Course Syllabus
Course Introduction
Psychology is the study of fascinating questions like:
- How does the brain relate to our behaviors?
- How are we able to sense (i.e., feel) and perceive the world?
- What does it mean to be conscious/unconscious?
- How do we learn and how do we effectively improve our knowledge?
- What motivates human striving?
- What makes us unique as individuals?
- How do others influence us?
- When is behavior considered abnormal? What gives rise to abnormal behavior?
- How can we be helpful and therapeutic for others?
Psychology comes from the Greek psyche, which means “mind/spirit” and logos, which means “discussion/study of.” So "psychology" is the discussion/study of the mind/spirit of human being, and it is a fascinating subject of scientific inquiry! Moreover, the study of psychology and this course makes the world a better place. I believe that you are likely to become a better student, friend, parent, spouse, neighbor, and citizen because of what you learn in this class!
Professor Contact Information
Brother Jon Skalski, Ph.D.
Office: Thomas E. Ricks Building 110h
Office Phone: (208) 496-4040
Email: Skalskij@byui.edu, although it is best to use I-Learn (Canvas) to message me.
Office Hours: See https://jonskalski.youcanbook.me/
Course Outcomes
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- Know the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings and applications in psychology
- Apply psychological principles to personal and social issues
- Describe where psychology is compatible or incompatible with the gospel
- Recognize the core assumptions that underlies the theories in psychology
This course has opportunities to acquire and strengthen essential skills in learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, metacognition, writing, communication, and interpersonal relationships in ways that can make you highly desired by future employers. It is in your best interest to keep track of the skills you develop in this course and others to effectively market yourself by describing your skills in cover letters, resumes, and job interviews. It is important that you do this throughout your life as predictions suggest that you will have at least three careers over the course of your lifetime. Here are some are helpful resources to think about the skills you can develop in this class: http://psychlearningcurve.org/career-skills/
You should also consider how your general BYU-Idaho education has helped you to be a sound thinker and frame and solve problems using creative and critical thinking, effective communicator and develop and express ideas that are purposeful, organized, and clear, skilled collaborator and work effectively with others to accomplish a shared vision, and to have that special something that comes from being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Grading Scheme
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Grading Scale |
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92.5 & > |
A |
90-92.4% |
A- |
87-89.4% |
B+ |
||
|
83-86.4% |
B |
80-82.4% |
B- |
77-79.4% |
C+ |
||
|
73-76.4% |
C |
70-72.4% |
C- |
67-69.4% |
D+ |
||
|
63-66.4% |
D |
60-62.4% |
D- |
Below 60% |
F |
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Expectations
Consistent with the BYU-Idaho Learning Model, I expect that your learning will actively involve preparing, teaching one another, and pondering/proving:
Preparing:
Quizzes. There will be short quizzes and preparation assignments in I-Learn (Canvas) for most chapters. Some quizzes will be open book and you can take them multiple times. Your highest score will be recorded in the grade book. You can use your textbook and the internet to succeed on these quizzes, but you are NOT permitted to use Openstax test bank materials (if you find them on the internet) or collaborate with other students/individuals. You should use these quizzes to help you prepare for examinations.
Active In-class Learning/Teaching One Another:
Attendance, Active Participation, and Other Assignments.
Participation is instrumental in your success. Each of you brings a unique perspective and background to this course, and I welcome your contributions to our dialogue and class community. I will be using Perusall to evaluate your comments on our textbook reading. There will also be opportunities to earn points in this category by assisting your peers in class; for example, there is a discussion thread in I-Learn (Canvas) titled “Ask a Question” in which you can create comments and replies.
There will be other short assignments throughout the course. For example, there is a syllabus quiz. The quiz is “open-book” and you can use the syllabus to complete this quiz. You can take the quiz multiple times, and your highest grade will be displayed in the grade book.
There will be a few more short assignments throughout the course. Please do not miss out on these points; make a commitment right now to attend class and participate.
