PSYU 101 Course Tips

DATES AND TIMES

In blended courses, instructors are responsible for filling in due dates and times that best match
your schedule.  Please go through each week and fill in that information. If it remains blank, it
will be very confusing to students.

WEEK 1
Important: You will need to assign students to groups of 3-4 for their group research project.
See assignment instructions in the Instructor Resources section.

Chapter 2 & 3 Outlines and Other Resources: Website: 

http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/
Students can easily get bogged down with all the intricate biological functions and miss the
really important points of the mind-body connections. We want to give them an overview.

Topics Covered:

Chapter 2

 How Neurons Communicate

 Neurotransmitters, Drugs and Poisons

 The Nervous System and Endocrine System

 Major Components of the Brain

Chapter 3:

 How we make sense of what we see

Assignments Due:

1. Introduction in the Discussion Board (DB #1).

2. Main DB (DB #2) post is DUE Thursday at midnight, and responses to other students are
DUE Sunday at midnight. The Discussion board is worth 25 points.

3. A 10-question multiple choice quiz about the week's reading is DUE Sunday at midnight
and is worth 10 points.
WEEK 2

Chapter 4 Outline: Website:  http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/

For the classroom you might have students work in groups using these theories applied to some
behavior they are trying to change in themselves or another person...or they may talk about
how one of these learning models was used on them. Although these ideas are part of their
homework assignments, they can't get too much exposure to these concepts, because they can
be tricky to apply.

Topics Covered:

Elements and Procedures of Classical Conditioning:

 UCS and UCR

 CS and CR

 Little Albert

 Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

Elements and Procedures of Operant Conditioning:

 Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment

 Acquisition, Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

 Reinforcement Schedules in Operant Conditioning: Ratio and Interval

Assignments Due:

1. Main DB post is DUE Thursday at midnight, and responses to other students are DUE
Sunday at midnight. The Discussion board is worth 25 points.
2. A 10-question multiple choice quiz about the week's reading is DUE Sunday at midnight
and is worth 10 points.

3. Topic and Population Group Paper is due Sunday by midnight and is worth 50 points
(one submission per group).

WEEK 3

Chapter 5 & 6 Outlines and Other Resources: 

Website:  http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/
Topics Covered:

Memory:

 Short and Long Term Memory

 Encoding Information into Memory

 Retrieving Information from Memory

Thinking and Intelligence:

 Blocks to Problem Solving

 Solution Strategies

 Probability and Hypothesis Testing

 Overview and Explanation of Controversies in Intelligence Testing

Memory is another one of those subjects where experience helps clarify the concepts.  The
following exercises might help in small group discussions:

EXERCISE 1: Short Term Memory

Have a partner list 10 items, not within eyesight. Have your partner read the first item and you
repeat it back. Continue repeating each item until 5 items have been presented by your
partner. Next your partner will read 4 numbers and ask you to recall them backwards. For
example 4, 25, 2, & 8 repeated as 8, 2, 25, and 4. After recalling the 4 numbers backwards, try
to recall the first 5 items in order initially presented. If successful, continue this exercise adding
2 or 3 more items, after which you will again be asked to repeat 4 different numbers
backwards, followed by repeating the items in order once again. Continue until items can no
longer be remembered. How far did you get? Give the name of the procedure according to your
text and describe what is happening.

EXERCISE 2: Encoding
There are many helpful exercises for encoding information. For those that are visual, one way
of remembering items is to place them in a mental picture, so that they can be “seen” as part of
a whole image. This technique can be as creative or as far-fetched as one desires, and the
picture does not have to be a realistic one. It only has to work for one’s memory recall. For
example, one might be trying to remember the terms bird, computer, glass, tree, book, and
clock. The image created might be seeing a bird drinking a glass of water, sitting on a computer,
book in claw, with a clock on the wall. Choose one of the methods used in your book to help
encode information and apply it to help you remember a series of at least 9 items. Describe
how this method enhanced or hindered your ability to remember the items.

EXERCISE 3: Problem Solving.  This puzzle is actually in your book, but it is worth repeating, if
you haven’t seen it first. Hint: It’s about thinking outside of the box:
Connect the nine dots using four straight lines without lifting your pen from the paper or
retracing your lines. How far did you get?  If you weren’t able to connect the dots in four lines:
Hint # 1: As stated above, think outside of the box
Hint# 2:  Literally, your lines don’t have to stay within the confines of the “perceived” box.
Allow your lines to intersect somewhere outside of the “box of dots” so that a straight line can
connect each dot.
Hint # 3: Check the answer in your text. What does this tell you about how we often make
decisions?

EXERCISE 4: Algorithm and Heuristic Problem Solving

1) Consider the problem: A partner chooses a number between 1 and 100. Without guessing,
how many questions with a yes/no answer will it take to most efficiently narrow the options to
a guaranteed correct answer?  Is this an example of an algorithm or a heuristic?
2) How might heuristic problem solving be applied to making judgments about buying a car?
What is another example of this problem solving concept? What are the ramifications of this
approach in human relations?

Assignments Due:

1. Main DB post is DUE Thursday at midnight, and responses to other students are DUE
Sunday at midnight. The Discussion board is worth 25 points.
2. A 10-question multiple choice quiz about the week's reading is DUE Sunday at midnight
and is worth 10 points.

