Psychology  .
Department  .

Office Hours:  Mon, Fri:  9:00-9:50 am, Thu 12:00-12:50 pm @ Science Center 127

Introduction

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this course about one of the great mysteries facing humanity.  Perhaps this is the greatest mystery that we will ever explore.  Nothing is more profound than how this 2+ pounds of protein, fat, salt, and other assorted substances give rise to who we are.  The course will confront many details.  They are necessary because no answer to the question posed by this course can be answered by them.  However, do not get lost in them.  They are not the answer.  The answer, of which we have only a beginning of an inclination, will come with integrating the details into the larger question.  You need to push yourself to handle both at the same time.

This course is paired with a course on Biology as part of the Natural World LARD.  As Dr. McDonald did, I would like to quote from the Academic Vision about the Liberal Arts:

The liberal arts are arts suited for free people. The purpose of a liberal arts education is to enable such people to cultivate humanity, to realize their full potential as human beings and as citizens. Accordingly, the liberal arts are designed to equip individuals to develop and integrate every dimension of their own humanity--physical, intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual--and to understand and respect the humanity of others.

This study of biopsychology is all about integration and to live a more integrated life.  We are embodied.  The nature of our bodies do affect and often determine the type of people we are.  In this course we will directly try to integrate knowledge of biology and other fields into an understanding of our own human nature. 

More practically, the knowledge from this course will have great impact on your daily life at some time and also on those you love.  Many medications, many injuries, alter our brain and as a result alter who we are.  You probably went to school with many fellow students with ADHD who were being medicated.  You may know other students here being medicated for depression or anxiety.  You make know grandparents or other family members who have suffered a stroke or Alzheimer's.  The effects of these drugs and the injuries and disease all rest in the brain.  Moreover, our understanding of why they have these effects also rests in the brain. 

So whether you see the course as a means of knowledge about human nature or as a source of practical information, or, even better, both, this course has much to offer.  Keep your curiosity open and remember the big questions.

Objectives

Due to the fact that this course plays many different types of roles in the college, I have grouped the objectives into different categories.  Depending upon the reason you are in this course, you may not see a need for all of the objectives.  However, the objectives all work together and the first two sets of objectives actually are vehicles to support the higher level objectives which are the real reason for taking any course.

Course Objectives: The goals of the laboratory portions of the class are: (1) to gain first-hand knowledge of neuroanatomy, (2) to gain experience in the handling, care, and proper use of laboratory animals, and (3) to acquaint you with some of the behavioral methods used to study brain-behavior relations.

Role of Course in Major: This course is a 200 level laboratory course.  As such it has several purposes: 1) to give you some exposure to the biological side of psychology.  As such this course is paired with sensation and perception.  If you do not take S&P, I give a good coverage of the biological aspects of that topic in this course, which happens to be the part of the central nervous system we understand the best. 2) To give you some basic laboratory experience to assist you in your 300 level psychology laboratory course.  You will be required to do an independent research project in that course so this course needs to give you some background in doing experimental research.

Role of Course in the Natural World LADR:  I will quote here the general objectives for all Natural World courses.

1.      Articulate a central assumption of science: the universe operates according to universally consistent rules, and we can discover these rules by logical thought subject to test through experiments and observations

2.      Recognize that there is no single scientific method, that the scientific enterprise consists of multiple methods and tools of investigation for evaluating ideas, and that all science relies upon the acquisition of evidence obtained through experimentation and observation to test hypotheses and theories rather than upon the acceptance of ideas based on authority

3.      Understand that scientific inquiry is not formulaic in practice and be able to explain how science works as a blend of logic, imagination, and serendipity to produce theories that have both explanatory and predictive power subject to validation by experiments and observations

4.      Explain why no scientific knowledge is considered to be absolutely and completely true, and be able to give examples of how science has historically improved, discarded, and replaced theories by experiments and observations

5.      Explain why many questions and assertions are outside the domain of scientific inquiry and why a hypothesis must be falsifiable through experiments or observations to be considered scientific

6.      Describe the organization of science into distinctive disciplines with different subject matter and research agendas, and be able to compare and contrast the questions and methods of at least two different scientific disciplines through active study in those disciplines

7.      Discriminate between scientific and pseudoscientific explanations of natural phenomena, read scientific works written for an informed public, and know how to find additional information that may be needed to fully understand the content of those works

8.      Identify potential sources of bias in science attributable to the investigator (e.g., Cultural or ideological), the sample used, the method employed, or the instrumentation used with the goal of achieving objective results

9.      Demonstrate with examples that science is a distinguishing feature of the contemporary world, and that the scientific enterprise is embedded in and influenced by the political, social, economic, and cultural contexts of the times

10. Understand that it is the responsibility of scientists to communicate their findings to the scientific community and, ideally, to the public, that scientists have a generally accepted set of ethical principles for the conduct of science, and that many scientists participate in public affairs as both scientific experts and citizens

11. Conduct a scientific investigation, including the formulation of questions and hypotheses, the development of methods of investigation, the collection and analysis of data, and the presentation of the work in written and oral scientific style

Role of Course in the Liberal Arts: There are many mottos that might be associated with the liberal arts.  "Know thyself" is certainly one.  In that sense, understanding that part of our body that most defines who we are is fundamental to knowing ourselves.  As such this course is designed to be course of self-exploration by examining what is known and the implications of what is known about ourselves.  In addition, this course is the second course in a LADR sequence as part of the Natural World.  As such, I want to expose you to the way that science asks and answers questions.