For example, the psychology department requires that PSYCH 111 students participate in research studies being conducted by upper-level students under the direction of their professors. This helps you to learn about the processes of conducting psychological research. I am requiring* that students participate in at least one research study for full credit on the assignment*. You can receive 5 points of extra credit for every study that you participate in thereafter. Please sign up at the link below (Links to an external site.)to be notified about research opportunities.
http://tiny.cc/byuipsychresearch (Links to an external site.)
*Please see me immediately if you are not 18 or have moral/ethical concerns about participating.
Pondering/Proving:
Examinations. Four examinations will consist of multiple-choice questions and may have short answer questions. The first three examinations will predominantly consist of material since the prior examination but also includes material from earlier chapters. Likewise, the final examination will be cumulative. More information about examinations will be provided in class.
Mythbuster Assignment- Beliefs Survey, Research Summary, and Revised Research Summary. This course will introduce you to essential psychology material and content to ponder, and I will prove your comprehension with examinations. Yet, I understand that most of you will not major in psychology, and much of the psychology content that we cover will fade from your memory after this semester. Therefore, I have thought much about what I hope will remain with you long after your time in this class has ended.
I hope that some of your beliefs about psychology will change in lasting ways. In this spirit, we will think critically about popular beliefs that are often perpetuated as proverbs and pop psychology on internet sites, Facebook, and other media. According to Lillienfield (2014) erroneous beliefs about psychology happen by word-of-mouth, desires for easy answers and quick fixes, selective perception and memory, inferring causation from correlation, poor logic and reasoning, biased sampling, exaggerating a small truth, and confusing terms, etc. It is my hope that you will think critically about these errors and become better at avoiding these misconceptions.
You will complete a survey about your beliefs (aprox. 1% of your grade), research and compose a research summary (aprox. 5% of your grade), give feedback to your peers on their essays (aprox. 1% of your grade), incorporate revisions, and resubmit your summary (aprox. 20% of your grade).
You will eventually write a precise, well-polished summary, in which you describe one of 50 popular psychology misconceptions and summarize the research that refutes it according to APA style (but no title page and abstract are needed).
There is a lib guide on the Canvas course homepage that will help guide you through the assignment: https://libguides.byui.edu/psych111 You will select one of the myths from 50 Great Myths in Popular Psychology, accessible through the lib guide. The myth/short chapter that you select from the 50 Great Myths book will serve as the basis of your summary. It will be a starting point and then you must acquire, study, summarize, and cite peer-reviewed journal articles on your topic; ideally, you will have to incorporate at least one journal article since the publication of the 50 Great Myths text. You will need to cite at least 5 sources with at least 3 journal articles both in-text and in your reference list in your outline, draft, and revised essay. Please note: There are a few topics in which it is particularly difficult to acquire peer-reviewed journal articles about those myth topics and I would like to avoid those two topics: Myth #1 We only use 10% of our brain and Myth #39 People with schizophrenia have multiple personalities.
This assignment may be challenging, but I have built a structure to help you succeed and develop important skills. These writing and research skills will serve you in this class, in other classes, and throughout your life. In order to succeed:
- You must read and study one chapter in the 50 Great Myths book carefully.
- You must learn/know how to research scholarly peer-reviewed resources using library databases and Google Scholar. Consider meeting with a librarian for help locating and citing peer-reviewed journal articles and other sources.
- You must learn/know how to cite your sources after each instance in the text of your essay and at the end as a reference list using APA style. What is cited in-text should be cited in your reference list and vice versa. Consider meeting with a librarian for help.
- You must submit your essay to Turnitin through I-Learn (Canvas), and you must receive less than a score of 10% similarity with other sources. Once you submit your assignment, you will receive a similarity score/report. You can revise areas that have been flagged by the software and resubmit the assignment. If you do not receive a similarity score below 10% before the due date, then you may fail this assignment.
- You should consider visiting the writing center.
