Course Syllabus

FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Instructor: Amna Tufail
Semester: Fall 2023
Office hours: By appointment
Email: [email protected]
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Course Description

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the scientific principles and theories
related to human behavior. The field of psychology is very broad. This course will serve to introduce students to
the different areas within psychology and provide information on the major theories and concepts. We will look
at classic and contemporary issues within the field of psychology, how psychological studies (experimental and
non-experimental) have been conducted to answer these questions, and how new advances in research design,
methodology, and technology have helped expand our understanding. Throughout the course, students will gain
important insights into the complexities of human behavior, and develop the ability to think critically when
reflecting on why people think, feel and behave the way they do. It will also help students to see how
psychology is applied in and relevant to the real world.

Course Objectives

● Understand major influences and contributions towards the field of psychology

● Understand psychological research methods and the nature of experimentation in psychology
● Understand the cognitive, biological and social aspects of perception, memory, motivation, emotion and
language in human behavior
● Understand and identify various psychological disorders
● Understand human behavior in different social contexts
● Integrate and apply the above concepts to practical life
● Critically evaluate theories

Class Expectations

● All students are required to read the assigned chapters/articles before class.
● Students should be prepared for in-class group discussions.
● Use of cellphones is not allowed during class.
● Students should come to class on time.
● Cheating, plagiarism, scholastic dishonesty or other ethical violations will be dealt with according to
IBA policies.
Required Textbook

There is one textbook for this course.

Understanding Psychology By Robert S. Feldman, 2017
Thirteenth edition, Published by McGraw Hill, Companies Inc., 2017

Evaluation of Student Performance

Class attendance and participation (15%) – students are expected to come prepared for class and participate
actively in class discussion. Students should come prepared to weave ideas from the assigned readings into the
discussion. Participation also requires sharing insights or questions about course topics and materials,
responding or providing feedback to questions in response to course activities, comparing and contrasting
course material and integrating knowledge gained from the course material with your own experiences.

Overall, participation is not based strictly on who talks the most. It is based on commitment and investment in
the course as demonstrated by consistency, informed contributions, working well with others, listening
attentively and thoughtfulness.

Reflections (20%) – during most weeks, there will be one class devoted to Discussion. On Discussion days, we
will read and discuss one or more articles. When the chapters are marked “[Reflection]”, you must write a
reading reflection. Your reflection should be half a page to maximum two double spaced pages long, times new
roman pt. 12, and should represent your grappling with the chapter including your questions and/or comments.
For example:

 It might concern an aspect that you are not sure you understand. If so, it is not enough to say that you
didn’t understand X – you must say what you think X means, and why you are unsure of your
understanding.
 It might concern a problem with the theoretical claims, experimental design, or interpretation of the
findings.
 It might draw a connection to another article that we have read, or to a finding or theory that you know
of but that we have not covered.
 It might propose a new study, for example to rule out an alternate explanation or to build on the findings
to address a new research question.

Please submit a hardcopy of your reflection in class on the day we are due to begin a new chapter. Discussions
will be built in a way to make you be an active participant in the class. If you are not attending the class or not
taking part in the discussion, you will not receive the points allocated to the reflections.

Quizzes (20%) – When the chapters are marked “[Quiz]”, there will be a quiz at the beginning of the class.
Quizzes are designed to gauge your understanding of the material covered in these chapters. The format of the
questions may include multiple-choice, true/false, or a combination thereof. The number of questions on each
quiz may vary, but the total marks for each quiz will range from 5 to 10. Your performance on these quizzes
will contribute to your overall grade in the course. The quizzes are less intended to evaluate your knowledge
and more intended to encourage regular engagement with the material.

Midterm written assignment (30%) – You are required to write a midterm paper of approximately 4 to 6 double
spaced pages. In this assignment, you will analyze a movie/book/television character through the lens of
psychological science. Detailed instructions will be posted separately.

Final exam (15%) – Students will be organized into small groups. These groups will collaboratively choose a
core psychology theory, study, or experiment to evaluate. It can also be a theory, study, or experiment that we
did not discuss in class, but which is relevant to psychology. There are two components to the final exam; a 10
minute presentation and a brief 2 to 3 page written report that summarizes their critical evaluation. The final
exam will be assessed based on depth of critical analysis, quality of research and collaboration. Detailed
instructions will be posted separately.

Class attendance and participation 15%

Reflection 20%
Quiz 20%
Midterm written assignment 30%
Final exam 15%
Course Outline

Lecture 1
22nd August, Tuesday
Introduction to the course

Lecture 2
24th August, Thursday
Introduction to psychology: Definition, Psychologists at work, Roots of Psychology, Key issues and
controversies. (CHAPTER 1)

Lecture 3
29th August, Tuesday
Psychological research: The Scientific Method, Conducting Psychology Research, and Critical Research Issues.
(CHAPTER 2)

Lecture 4 – 6
31st August, Thursday, 5th September, Tuesday & 7th September, Thursday
[Reflection] Neuroscience and Behavior: Neurons: Basic elements, The Nervous System and the Endocrine
System: Communicating within the Body, The Brain (CHAPTER 3)

Lecture 7 – 8
12th September, Tuesday & 14th September, Thursday
[Quiz] Sensation and Perception: Sensing the World around us, Vision: Shedding light on the Eye, Hearing and
the Other Senses, Perceptual Organization (CHAPTER 4)

Lecture 9 – 10
19th September, Tuesday & 21st September, Thursday
[Reflection] Personality: Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality, Traits, Learning, Biological and
Evolutionary and Humanistic approaches to Personality (CHAPTER 13)

Lecture 11 – 12
26th September, Tuesday & 28th September, Thursday
Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social cognition, Social Influence ad groups, Prejudice and Discrimination,
Positive and Negative Social Behavior (CHAPTER 17)

[Reflection] Guest speaker session

Lecture 13 – 14
3rd October, Tuesday & 5th October, Thursday
[Quiz] Cognition and Language: Thinking and Reasoning, Problem Solving (CHAPTER 8)

Lecture 15
10th October, Tuesday
Review session

Lecture 16 – 18
26th October, Thursday, 31st October, Tuesday & 2nd November, Thursday
[Reflection] Development: Cognitive Development over the life span (CHAPTER 12)

Lecture 19 – 20
7th November, Tuesday & 9th November, Thursday
[Quiz] Learning: Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Cognitive Approaches to Learning (CHAPTER
6)

Lecture 21 – 22
14th November, Tuesday & 16th November, Thursday
[Quiz] Psychological disorders: Normal versus Abnormal, The Major Psychological Disorders, Psychological
Disorders in Perspective (CHAPTER 15)

[Reflection] Guest speaker session

Lecture 23 – 24
21st November, Tuesday & 23rd November, Thursday
Memory: The Foundation of Memory, Recalling Long-term memories, Forgetting: When memory fails
(CHAPTER 7)

Lecture 25 – 26
28th November, Tuesday & 30th November, Thursday
[Quiz] Motivation and Emotions: Motivation, Human Needs and Motivations, Understanding Emotional
Experiences (CHAPTER 10)

Lectures 27 – 28
5th December, Tuesday & 7th December, Thursday
Intelligence: What is Intelligence, Variations in Intellectual Ability, and Group Differences in Intelligence
(CHAPTER 9)

Group presentations

Lecture 29 – 30
12th December, Tuesday & 14th December, Thursday
Wrap and review