Psychology - Fall 1998

In this course, we will examine the logic, strategies, and fundamental techniques of descriptive statistics, and of inferential statistics. And we will try to show you how research designs and strategies relate to statistical strategies and techniques. This course has also been designed as a prerequisite to intermediate Psychology courses in experimental design, statistical methods, and statistical programs aimed at those psychology majors who will eventually do their own research.

This course is designed to help all prospective psychology majors develop skills and acquire knowledge necessary to comprehend intelligently and evaluate critically reports of psychological research. On the basis of past experience, we strongly urge you to keep up on the reading--read the chapters before they are discussed in class. In this way, the material will make more sense when it is discussed in class. Those of us teaching this course want to help each of you learn as many statistical and methodological concepts as possible so that you can intelligently and independently evaluate psychological research you subsequently encounter. We also want to be able to assure our colleagues on the Psychology Board that when you passed this course you understood concepts necessary to interpret intelligently the research they will be presenting to you in their own courses. Another central goal of the course is to help you understand when to use which statistic and how to apply statistics intelligently.

To this end, we have minimized computation. You will have problems to solve by hand for homework, so that you learn the logic of the statistics. However, there will be only minimal computation required for examinations. You will learn to use computer software to analyze data (Excel). Each of you will acquire your own data set, so that you can see how statistics are applied to real data. We will help you analyze that data set using the various techniques we learn in the course. The goal is to make statistics concrete and even, possibly, exciting.

Now some details:

Sections: to be announced

Exams: four exams of equal value

Introductory Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, 4th Edition, Joan Welkowitz, Robert B. Ewen, and Jacob Cohen, Academic Press, 1991.

Study Guide to Accompany Introductory Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, 4th Edition, Robert B. Ewen, Academic Press, 1991.

Manual: Manual for Psychology Two. Available at Copy Center.

Attendance at sections is optional but strongly recommended. If your overall performance is weak but you have attended all sections, this will be noted in your evaluation.

Homework is required and whether you complete the homework assignments will be noted on your evaluation.

About the exams. There are no makeup exams. You may miss one exam if you have a good excuse. You cannot pass the course if you miss two or more exams.

This 120-student course explores four different approaches to the study of personality, with a focus on their usefulness for studying personality development across the lifespan and in particular relationships. The first approach views personality as driven by instinctual urges for sexuality, aggression, and survival, and includes psychoanalytic and evolutionary theories. The second approach views behavior as a product of personality traits and situations. The third approach focuses on conscious assumptions and strategies that underly self concepts and behavior. The fourth and most recent approach examines how people make sense and use of their past experience by telling personal memories and life stories to others. Lectures, discussion sections, projects, and papers center on this four-fold framework. The overall goal of the course is to appreciate the uses and limitations of each approach for self-development, and for advancing personality theory and research.

The textbook is by Dan McAdams (1994). The person: An introduction to personality psychology. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & Jovanovich. Second edition.

Additional readings will be on reserve.

• Regular attendance and participation in discussion section.
• Three in-class exams.
• A final paper.
• Hands-on projects, including taking personality tests on the Web, collecting personal memories, and observing behavior in situations.

This course will be devoted to second language learning in children and adults. It will follow a seminar format in which there will be student presentations as well as presentations by the teacher.

It is expected that all students will have done the reading assignments prior to the class and will be able to participate in the discussion.

• There will be quizzes on the assigned readings. The quizzes will stand in lieu of a final examination.
• Students will complete three projects, which are due on the dates listed in the Schedule below. These projects are intended to provide students with first-hand experience with second-language learning and bilingualism. Each project will entail a three page paper.
• During the quarter, each student will give 10-minute presentation defending one side of a controversial issue in the field. For this, the student will read the article assigned as well as other literature supporting the particular position. This will require library research.
• The final paper should be about 10 pages and should be a critical elaboration of this topic, covering both sides of the controversy. on the selected topic. The final paper is due within 10 days of the class presentation. The paper should be in APA format and should show a good familiarity with the literature on the topic.

Gass, S. M. & Selinker, L. (1994). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Grosjean, F. (1982). Life with two languages: An introduction to bilingualism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

This is a course about the nature and nurture of human creativity. It is a course intended for psychology majors interested in the topic as well as for interested students in fields other than psychology who believe they might benefit from the course. (Non-psychology students should see the special note for them later in this document.)

