PSY 100: Course Schedule

Course Schedule
PSY 100: The Science of Behavior

DATES	TOPICS	READINGS	ASSIGNMENTS

Sept 15	Introduction		Behind in your reading? Audio: Science and Pseudoscience Distinguishing pseudoscience from science Video: Bill Nye on astrology Police Psychics Sylvia Browne: Psychic John Edward and probability Cat predicts deaths? A psychic dog? Study of after-death communication "Be an expert on anything" "Scientology nearly ready to unveil Super Power" Aromatherapy Graphology ("Paper Personality") - video Connections between handwriting and personality are illusory Will Twilight create more vampire believers?
Sept 17	Methods of Science	Ch. 1 (M); Essay	Ch. 1: Is it psychology or common sense? Ch. 13: Student stress Faulty thinking Deceptive marketing practices Marketers of 7 day miracle cleanse banned Video: Drug ad analysis "Miracle" cure for dyslexia Deflating the bogus insomnia 'epidemic' Infomercials Miracle mineral NeuView glasses Superfruits? Alternative medicines - watch video save us from... The Alternative Fix Supplements lose luster Herbal medicine research Bogus weight-loss claims Acupuncture: The facts
Sept 19	Scientific Ways of Knowing	Assignment 1 Article: If the television program...	Ch. 17: Doing social psychology research Correlation coefficients Type of correlation? Misrepresenting science: Autism Facilitated communication 2008 court case with FC Theories of autism Video: Dr. Temple Grandin Criminal Profiling; more ; more Profiling case Forensic "science" Pseudoscience and police work The danger of knowing for sure Certainty: Eyewitness testimony (video) 25 fallacies that lead us to believe weird things Half-baked theories How the media messes with your mind Openmindedness

Sept 22	Methods of Science	Assignment 2	Ch. 2: Connect the dots Confounding variables Operational definitions Operational definitions Types of research methods Correlation or causation? Height and affluence: U.S. no longer the tallest HS GPA best predictor of college performance Grazers align north to south Number of bumper stickers predicts road rage Myopia and night lights Case studies: A case study Audio: Famous case studies Getting lost: A new disorder (case) Framing of polls A dog of a poll study 30% of football players gay? 20 most bizarre "experiments" The urinal study Loud music in bars increases alcohol consumption research article
Sept 24	Scientific Ways of Knowing	Article: Does drinking promote... Assignment 3	Jumping to conclusions ESP trick Flash mind reader Placebos ; watch video on "The Wonder Pill" What's wrong with the placebo effect? Thinking the hurt away Drinking too much water An empirical question? peer review process How to deal with false research findings How we know what we know Rock stars die early?
Sept 26	Methods of Science	Article: Imperceptibly off-center... Assignment 4	Why are more people right-handed? Vividness effect: Summer of the shark Research Randomizer Science and politics; more Possible perils of peer review Conflict of interest Looting versus finding; more Anecdotal evidence Add a picture of a brain to your message

Sept 29	Scientific Ways of Knowing	Article: Buying behavior as... Assignment 5	Paper 1 due
Oct 1	Methods of Science	Article: Unit bias... Assignment 6	Ch. 3: Scanning the Brain Compare brains Test your reaction time Test a split-brain patient Probe the motor cortex Tour of the brain Neural transmission Neuron animations Restoring severed neurons Sprouting of new neurons Neurogenesis: Why new neurons? Crossing the blood-brain barrier Synapse structure varies across species The Whole Brain Atlas Architecture of the brain (video lecture) Brain stem and consciousness Why can't you tickle yourself? Video: Split-brain patient Left-brain, right-brain myths Left-brain, right-brain "test" Left and right visual hallucinations Brain disorders Video: Brain disorders Video: Wernicke's and Broca's aphasia Video: Prosopagnosia - Face blindness More on prosopagnosia; more The importance of faces Developmental phonagnosia Brain damage curbs cigarette urge Hidden Brain Damage Scale Reverse autism spectrum disorder? Taco town (unit size)
Oct 3	EXAM 1		Deep brain stimulation for treating depression Animation Dramatic case Video: Cases of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease Deep brain stimulation for anorexia nervosa for obsessive-compulsive disorder Deep brain stimulation evokes long-lost memories Dexterity improved by brain stimulation Brain implant and self-stimulation For amputees, an unlikely painkiller: Mirrors Hemispherectomies ; video of a case more Man with tiny brain Tiny chip converts paraplegic's thought into action How MRIs work Seduced by the fMRI PET scan Example Magnet Power!; TMS impedes selfish impulse Video: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; more on TMS Brain Fingerprinting - legitimate? Neurotechnologies for lie detection DHMO controversy

