PSYCH 1101: INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY
Fall 2021 Syllabus
Course Description
Why are people superstitious? Why do people blush when they are embarrassed? What is intelligence (and are IQ tests a good way to measure it)? Why don't psychopaths feel guilty when they harm others? How reliable are childhood memories? Why do we laugh? Why are some people extroverted and some people shy? Are there any universal emotions? While questions like these have been asked for centuries, psychology has begun to provide answers to these—and other questions about the human mind—by applying the tools of scientific investigation.
In this course you will receive a broad introduction to the science of psychology: from the history of the field and its major advances, to the latest research on topics such as perception, memory, intelligence, morality, personality, mental illness, language, and judgment. You will also learn about the tools and methods psychologists use to investigate the mind, such as observing how the mind of a child changes and develops over time, looking at people across cultures, measuring brain activity, and experimentally manipulating features of a person's environment.
Instructor
David Pizarro
Email: prof@cornellpsych.net
Course Structure
This course consists of five parts:
Lectures: M/W/F 10:10-11:00am Bailey Hall. Attendance is strongly encouraged. PDF versions of the lectures will be posted shortly after class here.
Textbook: This year we have adopted a custom, open, and free textbook from the Noba Project. Your primary access of the textbook will be via Perusall (see below), but you can access the full course textbook (and save as PDF to store locally or print) here: http://noba.to/nu6k3sq5
***important note*** While sometimes there will be overlap between the content of the lectures and the textbook readings, this will not always be the case. The lectures will cover things that are not in the textbook, and the textbook will contain information that is not presented in the lecture. You are responsible for knowing the content from both.
Weekly Reading assignments (starting the week of September 20): We will be using an online annotation service called Perusall, which contains the textbook (and is the primary place you should be accessing the text). Each week you will be collaboratively annotating the textbook with a small group (12-16 people) from the course. Please submit each weekly assignment on Monday following each week (before 11:59pm ET). For instance, the reading assignment for week 4 (i.e., the first assignment) is due Monday, September 20. We will send out an announcement with more info before your first assignment.
Weekly Quizzes (starting the week of September 20): Each week we will create a quiz (administered via Canvas) consisting of 7-10 multiple choice questions covered by the readings and the lectures from the previous week. You will have a 24-hour window to complete the qiz outside of class, and you will have two minutes to answer each question once you begin the quiz (students with SDS accommodations will get whatever extra time specified in their letter. SDS letters must be submitted before the first quiz). Each quiz will become available on Monday at 11:59pm ET and is due Tuesday at 11:59pm ET. Each quiz will test knowledge from the prior week's lecture and readings. For instance, the quiz for week 4 (i.e., the first quiz) is due Tuesday, September 21 before 11:59pm ET. We ask that you take these privately and do not communicate with other students in the course. You may, however, use whatever materials you have available. We will automatically drop your two lowest scores as a way to accommodate any emergency situations, illnesses, or just a rough weeks. Here you can see some example questions.
Final Exam (date to be announced): There will be one final, cumulative exam covering the content of the readings and the lectures to be administered during the week of final exams. This will be a multiple choice exam, consisting of somewhere between 50-70 questions.
Grading
Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Reading Assignments: 10%
Weekly Quizzes: 60%
Final Exam: 30%
Extra Credit (5%)
You may participate in psychology experiments for extra credit via the SONA online experiment portal. In SONA, each 1/2 hour of experiment time is worth 1 point. You are permitted up to 5 experiment points for extra credit in this course, and each point is worth 1 percentage point added to your final grade (so you can receive up to 5% extra credit added to your final grade). Information on how to use the SONA system can be found in the SONA participant factsheet on the pages tab. Please note that neither the professor nor the TAs has control over the SONA system (we simply receive a report at the end of the semester with the number of points you've completed). So please direct all questions regarding the SONA system directly to the SONA administrator at sona-admin@cornell.edu .
If you are under 18 you are not legally allowed to participate in experiments. In this case, please email the head TA Andres Montealegre for an alternative source of extra credit.
