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Dawson College
General Psychology
350-101-DW
sect. 24
Room 2P.08
Tues-Th 11:30 to 13:00
Ponderation 2-1-3

Fall 2019
Instructor: Stephane Gaskin PhD
Psychology Department
Office: 5E12
Office hours: Tue 10:00-11:30, Th 10:00-11:30. F 10:00 – 11:30

Teacher Accessibility: E-mail (sgaskin@dawsoncollege.qc.ca)

REQUIRED TEXT:
Essentials of Understanding Psychology
ROBERT FELDMAN

GOALS: This course is designed to:

 provide you with an overview of the scientific approach to the study of human behaviour;
 increase your awareness and understanding of the interaction of factors which influence
human behaviour;
 show you how the methods and concepts of psychology can be applied to real life
situations.
 provide you with fundamental concepts on which you can build in later psychology
courses.

ISEP statement:

“The Institutional Student Evaluation Policy (ISEP) is designed to promote

equitable and effective evaluation of student learning and is therefore a crucial
policy to read and understand. The policy describes the rights and obligations of
students, faculty, departments, programs, and the College administration with
regard to evaluation in all your courses, including grade reviews and resolution of
academic grievance. ISEP is available on the Dawson website.”

ELEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

Statement of competency
To explain the foundations of human behaviour and mental processes
There are five elements of the competency:
1. To demonstrate the contribution of psychology to the understanding of human beings.
Not tied to specific content. (5 hours)
2. To distinguish the main perspectives, the main schools of thought and their proponents
and the methodology used in the field of psychology. (9 hours)
3. To describe the biological, cognitive and affective processes that underlie human
behaviour. (12 hours)
4. To demonstrate the adaptation process of individuals to their environment. (11 hours)
5. To interpret various patterns of human behaviour using concepts and theories related to
the field of psychology. (8 hours)
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Standard of performance: You must achieve an average of at least 60% to pass the
course. You so need to pass the summative assessment (described below)

CONTENT:
The following content corresponds to the five elements and performance criteria for the
course:
1. Foundations of modern psychology.
2. Areas of specialization and major characteristics of psychological research.
3. Biological bases of behaviour: (1) the nervous system and (2) genetics, motivation and
emotion, memory.
4. Perception and sensation, learning.
5. Optional Content
Intelligence
Social Psychology
Consciousness
Abnormal Behaviour
Personality
Development

In order to pass the course, you must demonstrate adequate knowledge in the areas
described by the objectives and earn a minimum grade of 60% overall.

TEACHING METHODS:
Classes will comprise of mostly lectures supported with Power Point presentations. There will be
an occasional film.
CLASSROOM POLICIES
It is important to arrive at class on time and attend all classes. Participation in class activities is expected
and encouraged.

LITERACY REQUIREMENTS:
All written work must be presented in a readable manner and must be well written.
Proper grammar and spelling are expected. If you have difficulty please see me or the Academic
Skills Center for help in improving these skills.

GRADE DISTRIBUTION SCHEME:

Activity (total = 100)

Exams 3X20=60%
Summative assessment 25%
Analysis assignment 10%
Study skills 5%

EXAMS: Exams will be composed of multiple choice questions as well as short answer
questions. It is expected that you keep up to date with the material to do well on those exams.

ASSIGNMENTS: There will be two main assignments, an analysis assignment in which you will
have to answer questions about the research methods used in Psychology and a summative
assessment assignment (described below) in which you will critically evaluate how psychological
issues are reported in the popular media. There is also a learning skills assignment in which you
will be required to complete a portion of the study guide that accompanies the textbook.
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Study skills

On two occasions during the semester (see schedule below). I will be collecting your class notes.
You will be graded for their clarity, completeness and exactitude.

POLICY ON LATE ASSIGNMENTS

All assignments are expected to be submitted in print on the due date. I will substract 5% per
day from your mark for every day that an assignment is late. You may submit an assignment
through e-mail of MIO so that you can make the deadline but you still need to submit a printed
copy the very next class after the deadline.

ATTENDANCE:
You must attend all classes in order for you to succeed by acquiring the competencies associated
with this course. A number of in-class exercises have been designed to help you do this. These
make up some of your grade for Learning Skills. The exercises may not be announced ahead of
time. There will be no make-up for these exercises.