Oct 6	Neuroscience and Behavior	Ch. 2 (M) Assignment 7	Ch. 9: Identifying sleep disorders Ch. 9: Sleeping in stages Ch. 9: You are getting very sleepy Ch. 9: How are you sleeping? Half-asleep birds; dolphins, too Sleepwalking Fly Napping;Mutant flies need less shut-eye; Why Dreams?; flies sleep to learn How long can humans stay awake? Video: "What's in a dream?" Sleep aids memory, problem-solving Center for Narcolepsy video: dog narcolepsy Lots of sleep info Why some people sleepwalk (possibly) Is sleep essential? Sleep makes you smarter Violence during sleepwalking Incubus attack
Oct 8	Neuroscience and Behavior	Article: Sleep facilitates...	Ch. 3: The Neuron How Drugs Work Botox for MS?; Botox for excessive sweating?; for writer's cramp? Fetal brains and alcohol All about drugs Crossing the blood-brain barrier Drug animations - see Mouse Party New pain reliever more potent, less addictive Pheromones in Humans 10 unsolved mysteries of the brain Hand actions fire mirror neurons in handless Why migraines strike Eating as an automatic behavior Copycat monkeys Obsessive-compulsive mice Alex the parrot; More Alex Fruit Fly Fight Club The neurologic examination (with video)
Oct 10	Neuroscience and Behavior	Ch. 6 (M) Article: Is television traumatic... Assignment 8	Ch. 8: What's the pattern? Ch. 11: Gender expectations.. Ch. 12: Baby's first love affair Ch. 12: Peers and psychosocial development Ch. 12: Test your knowledge about. Ch. 12: Where'd you get those eyes? Ch. 12: Understanding genetic disorders What does Batman think about Spongebob? Learning a language easier in kids Toddlers and robots Video: Visual cliff Blind relatives "prove" facial expressions are inherited The violent brain - multiple causes James Watson and the missing gene

Oct 13	Nature and Nurture	Ch. 3 (M) Article: What causes specific... Assignment 9	Risk-taking: Nature or Nurture? Family resemblance - confirmation bias Is tendency for anxiety/fear inherited? Musical ability connected to genes finger length and autism response to disgust science of sexual orientation Origins of sexual orientation birth order and homosexuality Prenatal influences Depression, genes, and family Can animals predict disaster? Gene difference between humans and chimps What apes can teach us about human mind VIDEO: Chimp playing Ms. Pacman Self-awareness in other species
Oct 15	Nature and Nurture	Ch. 4 (M) Article: The neural bases...	Illusions; more Blind spots Mental rotation Flip it Cafe Wall illusion Checker-Shadow illusion ; explanation Another cool illusion; many more More illusions; Kanizsa kiwi Video: Visual illusions and joy Auditory illusions Another cool illusion Paper 2 due
Oct 17	Sensation and Perception	Article: Try it, you'll... Assignment 10	Ch. 4: If you can't do this Netlab.. Ch. 4: Pain: Where does it come from? How observant are you? Video: Inverted vision Synaesthesia Tasting words I feel for you Imagination influences perception Human, cat, pigeon...walking The Seeing Tongue; Image; Video Blind person whose vision is restored

Oct 20	Sensation and Perception	Ch. 5 (M)
Oct 22	EXAM 2		Ch. 6: Understanding classical conditioning Train Pavlov's Dog Train Skinner's Pigeon Ch. 6: Learning by removing Ch. 6: Test your knowledge of ... Ch. 6 Schedules of reinforcement Ch. 6: Identifying the reinforcers... Ch. 6: Learning about learning Bad Thai cops wear Hello Kitty Video: Skinner and pigeons
Oct 24	Learning	Ch. 7 (M) Article: Are pets a healthy... Assignment 11	Classical or Operant Conditioning? Rescue Rat! Rat Basketball - shaping; more Rat basketball Pigeon-based Search Engine Pigeon-guided missile; more Punishment: Prison loaf! Negative Reinforcement: Write or Die "What Shamu taught me..." Fish training Rat training Conditioning of bees, wasps to hunt drugs video: C.C. on The Office video: Baby having tantrum Is this modeling? Video: More modeling