Because creativity occurs in nearly every domain of human activity, we will discuss creativity in the arts and sciences, in technology and engineering, in business and education, and in a variety of other fields. We will also examine creativity ranging from that which occurs in everyday life to that involved in the highest levels of human achievement.

In general, we will study creative people, creative processes, and the conditions under which creativity tends to flourish.

More specifically, we will study:

• the personal characteristics, motives, lives anddevelopmental histories of unusually creative people.
• the conscious and non-conscious cognitive processes which seem to be involved in creativity.
• the social and cultural processes involved in creativity.
• the psychological, social, cultural, economic, educational and physical factors that tend to foster or inhibit creativity.

Though this is not designed to be a "How To Be Creative" course (we will be studying more theory and will be paying more attention to how psychologists study creativity than a purely practical course would involve), I will be strongly encouraging students to draw whatever useful lessons they can from the material we will be examining. For example, students will be permitted to write their 6-page final papers in the form of a letter to themselves in which they give themselves advice about how to enhance their own creativity based on what they have learned in the course. (Students will also be permitted to write about any number of other topics in their final papers, of course.)

Creative men and women in many fields have attempted to describe their own creative processes, their motives for being creative, and the conditions under which they believe they function most creatively. We will therefore read and pay respectful attention to the insights about creativity provided by these obviously creative people.

We will also read and discuss material written by psychologists and philosophers who have been studying and formulating theories about creativity for hundreds of years.

Because human creativity is a large and complex topic, the course involves substantial reading. Students will read excerpts from B. Ghiselin's "The Creative Process" which contains descriptions of creative processes by 38 highly creative men and women. Students will also read Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own", an excellent discussion of the social and economic contexts of intellectual liberation. Class Readers specially assembled for the course will also be assigned. Though the reading is substantial, students typically report that it is interesting and rewarding.

Students will take a mid-term and final exam for which very helpful study-guides will be provided.

Students will write a 6-page term paper on a topic of interest.

If enough students enroll in the course, there will be voluntary discussion sections led by a graduate TA.

I often like to lecture for part of the period and then move into a period of more open class discussion. I also like to liven things up with interesting videos and films.

Most students who have taken this course in the past have evaluated it very positively.

I am personally fascinated by human creativity and have been reading, thinking and writing about the topic for many years. For the past ten years I have also been studying large numbers of California high school students who are creatively involved in animation, creative writing, dance, film-and-video making, music, theatre arts, and the visual arts. Some of the findings emerging from that study will almost surely find their way into this course.

In summary: If you are interested in human creativity and are open to looking at it from several perspectives (and perhaps having some of your preconceptions about creativity challenged or changed), I encourage you to check out this course.

Students in fields other than psychology who have strong interests in creativity but who have not taken the prerequisites are encouraged to contact David Harrington (harring@cats) about the possibility of having the prerequisites waived so they can take the course, space permitting. I enjoy having students from fields other than psychology participating in, contributing to, and benefitting from this course. I also enjoy having re-entry students take this course so that they can enrich our class discussions with their real-world experiences.

(For those of you wanting even more detail)

We will probably address many of the following specific questions during the course:

• What do psychologists mean by the term "creativity"?
• What cognitive processes are involved in creativity?
• Can we measure creativity or creative abilities?
• Can creativity be stimulated and, if so, how? Can creative thinking be taught?
• What motivational processes are involved in creativity?
• What social processes are often involved in creativity?
• What role, if any, do audiences play in creativity?
• Can groups be creative? Do they face special problems or special advantages compared to individuals?
• What personality processes and characteristics are involved in creativity?
• Is there a relationship between creativity and mental illness?
• What physical, social, and cultural factors tend to foster or inhibit creativity?
• What are the educational implications of what we think we know about creativity?
• What child-rearing practices and developmental histories seem to predispose people to behave creatively?
• Do women and ethnic minorities face any special obstacles to using their creative talents and energies?
• Do men face any special obstacles in being creative?
• What kind of conditions, settings or environments do creatively effective people construct or seek out in order to foster their own creativity?
• And, in general, what potentially useful lessons can we draw from what we believe we know about human creativity?

Revised 7/19/04.