Monday and Wednesday, 3:30 4:45 pm

Cantor 200
Class Notes available on NYU Classes
Instructor
Elizabeth A. Phelps, Ph.D.
6 Washington Place, room 890
998-8337
Office Hours: Wed 11:00 12:00 or by appointment
email: liz.phelps@nyu.edu
Teaching Assistant and Subject Pool
Karolina Lempert, Head TA
kml523@nyu.edu
6 Washington Place,Room890C
2129988317
OfficeHours:Byappointment
JessicaThomas
SubjectPoolCoordinator
psych.subjects@nyu.edu
Readings
There is one assigned book that is available at the NYU Bookstore:
Gazzaniga, Heatherton and Halpern. (2012). Psychological Science (4th edition). New
York: Norton.
Requirements and Assignments
1.
Exams. There will be three midterms and one final exam. The final exam is cumulative.
The exams will include multiple choice, fill-in the blank and short essay questions. Make-up
exams will only be given in extreme circumstances. To arrange a make-up exam, you should
contact your head TA as soon as possible. Make-up exams will be given at a pre-assigned date
and will contain a higher proportion of essay questions. Concerns about exam grading must be
reported to your recitation instructor within 1 week of receiving the exam. Valid concerns will
be sent to an independent grader who will re-grade the question. Re-grades can be higher, lower
or the same as the original grade. No re-grading of exam questions will be allowed after a week
from receipt of the exam.
2.
Paper. All students are required to submit a short paper (no less than 5 pages, not more
than 10, double spaced). The paper will consist of a review of a popular psychology book,
article, or other report of psychological science discussed in the media. You are required to
review and critique the study presented in the media and discuss its relation to published
scientific research on the topic. The paper is due on May 11th, 2015 (last day of class). Late
papers will not be accepted.

3. Research Participation. All Introductory Psychology students serve as participants in 7

hours of experiments. Your participation both gives you an opportunity to see how research in
psychology is done and provides an important service to the Psychology Department. In
addition, you are eligible to participate in 4 additional hours of experiments for extra credit.
Each additional hour will add 1 point to your final exam score. If you choose not to participate
in the Subject Pool, you will be asked to write a paper (or expand the class paper).
4. Recitations.Allstudentsarerequiredtoattendaweeklyrecitation.
Grades
The final grade will be based on the following:
Midterms - 20% each
Paper - 10%
Final - 30%

Course Outline
Date

Topic

Reading

1/28

The Science of Psychology

Subject Pool Orientation

Text: 1

2/2

Scientific Method

Text: 2

2/4

Brain

Text: 3

2/9

Neurons

Text: 3

2/11

Genes and Autonomic Nervous System

Text: 3

2/16

Presidents Day no class

2/18

Sleep and Consciousness

Review/Questions for Exam 1

2/23

Exam 1

2/25

The Senses

Text: 4

3/2

Perception

Text: 4

3/4

Learning

Text: 6

Text: 5

3/9

Memory

Text: 7

3/11

Thought

Text: 8

3/16-3/22

Spring Break

3/23

Review/Questions for Exam 2

(optional)

3/25

Exam 2

3/30

Human Development

Text 9

4/1

Emotion/Motivations/Well-Being

Text: 10,11

4/6

Milgram Film

4/8

Social Cognition

Text: 12

4/13

Interpersonal Processes

Text: 12

4/15

Review/Questions for Exam 3

(optional)

4/20

Exam 3

4/22

Personality 1: Assessment

Text: 13

4/27

Personality 2: Theories

Text: 13

4/29

Psychopathology: History and Definition

Text: 14

5/4

Psychopathology: Disorders

Text: 14

5/6

Treatment of Psychopathology

Text: 15

5/11

Catch up and Sum up

5/13

Final Exam
4:00 5:50 pm