Oct 27	Learning	Assignment 12	Ch. 5: Pay Attention! Ch. 7: A chunk of pie Ch. 5: When meaning interferes with image; Stroop effect Ch. 7: How's your short-term memory? Cell phone effect; More research; More research; recent research;cell phone warning; pregnant moms cell phone vs. passenger distraction Cell-phone-induced driver distraction multitasking while driving Duration of working memory in bees Memory: National Geographic feature
Oct 29	Memory	Ch. 8 (M) Article: On making the right... Assignment 13	Ch. 5: Shortcuts and schemas Ch. 7: How's your memory for memory? Can we pick our own memories? Amnesiacs cannot imagine future Consolidation and sleep Superior serial memory in the blind The case of Clive Wearing Video: Brain Man Body position as a memory cue Snapping 3 times leading way to recall movies, actors Reactivation of memory in the brain research article
Oct 31	Memory		Do you know anyone who is possessed? A memory artist Imagery helps memory Short-term memory loss (video) Gene therapy for Alzheimer's Inside the brain: Alzheimer's tour Curry Power: Help Alzheimer's patients? Prevalence of dementia/Alzheimers Video: Inattentional blindness Video: Change blindness Video: Change blindness study

Nov 3	Memory	Ch. 9 (M) Article: Believing is seeing... Assignment 14	Ch. 10: Test your intelligence (psychometric) Ch. 12: Do you value yourself? Ch. 15: Personality testing in the workplace Repressed memory: Abducted by aliens? Amnesia at the movies Your brain lies to you
Nov 5	Memory
Nov 7	EXAM 3		Big Five Personality Test Lemon drop test Do dogs resemble their owners?

Nov 10	Personality	Ch. 12 (M)	Paper 3 due Ch. 11: Planting the seeds for eating disorders Ch. 13: Putting common sense... Ch. 14: Where do adult behaviors.. Ch. 14: Defensive strategies Ch. 14: Which jury consultant... Is procrastination a personality problem? (Part 1) / (Part 2)
Nov 12	Personality	Article: First impressions... Assignment 15	Ch. 15: Depression: Common cold Ch. 15: The case of the confused.. Ch. 15: Alcohol: America's... Ch. 15: Suicide... Ch. 15: How much do you know about suicide? Video: Abnormal psychology DSM-IV classifications Nose-picking abnormal? Audio: What is normal? Eating inedible objects Phobias; Fears and phobias Video: Paranoia on the Tube Depression (answers from NIMH) Depression in men Depressed? Think faster thoughts What is bipolar depression? Video: Personal reflection on bipolar disorder Body Integrity Identity Disorder Growing wave of teenage self-injury Psychopaths "A crime of insanity" FAQs on the insanity defense Decriminalizing mental illness
Nov 14	Psychological Disorders	Ch. 13 (M) Article: Do narcissists dislike... Assignment 16	Ch. 15: You be the jury Ch. 15: What's your anxiety level? Ch. 15: Categorizing disorders Ch. 15: Jenna's case Ch. 15: The case of Jackson... Ch. 15: Schizophrenic thoughts... Ch. 15: Schizophrenia: What's the... Ch. 15: What's the problem with... Epigenetics and mental illness The persistence of mental illness Chemical signature of bipolar disorder

Nov 17	Psychological Disorders	Article: Positive affect and... Assignment 17 Article: The effectiveness of...	Ch. 16: Name that therapy Ch. 16: What's my specialty? 1-800-PSYCH Therapeutic Touch study Foreign accent syndrome Audio/video on schizophrenia The rise and fall of the prefrontal lobotomy Traumatic therapies Why suicide? Genes and anxiety
Nov 19	Therapy	Ch. 14 (M) Dolphin-assisted therapy dolphin questions Assignment 18	Winter Depression Therapy Blue light harmful/helpful? How light deprivation causes depression? Psychodiagnostic Chirology Pseudoscience in Therapy Science and therapy Careers in psychology Community Psychology Extinguishing fears Audio: Cognitive behavioral therapy: Thinking positive Suicide prevention Self-help -- "The Secret" More on The Secret EMDR therapy successful? How gene therapy could cure brain diseases Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of insomnia CBT help for self-harm ECT without cogntive side effects Psychiatric drug ads 'frequently misleading' Anti-depressants found no better than placebos for mild-moderate depression Shortage of hospital beds for mentally ill
Nov 21	Therapy		Paper 4 due

Nov 24 (Section 2) Nov 24 (Section 5)	EXAM 4	7:30-9:30am 3:30-5:30pm