Course Organization/Expectations

Read material before coming to class.  In class, we will not simply present the material from the text but examine the material. Class is for working on understanding, applications, covering of new material.  Thus, familiarity with the material prior to class is vital.

Laboratory: The labs will be a chance to delve into some of the methods of the field.  The first lab will deal with anatomy which is a foundational way of understanding function.  The rest of the labs will involve the use of live animals and our methods will be more observational.  These methods will stand in stark contrast to what you do in biology.  Part of that is very much on purpose.

Attend Class.

Turn assignments in on time.  A letter grade is lost for each late day and nothing will be accepted more than three days late.

Participation in Class.  As much of this class will be an investigation into the meaning of the findings we discuss we need all of you to ask questions, suggest ideas and critique other people's ideas, including mine.

Seek help as you need it.  Unfortunately my training in psychology has not made me a mind reader.  If you are having troubles seek help from me and/or fellow students before the latter part of the term.  Seek the help as soon as the trouble begins.  That requires you thinking about the material and not just memorizing so that you know if you really understand it.

Class Schedule

Class Assignments:

There will be three examinations. In a course of this type, all later information builds upon the foundation developed in earlier parts of the course. Therefore the course is cumulative and so are the examinations. Each examination will cover material from all previous sections of the course. Since later examinations will be covering more material they will be worth more points. The value of the examinations are as follows:

The first two examinations will be one hour in length and take place during a class period.  The final exam will take place during the final exam period at the end of the term.  While you are studying for your tests you might checkout the Neuropsychology Study Aids.  They might be of some help. I would appreciate feedback on the utility of this site.

Laboratory Schedule

I have planned four labs.  The scheduling is not exactly determined and will depend upon how we proceed through these materials.  However, the will occur in the order below and a tentative schedule by weeks is indicated.  Each lab will have a different type of assignment to build up different laboratory skills.

Laboratory Assignments:

Dissection: At the end of the dissection, a practicum will be given to assess you knowledge of the structures you have found in the brain.  In addition, you will be given on essay question asking you to compare the general shape and organization of the sheep brain to the human brain.  This practicum will be worth 150 points.

Other Labs: For the rest of the labs, there will be laboratory reports.  The report for the format will be discussed later.  Basically I have not figured it out.  The physiology lab report will be worth 50 points and the Learning and Asymmetry lab reports will be worth 100 points each.  The physiology report will be worth less because it will not be a full report to give you a chance to focus on the writing up of results and of making conclusions from these results.  The last two reports are full lab reports.

Research Participation (Extra Credit)

Part of the Natural World LADR objective is to show you different ways that science is conducted.  However, this class, and the biology class that preceded it can only show a small number of methods.  So this optional assignment is to give you experience with alternative methods, but from a psychological perspective.  You can earn this credit in three ways. First, you can participate in research that is being conducted by faculty members or students of Hanover College. By participating in these studies, you can gain valuable, first-hand knowledge about how research is conducted. You will receive 50 points for each 1/2 hour of participation. To receive credit, you MUST: a) obtain the signature of the researcher, and b) answer some basic questions about the nature and purpose of the study [see attached Research Participation Form]. Second, you can substitute two online studies for any one Hanover study found on this site: http://psych.hanover.edu/research/exponnet.html.  While you cannot get the researchers signature you must still fill out the questions [see attached Online Participation Form].  Third, you can obtain the credit by writing a 2-page summary and critique of an approved psychological journal article.  The guidelines are here. The final date to turn in Research Participation Forms and/or Article Critiques is Friday April 13, 2007.

Grading and Policies

Class Participation and Miscellaneous Grades:

To help ensure that students actively participate there is a participation grade. As mentioned under the oral presentation section in the discussion of laboratory grades, class participation is part of the speaking requirement of the class.  This grade is worth 100 points. If four times not appear without reason, the 100 points are lost.

Late Policy:

An assignment is late 1 minute after the beginning of class. One letter grade will be subtracted for the first day late and another letter grade for each additional day.  No assignment will be accepted more than three days late.

Grading Summary:

The table below summarizes the grading for each class assignment.

Grades will be converted to percentiles and letter grades will be assigned as follows: