely detailed work, but it is neither complex nor
difficult. Given that, failures to follow APA style will be
harshly
evaluated.
Final Course Grades will be assigned as follows:
Excellent A+ (98-100%); A (93-97%); A- (90-92%)
Good B+ (88-89%); B (83-87%); B- (80-82%)
Acceptable C+ (78-79%); C (73-77%); C- (70-72%)
Poor D (60-69%)
OTHER
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Email, Blackboard,
and Class Website
You are responsible for maintaining a functioning
email account -
preferably the account the college provided to you. Check your email
often. I use
Blackboard to email the class, so be sure that the email address listed
in Blackboard is accurate and functioning. If you wish to send me email, please note that I
have
spam-protection software which may automatically delete your message if
you are using a domain other than muhlenberg.edu (e.g., optline.net or
comcast.net).
Note: You must also check the class
web page
regularly for schedule revisions, assignments, etc. http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/psychology/cwolfe/PSY402/PSY402.html
Sustainability Practices
I encourage you to print all assignments (except
your final paper) double-sided or print on the back of scrap paper. As
long as your work is legible and I have space to write comments (i.e.,
double-space most work), I encourage you to use whatever practices you
can to reduce the amount of paper used on campus. Please also remember
to recycle discarded paper AND to consider placing usable, one-sided
discards in a scrap pile next to public printers so that others may
also re-use paper. The printers in Moyer Hall may be loaded with scrap
paper already; this practice is encouraged.
Teaching Philosophy
I want you to
learn about psychology, and grow to love learning. I'll do my best to
facilitate that. Please remember, however, that how much you get out of
this class (or any class), is largely up to you. With respect to
grading and assignments, I try to treat students fairly and provide as
much information as I can regarding grading criteria, expectations and
deadlines. However, I am also very strict regarding these issues. I
will do my best to assist you but you must alert me to potential
problems early on and stick to any alternate plans we make.
I’m happy to discuss ideas, or review outlines or drafts for
any assignment. I’m also happy to help you prepare for tests
or double check your understanding of the material. However, please
remember I can be much more flexible if you discuss problems with me
before an assignment is due - not after.
Late
Assignment Policy
-
Assignments
are due at the
beginning of our class meeting on the due date. After starts at 1 day
late.
-
I no longer accept assignments via e-mail unless you
receive special approval.
-
Except
in the case of documented
emergency situations:
-
One
letter grade
deduction (or equivalent)
each day an assignment is late.
-
I
will not accept any
assignment more than a week late.
-
Missing
any exam,
or in-class assignment will result in a zero for that
assignment.
-
Missing
the
presentation at Psychology Research Day will result a zero for that
assignment
-
If
you have a documented
emergency and you contact me as soon as humanly possible about a missed
assignment or class, I will work with you to somehow make-up that
assignment.
-
"A
Virus Ate My
Homework” ~ "My Internet is Broken"
Computer
problems do not relieve your responsibility for turning in work on
time. I suggest that you aim to have each assignment completed one full
day before it is due to allow for all the various last minute problems
that may arise. Note: Hard drives and USB drives DO fail and become
less reliable with age.
Be sure to have backups and printed copies of everything. Last - note
that the computers and printers in Moyer do not have routine OIT
support and, thus, there is no guarantee that they will be working or
that printers will have paper. As such, leave yourself plenty of time
to print your assignments - including time to move to a different
computer lab if needed (2nd floor atrium, Moyer 026, Moyer 309, the
library, Ettinger). Now you know.
Academic
Honesty
- In this course, aside from the in-class exams,
"cheating" would consist primarily of collaboration between students on
work that is supposed to be completed independently. Please be quite
careful to avoid this, and assume that ALL individual assignments are
to be completed individually unless I say otherwise. You are expected
to
know and follow the Academic Behavior Code of Muhlenberg College (
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/mgt/deanst/handbook/Iabc2.pdf). You
are responsible for keeping drafts, references, disk and backup copies
of all of your written assignments until final grades are
completed. Any cheating will be reported to the Dean, and
strictly dealt with via a failing grade on the exam, assignment, or a
failing grade for the course depending on the severity of the
infraction. If an infraction in this class is not your first on record,
you may be expelled from the college.
- You
should note that paraphrasing
is not an appropriate way to use sources in a
paper. You are required
to follow the guidelines about paraphrasing described at the following
website: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/psychology/paraphrasing.htm.
If
you engage in inappropriate paraphrasing, you will have to re-write the
assignment and your grade on the assignment will be lowered by 2 letter
grades. This includes the reflection essay and final paper.
Inappropriate paraphrasing on these assignments will likely result in an
"X" being reported as your final course grade (an X indicates
administrative reasons why your grade is not yet reported). For
graduating seniors, this may
affect your official graduation date, although you will probably still be
able to walk at the ceremony.
Classroom
Needs
If you have any specific needs (e.g. related to vision, hearing,
learning, or medical conditions, etc.) or any religious or cultural
practices that I can help accommodate, please let me know by the second
week of class so I can make the appropriate arrangements. In
particular, if you feel you may need an accommodation based on the
impact of a disability should contact me the first week of class to
privately discuss your specific needs. You should also contact The
Office of Academic Support Services (x3433). Remember, you need to tell
me what you need and give me reminders in enough time to arrange it.
I’d like to make this class one in which everyone can learn
and develop a passion for psychology!