- You must incorporate feedback from your peers, the writing center, and/or me in ways that show substantial revisions and improvements in your revised essay. I will use a numbered feedback system
Here is the rubric… please read every word carefully and use each of the first four categories to organize your essay (i.e, Introduction, Why the Misconceptions Occurs, Research that Refutes the Myth, and Conclusion):
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Category |
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% of grade |
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Research |
You excelled in describing research that refutes the misconception. You were careful to avoid plagiarism and obtained a green similarity report through Turnitin. You used the author's or authors' last name(s) and the year of publication when you were summarizing research (e.g., Smith, 2012) and used quotes and the page number whenever you were using the language of any source (e.g., Smith and Wilson’s (2012) write, “…” (p. 3). |
20% |
|
Clarity and Precision |
Your writing was exceptionally clear, concise, and easy to read throughout; there were no vague pronouns referring to prior sentences, like “This shows us…,” ambiguities, or guessing for the reader. Your writing was also largely free from redundant wordiness, thoughts and feelings, author’s first names or initials, the titles of articles in-text, the editorial we, you referring to the reader, overstatements, and sexist or biased language. |
10% |
|
Format, Voice, Spelling, and Grammar |
Your formatting looked professional and was 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced with 1-inch margins. You did not have your name and my name on the essay. You just began with a title, centered, in title-case. You used a formal voice and grammar that provided an ethos of credibility throughout your writing. There were little to no informalities, like singular uses of they/their, contractions or slang, spelling errors, typos, or grammar that negatively affected the credibility of your voice and writing. |
10% |
|
Reference List |
You have a reference list that begins on a new page with the word "References" centered at the top of the page in regular text, not bold nor italic. Each reference cited in text is included alphabetically in your reference list, and you cited each reference at least once in the text of your paper. You listed at least 5 sources, with at least 3 scholarly sources (which are peer-reviewed journal articles of actual research) in your reference list that are correct in terms of APA formatting. You may have copied and pasted the citation from somewhere like Google Scholar, and although there may be minor formatting errors, the important information has been included in the correct style (APA). Your formatting was, or was close to, APA style with double spacing and hanging indentation. |
5% |
|
Turnitin Score Plagiarism/Similarity Score
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Your Turnitin score is HIGHER THAN 10%. This is a serious issue and may result in a total loss of points on this assignment. Please reach out to me about this if you have questions.
|
5% |
Grading:
Mythbuster Assignments ................................................ 25%
Attendance, Participation, and Assignments........... 25%
Quizzes.................................................................................... 10%
Examination 1........................................................................ 7%
Examination 2........................................................................ 9%
Examination 3...................................................................... 11%
Final Exam............................................................................. 13%
Your grade in I-Learn (Canvas) is an estimate of your performance in the course. Sometimes there are discrepancies between your estimated grade in I-Learn (Canvas) and your actual grade. For example, I-Learn (Canvas) has the option to display missing assignments as zeros or not include missing assignments in its grade calculation. Since missing assignments may not be included in I-Learn (Canvas) grade calculations, then, if you have missing assignments, your actual grade may be lower than it appears in I-Learn (Canvas)! This is the case when there is a “- and the assignment has not yet been graded (i.e., regarded as missing). If the assignment has received a 0 in the gradebook, then I-Learn (Canvas) incorporates the 0 into your final grade calculation.
Policies on Late Assignments and Make-up Work:
Please submit all assignments in I-Learn for grading, unless otherwise directed. I-Learn will record a timestamp when you submit assignments. I will only accept late assignments, examinations, etc. for full credit due to extenuating circumstances. Whether the situation involves extenuating circumstances is based upon my discretion, and I require formal documentation to justify and excuse assignments or absences for exams. In these cases, please email me a pic of any documentation with dates and your name visible (e.g., discharge papers, jury duty summons, etc.). Please put post-it notes or other papers over private information or otherwise edit and obscure any private information on any images of your documentation. If I elect to accept unexcused late assignments (i.e., without formal documentation and justification), generally they will be marked down 10% per day including weekend days except Sunday. The absolute deadline for all assignments, if I am willing to accept them, is midnight on the Friday before the final exam; I will not accept any assignments past this date. The 10% deduction policy does not apply to assignments turned in past the Friday before the week of finals.
Classroom Etiquette:
Diversity and Inclusiveness. I seek to facilitate learning community grounded in respect and compassion, and free from shame about core aspects of self (e.g., age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, etc.). Shame, as feeling unaccepted, and even unworthy of acceptance, can be debilitating psychologically.