EXPLANATION OF EVALUATION:

There will be 3 exams, each of them worth 20%. The format of the exams is described above.
You will be asked to complete 2 assignments, a summative assessment exercise (described
below) worth 25%, and an analysis assignment, worth 10% in which you will explore the
research methods employed in psychology. There will be 3 sections, each worth 1.66 % for a total
of 5%.

STUDENT CONDUCT

Students are expected to not be disruptive to other students and the professor. If you are
constantly told to stop disrupting the class you will be asked to leave. Laptops should only be
used for class purposes, not for social media, you-tube, e-mail or other. Violation of this rule will
also result in being reprimanded, if the behaviour continues beyond that you will be asked to
leave.

Summative Assessment
Read the article given to you and then answer THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. In the first paragraph, summarize the article. State in your own words what the article
is about. Describe in detail the main study mentioned in the article. Explain how the
researchers carried out the study, what its results were, and what conclusions were
drawn. This first paragraph should be fairly long because you are describing the main
study from the article in some detail. Do not forget to include an in-text citation.

2. What research method(s) was used to study the hypothesis under investigation? Can
you identify any independent and dependent variables in the research? Can you
identify any confounding variables? Did you find that the way this research was
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conducted had any problems? If so, what improvements can you suggest to overcome
these?

3. After reading the article, what unanswered questions still remain in your mind about
this area, and what future directions would you suggest the research should
investigate?

4. In what subfield of psychology (e.g., developmental, social, personality), would this

kind of research fall? Justify your answer after reading the relevant section in the
textbook. Now consider another perspective to analyze the issue covered in class.
How would a psychologist coming from another perspective or subfield explain this
issue differently, and what does this add to our overall understanding?

5. State how the article is related to the material presented in the textbook. Indicate
which chapter(s) and page(s) in your textbook refer to the same general or specific
topic. Draw parallels between the article and the course information. Describe how
the content of the article relates to the content in your textbook. Do not copy from the
article or textbook. Paraphrase, that is, state in your own words, the content of both
the article and the textbook. To approach this task, you may want to start by looking
in the table of contents and index of your textbook. If, for example, your article is on
"factors related to increase in suicide", look up causes and patterns of suicide. You
may find suicide in more than one place in the textbook. The following questions may
provide some guidelines to evaluate the content of the textbook. You will probably
find that the article relates to more than one topic in the textbook, but discuss no more
than two of these.
 How does your textbook explain the phenomenon described in the article?
Is it the same as or different from the explanation (if any) given in the
article?
 What evidence is given in the textbook to support the explanation? Are
studies cited? If so, does the evidence in the article support or contradict
the evidence presented in the textbook?
 Look in the subject index at the end of your textbook. If, for example,
your article is on “aggression”, look up causes and patterns of aggression.
The section on aggression may attribute aggression to “television
violence”. Look up the section on television violence and present
television violence as a principal cause of aggression. What did the two
sources have to say about television violence and aggression?

6. After reading this article, state what you have learned about the issue under discussion
that you did not know before. Has the research mentioned enhanced or changed your
understanding of the topic in any way?
7. State how the material in the article may be relevant in some significant way to your
own life or that of your relatives or friends. Don’t simply say that the article cannot be
related to your life. You may have heard of something or someone who may be
connected to the theme of the article. Perhaps you know of a movie or TV show
character whose personality can be linked to the material. Develop your ideas for this
last paragraph; it should not be just two or three sentences.
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Competencies Evaluation Assignment (CEA) 25%

Purpose of the Assignment

There are two purposes to this assignment. First, it will teach you how to think like a
researcher and a psychologist. You will be asked to use psychological concepts from
various book chapters to analyze and understand a specific research-based article. This
assignment will also assess whether you have met the competencies of this course (see
course outline). You will carry out this exercise in two steps, each of which will be
graded independently of the other. Part 1 will be done in class and part 2 should take into
account the feedback provided to you earlier.

This assignment is the summative assessment of this course. Part 1 is designed so that
you can learn how to do this type of assignment. You will receive a pass or fail grade on
Part 2 of the assignment. If you fail the second part of this assignment you will fail the
course. Your grade will be dropped down to 50% regardless of the grade accumulated in
the course from other work. In other words, you cannot pass this course if you fail Part 2
of this assignment.