WEEK 4

Chapter 7 Outline and Other Resources: Website:  http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/

For classroom discussions, students can work in groups applying any of these theories to their
own life experiences.

Topics Covered:

Developmental Psychology:

 General Development during Infancy

 Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

 Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Reasoning

 Attachment Styles

 Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

Assignments Due:
 1. Main DB post is DUE Thursday at midnight, and responses to other students are DUE
Sunday at midnight. The Discussion board is worth 25 points.
2. A 10-question multiple choice quiz about the week's reading is DUE Sunday at midnight
and is worth 10 points.

3. Hypothesis/Design/Sample Group Paper is due by midnight on Sunday and is worth 100

points.

WEEK 5

Chapter 8 Outline and Other Resources: Website:  http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/

Topics Covered:

 Psychoanalytic: Freud
 Humanistic: Maslow and Rogers

 Social-Cognitive: Bandura and Rotter

 Trait Theories of Personality

 Personality Inventories and Projective Tests

Classroom Discussion Questions to use at your discretion:

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
1) Give an example other than those in the book for each of the following defense mechanisms
according to Psychoanalytic theory:

Repression:
Regression:
Denial:
Displacement:
Sublimation:
Reaction formation:
Projection:
Rationalization:

2) What are the main contributions of Freud’s theory of personality?

3) What are some of the main criticisms of Freud’s theory of personality?

SOCIAL-COGNITIVE THEORY
1) Give an example of external locus of control and internal locus of control. What are the
ramifications of these concepts for a person’s motivation to take on a difficult project?
2) How does external locus of control contribute to learned helplessness? Does depression have
anything to do with these concepts? Please explain.

TRAIT THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

Consider the Big Five Personality Trait Dimensions: Choose a person (carefully and
appropriately) or a character in a movie who you can evaluate along these dimensions.  Give
examples of each dimension.

Assignments Due:

1. Main DB post is DUE Thursday at midnight, and responses to other students are DUE
Sunday at midnight. The Discussion board is worth 25 points.
2. A 10-question multiple choice quiz about the week's reading is DUE Sunday at midnight
and is worth 10 points.

WEEK 6

Chapter 9 Outline and Other Resources: Website:  http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/

Topic Covered:

 Conformity Theories
 Complying Theories

 Obedience Theories

 Group Dynamics and Influences

 Attribution Theories

Classroom Discussion Questions to use at your discretion:

1) Discuss and give an example of normative social influence. This can be something you have
read about, experienced for yourself, or observed in a group.

2) What compliance technique(s) might a car salesman use to make the deal? Have you ever
experienced this?

3) Give a real-life example for each of the following techniques:

 Foot-in-the-Door
 Door-in-the-Face
 Low-Ball
 That’s not All
4) Explain the common themes of Milgram’s study on obedience, the “Astroten” study and the
Jonestown massacre. Discuss another example of destructive obedience.

5) Discuss social loafing and give an example.

6) Discuss group polarization and groupthink and give examples.
7) The Fundamental Attribution Error is common, and it has significant implications for how we
see others and ourselves. Why might we act with exactly the same behavior as another person,
yet see ourselves as justified and the other person as having some deficiency?

Assignments Due:

1. Main DB post is DUE Thursday at midnight, and responses to other students are DUE
Sunday at midnight. The Discussion board is worth 25 points.
2. A 10-question multiple choice quiz about the week's reading is DUE Sunday at midnight
and is worth 10 points.

3. Literature Review Group Paper is due by midnight on Sunday and is worth 100 points. 

WEEK 7

Chapter 10 Outline and Other Resources: Website:  http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/

Regarding the class presentations, they are meant to be an enjoyable exercise. If they are too

cumbersome, you can always delete this assignment or have the presentations in groups if
students want to work together on a particular topic.

Topics Covered:

 Diagnosis and Classification of Mental Disorders

 Cautions in Labeling

 Three Major Categories of Disorders: Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders and

Schizophrenic Disorders

 Medical and Psychotherapeutic Treatment Approaches

Assignments Due:

1. Main DB post is DUE Thursday at midnight, and responses to other students are DUE
Sunday at midnight. The Discussion board is worth 25 points.
WEEK 8

Chapter 1 Outline and Other Resources: Website:  http://www.worthpublishers.com/griggs/

Many students see research as boring and irrelevant, so you might try to think of some ways to
make it interesting and applicable. At this stage, the main thing to convey about research is
understanding how to isolate certain variables to be studied, while minimizing bias. You might
have students group together to talk about how they would design a study for some particular
issue. Once they start trying to isolate the particular variable to be studied, while trying to
control the influence of all the other variables, they will understand why a good study is so
difficult to design.

Topics Covered:

Four Major Research Perspectives:

 Internal Factors: Biological and Cognitive
 External Factors: Behavioral and Sociocultural

Research Methods:

 Descriptive
 Correlational

 Experimental

How to Understand Research Results:

 Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

 Normal and Skewed Distributions

Assignments Due:

1. The Week 8 Final PowerPoint presentation and Zoom video recording is due by Sunday
midnight and it is worth 100 points.
2. The Peer Assessment Form will be completed by each student to evaluate each group
member and their level of participation throughout the term. They will receive 20 points
for completing this form and submitting it. It is due by midnight on Sunday.