Respect, Honor Code, Dress and Grooming. Whenever possible, I will try to speak with you privately about any distracting behavior, usually after class and sometimes during class, but, depending on the circumstances, I may have to ask you publicly to stop some behavior(s). These statements represent my effort to be upfront and clear about my expectations for your behavior in class, and I hope that you will read these expectations carefully and abide by them so that you can avoid embarrassment, the loss of participation points, or serious consequences.
I promise to respect you, and I expect that you respect others. Please do so by abiding by the honor code and university dress and grooming standards http://www.byui.edu/student-honor-office/ces-honor-code/dress-and-grooming (Links to an external site.).
It is also customary to request your professor’s permission whenever recording class lectures or discussions; inquire with me about recording class lecture or discussion before you create any recording every time. Often, I record lecture/discussion, which have audio and video of my computer screen, for your later study and review. Any videos of the class will be posted in Canvas.
Zoom Meetings. Be mindful of your background. Please consider a background filter or image to avoid unnecessary distractions. Be mindful of potential disruptions and inform your family and roommates about your Zoom meeting. This is particularly important, because Zoom meetings will likely be recorded!
Prepare yourself for the meeting. It is strongly encouraged that you share your video with your professor and peers. This is important to establish our classroom community and for other reasons. If you do not have enough bandwidth to display your video, then please try to improve your internet connection. If you have engaged in steps to try to improve your connection and are unable to do so, then please let me know. Please be appropriately dressed, alert, and attentive during the meeting. The more that you prepare for the meeting, the more you are likely to receive.
Exercise Faith- Learners and teachers at BYU-Idaho exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a principle of action and power.
Teach by the Spirit- Learners and teachers at BYU-Idaho understand that true teaching is done by and with the Holy Ghost.
Lay hold on the word of God- Learners and teachers at BYU-Idaho lay hold on the word of God.
Take action- Learners and teachers at BYU-Idaho act for themselves and accept responsibility for learning and teaching.
Love, serve, and teach- Learners and teachers at BYU-Idaho love, serve, and teach one another.
Other Important Information:
I-Learn (Canvas) Computer Instructions. I use the BYU-I learning management system, I-Learn (Canvas), to organize our class assignments and due dates, grade assignments, provide feedback, and display grades.
I-Learn is an important academic tool that can help you stay organized for this course and all your courses. For example, I-Learn displays upcoming activities in your to-do lists, and has a convenient smartphone app that provides notifications. You might consider registering/linking your personal email account with I-Learn so that you do not miss any important correspondence. Likewise, you should consider adding your byui.edu email account or other app to your smartphone email client, so that emails come to your phone.
Please become familiar with I-Learn and explore our Coursepage during the first week of class. There will be an “Ask a Question” Discussion where you can get answers from your classmates; please consider posting any questions related to Canvas there.
Learning new software like I-Learn helps to develop skills that are important for your future employment, and if it will be difficult for you to use I-Learn, please let me know during the first class meeting. I recommend using Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. When you encounter problems with I-Learn, progress through these steps:
- Make sure that you are using a computer (not the Canvas app), especially when using peer-review and feedback features.
- Try two different recommended browsers (e.g., Chrome AND Firefox) or two different computers.
- Consider contacting BYU-I IT at (208) 496-1411, text (855) 808-7102.
Title IX. It is my responsibility to help create a safe learning environment on campus. I am required to share information regarding sexual misconduct or information about a crime that may have occurred on campus. Please note that you can always speak to someone with full confidentially through counseling services.
Course Materials
We will be using a textbook that is available FREE online! Please make sure you can access the book on your smartphone on the first day of class. Go to https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology-2e to access the book: You can also access the book:
- through the Openstax app on your smartphone
- downloaded as a pdf to read on your device or print
- as a printed copy of the first edition for $38.50
- through iBooks
Research shows that some students are more likely to pass the class and are less likely to drop or withdraw when using free textbooks (Hilton, Fischer, Wiley, & Williams, 2016).
Internet access and some proficiency with I-Learn (Canvas) is required for this course.
University Policies
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Course Summary:
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