Format
As you are learning to think like a researcher and a psychologist, you also need to learn
the structure and style of the written work that is common to all psychology documents.
To this effect, you will begin to learn the basics of the American Psychological
Association, referred to as APA writing style. You will learn how to use in-text citations
and how to prepare a Reference section. You will also learn how important it is to write
everything in your own words and that if you do not it will be labelled as PLAGIARISM.
Example of in-text citation at the end of a sentence 2 or more authors first time you
refer to source: (Smith, Malik, & Dreu, 2015).
Example of in-text citation at the end of a sentence 2 or more authors second time
you refer to source: (Smith et al., 2015).

NOTE: The information necessary for this assignment must come from the course
textbook. Google is not an appropriate source. Everything must be written in your own
words.
Use in-text citations where appropriate.

References should look like this:

References

Parker-Pope, T. (2013, September 4). The us versus them phenomenon in the movie
industry. New York Times. Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com

Smith, M., Malik, R., & Dreu, S. (2015). Understanding human sexuality: A cognitive
approach to the study of sexuality. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Sample articles:

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/childhood-bullying-linked-to-
health-risks-in-adulthood.html#.WSA1xje1vZ5
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/health/brain-memory-dementia-epilepsy-
treatments.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FMemory&action=click&co
ntentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest
&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection&_r=0#story-continues-2

POLICY ON CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM:

Students are expected to familiarize themselves with the Dawson College policy on cheating and
plagiarism which is contained in the Institutional Student Evaluation Policy. This policy is also found on
the Dawson College home page. Every instance of cheating and plagiarism that affects a student’s grade
will be reported to the Dean of Social Sciences & Business Technologies.
Plagiarism is the submission of someone else’s work as your own without acknowledging the author.
Whether deliberate or accidental, plagiarism is a serious offense and may result in a grade of zero for the
piece of work in question, or a grade of zero in the course if circumstances warrant.
Plagiarism includes:
 Copying, downloading or including a phrase, a sentence, or a longer passage from a source and
submitting it as your own work.
 Changing words or phrases but keeping the rest of the sentence.
 Summarizing or paraphrasing someone else’s ideas without a proper citation.
 Handing in as your own work any material that was bought, copied or written by someone else.
Cheating includes:
 Allowing another student to copy your work.
 Copying another student’s work.

POLICY ON RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

In accordance with official college policy, students who wish to observe religious holidays must
inform the teachers in writing within the first two weeks of each semester of their intent to
observe the holidays so that alternative arrangements convenient to both the student and the
teacher can be made at the earliest opportunity. (This statement should be followed by any
alternative arrangements specified by a teacher observing religious holidays.)
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COURSE CONTENT AND CALENDAR

Timetable will be revised if necessary.

WEEK/DATE/TOPIC Selected pages from ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

Chapter:
August Introduction to the course
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27 Chapter 1
(History)
29 Chapter 1
(History)
September Chapter 2 (brain, biology and
3 behaviour)
10 Chapter 2 (brain, biology and
behaviour)
12 Chapter 3 (sensation and perception)
17 Chapter 3 (sensation and perception)
19 Exam 1 (selected pages from chapters Study skills
1,2,3)
24 Chapter 4 (consciousness) Analysis assignment due

26 Chapter 4 (consciousness)
October Chapter 5 (learning) In class Sum. Assessment
1
3 Chapter 5 (learning)
8 Chapter 6 (memory)
10 Chapter 6 (memory)
15 Chapter 8 (motivation)

17 Chapter 8 (motivation)

22 Exam 2 (selected pages from chapters Study skills

(4, 5,6,8)
24 Chapter 10 (Personality)

29 Chapter 10 (Personality)

31 Chapter 14 (Social Psychology)

November Chapter 14 (Social Psychology)

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7 Chapter 12 (psychological disorders)

12 Chapter 12 (psychological disorders)

14 Schizophrenia video and discussion

19 Personality disorders video and

discussion
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21 Chapter 7 (Thinking, language and

intelligence)
26 Chapter 7 (Thinking, language and
intelligence)
28 Catch up

December Exam 3 (selected pages from 10,14,12,7 + Summative Assessment Due

3 videos)