Final letter grade assignments (grades will be rounded):
A+: 99 and above | A: 94-98 | A-: 90-93 | B+: 87-89 | B: 84-86 | B-: 80-83 | C+: 77-79 | C: 74- 76 | C-: 70-73 | D+: 67-69 | D: 64-66 | D-: 60-63
Psych 1103 Sections
An optional 1 credit discussion section course is available for students already enrolled in Psych 1101. To enroll, the first step is to make sure you are registered for Psych 1103 in student center. These discussion sections will serve as an opportunity to meet with a small group of 12-15 students from Psych 1101 weekly over zoom, and will be led by one of our Psych 1101 class tutors. These discussion sections are designed to enhance learning in the course by employing active learning techniques. Active learning is a well-researched educational approach that can enhance learning outcomes for students. You will work in small groups to complete a variety of activities based on content from the previous week’s lectures. Discussion sections will be an opportunity to deepen your understanding of psychology while having rich and meaningful discussions with your peers. Hopefully, you will bond and make some new friends as well!
Section meetings will not start until after the add/drop deadline, so if you are interested please register via student center and you will be contacted before the sections begin.
Students with Disabilities
If needed, please have a Student Disability Services (SDS) accommodation letter sent early in the semester. If you would like to discuss your arrangements confidentially and privately, please email me for an appointment. If you need an accommodation for equal access, please send SDS an email message at sds_cu@cornell.edu. If the need arises for additional accommodations during the semester, please contact SDS.
Academic Integrity
Please familiarize yourself (if you haven't already) with Cornell's code of academic integrity here: https://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/academic-integrity/code-of-academic-integrity
I ask that you respect your fellow students, TAs, and instructor by adhering to these ethical standards in your work. If you have any questions about whether something might constitute a breach of academic integrity, please do not hesitate to ask one of the TAs or your instructor.
Schedule*
(*subject to changes, please check for updates)
Week 1 (Aug 27) Intro/Welcome
Week 2 (Aug 30, Sep 1, Sep 3)
Lecture: Methods in Psychology Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapters 1 & 2 (Psychology as a Science/Understanding Psychological Research)
Week 3 (Sep 8, 10) (No Class Labor Day Sep 6)
Lecture: The Brain Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapter 3 (The Brain)
Week 4 (Sep 13, 15, 17)
Lecture: Sensation and Perception Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapter 4 (Sensation, Perception, and Categorization)
Week 5 (Sep 20, 22, 24)
Lecture: Sleep and Dreams/Freud/Replication
Reading: Chapter 5 (Sleep and Other States of Consciousness)
Week 6 (Sep 27, 29, Oct 1)
Lecture: Attention and Memory Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapter 6 (Attention and Memory)
Week 7 (Oct 4, 6, 8)
Lecture: Learning Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapter 7 (Learning)
Week 8 (Oct 13,15) (No Class Fall Break Oct 11)
Lecture: Emotions Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapter 8 (Emotions)
Week 9 (Oct 18, 20, 22)
Lecture: Morality Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapter 9 (Morality)
Week 10 (Oct 25, 27, 29)
Lecture: Judgment and Decision-Making
Reading: Chapter 10 (Human Judgment and its Pitfalls)
Week 11 (Nov 1, 3, 5)
Lecture: Intelligence
Reading: Chapter 11 (Language and Intelligence)
Week 12 (Nov 8, 10, 12)
Lecture: Personality Pt. 1-3
Reading: Chapter 12 (Personality)
Week 13 (Nov 15, 17, 19)
Lecture: Two Big Ideas in Social Psychology/Happiness
Reading: Chapter 13 (Social Psychology)
Week 14 (Nov 22) (No Class Thanksgiving Break Nov 24, 26)
Lecture: Humor
Reading: No reading assignment: Thanksgiving Break
Week 15 (Nov 29, Dec 1, 3)
Lecture: Happiness/TBD
Reading: Chapter 14 (Happiness)
Week 16 (Dec 7)
Lecture: Wrapping Up
Reading: No reading assignment