11-12-08 — I've posted a new link in the left frame (I will try to put new links in red). It's still under construction, but I thought it would give you somewhere to start. I'll try to post more on Motivation and drives before class next Tuesday. I'll also try to catch up with where the syllabus says we should be. Remember, there will be a comprehensive quiz over everything covered so far that will be taken in class, and we'll be meeting on the second floor where it isn't so hot.
Everyone who has turned in all their quizzes should have no trouble. If you have questions, let me know!

11-10-08 — Those of you who haven't turned in Quiz 5 get a break — I'm not going to count that individually. The questions will probably be on the next exam, however, so it would be good to know the answers. I think I'm going to wait on the Powerpoint presentation. I'm thinking of putting the whole course on DVD and distributing it to those who are interested. It'll be a while, however. If you would like such a DVD, send me an email and I'll reserve one for you.
Have a good holiday and I'll see you the following Tuesday. Don't forget we'll be meeting on 2nd floor in Rm 24 and there will be an exam.

11-08-08 — I'm going to try to post a Powerpoint presentation that you should be able to view. I can give instructions if you have trouble. Remember: the Psychology Program lists several program competencies, one of which (#4) is Demonstrate the ability to effectively utilize information technology to gather, asses , and communicate about psychological issues and resarch."

Update 1008 hrs — I forgot to add — I'm well aware that a couple of you are leaving at the break . I think I've told you that I don't like taking roll, but since the university requires it, I have to enforce it. The best way I think to do this is to take roll at the end of class. So starting next class, I'll start taking roll near the end of class. Unless you sign in at the end, you will be counted absent.

10-30-08 — Well, yesterday's class was something of a disappointment for me, so I am going to institute some changes. First of all, check your scores on the webpage and contact me if you think you're missing grades for quizzes that you turned in. This has not been a very reliable way to collect quiz scores for a number of reasons, so I'm going to start administering the quizzes face-to-face. And, judging from the performance yesterday in class, I don't think just the exposure to the correct answers is sufficient to ensure that you learn them, (How many times have I asked who Wilhelm Wundt is, and some of you still don't know!) so I will stop giving you the questions and the answers beforehand. (Well, it was worth a try!). I'm also going to start giving points for class participation, since what I'm doing currently isn't working. I will still give credit for the quizzes you emailed. Those of you who haven't turned in all your quizzes will have until Fri Oct 31 to email me all the quizzes that aren't showing on the webpage link of total quizzes. Plan on having a face-to-face multiple-choice quiz over many of the items you've already seen plus new ones over Classical and Operant conditioning, and Social-Cognitive Learning (like the BoBo doll) on Tuesday, Nov 4. To prepare for this, study the links on the webpage (know the learning terms).We'll talk more about this in class this coming Tuesday. If you don't understand something, ask me! Finally, note that your grade is based on T-Scores, which are statistically derived from your raw scores (the number you got right). They are not percentages. If you want to know more about them, ask. Finally, I am still committed to helping you learn the material in any way that I can, but you have meet me half-way! Also, please vote on presidential poll I am putting on the webpage and we'll see if your vote is significantly different from other polls. Maybe I'll compute a confidence interval as well.

10-28-08 — Today I will be dividing you into groups to find out what you are learning from the quizzes (if anything). I want to see if collectively you know something about what I've been presenting either on the web or in class. I plan to divide you into 3 groups of which I will ask different tasks. This will be without notes or access to resources. (After all, you won't have your notes when your family or friends ask you to showcase your knowledge!) You will not be graded on this (although you can still make a good impression!). Then I want an assigned spokesperson for the group to present the information. This is strictly for me because I worry as I do in all my classes that the students aren't really learning anything. Won't it be fun to show that I have nothing to worry about? Doesn't this make you eager for class?
       The other day I received an e-mail from a former student when I taught a Maple Woods. She thanked me for teaching her to think critically and gave an example! As students you probably don't appreciate what a lift that gave to my spirits! I actually had an impact on her that changed her life in a significant way! Wow! Well, try to make me look good today.

10-21-08 — I've updated the quiz scores and grades in the link "Quiz Scores" in the left frame. I'm still not completely confident that I have all the quizzes you submitted, so, if you would, please check your scores and grades as posted and let me know if you think there is a discrepancy. If you have submitted a quiz that doesn't show, let me know and I'll do a search on it. If you have any other questions, email me and I'll be glad to answer them. Please keep a copy of all your submissions!

11:44 hrs — Tentative grades are posted under the link "quiz scores." I want to talk about these and I want you to talk, too!

10-21-08 — Read all the links under learning (this page, left frame) ASAP. Also review the other links. Today (10-21-08) we'll do a review and then break new ground. I want to show you the influence and application of classical conditioning and generalization and how devastating they can be! Much of their potency comes unreasoning nature of classical conditioning — unlike operant conditioning and other cognitive processes you can't just negate the CRs of Classical Conditioning. Also, I'll try to get out a tentative tracking of grades so far.

10-19-08 — Ok. I've added more to Sleep and Dreams. Read the Week8 Sleep and Dreams link in the left frame. I'll be asking questions over this. You should wonder why the Garcia effect didn't work since I still drink alcohol and 7-Up on occasion. Also, I once had to make my dog throw up after eating dark chocolate since that's very toxic to dogs, but he's developed no aversion to it. He hasn't read about the Garcia effect apparently!

10-17-08 — Here's a link in progress over sleep and dreams. Remember, you should look some of this up yourself. I'm trying to get you to learn how to find information. I'll have a quiz up later. (I know you can't wait!)

10-16-08 — Before I posted your grades, I wanted to make sure that all quizzes have been accounted for. If you do not see a score (look at "quiz scores" in the left frame) for a quiz that you're confident you emailed to me or completed in some other way, please contact me immediately!
       I also hope to have more quiz questions up for you on the topics scheduled in the syllabus, as well as some links and reading material! Hope you're all having a good break! PS. Did you watch the debate? It was reported that McCain was "attacking" and Obama was "on the defensive." Isn't this interesting? You can see that there are positive associations (conditioned) with "attacking" and negative associations with "on the defensive." Here is a lesson: Be careful when someone attacks you (verbally) because if you try to answer the accusations, people may think you're being defensive. Don't just give back an explanation or justification! First say "Well, I guess that may be partly true, but I really think etc." and then give your defense. I learned this when a friend's wife accused me of something that wasn't true, and when I protested, she responded, "Don, don't be so defensive! It's ok!" I thought, well, two can play this game. Later on, I deliberately accused her of something slutty and when she strongly protested that it wasn't true, I said, "Come on, Cheryl, don't be so defensive!" I don't know if she got the point, but I felt better!

10-15-08 —

I plan on posting grades up to this date sometime today or tomorrow, but before I do I want to make some observations.

1. I have had the actual questions of the quiz available on the webpage for days and have called your attention to that, giving you a chance to look up and learn the answers.
2. I have encouraged you to ask questions about things you are hazy about or would like further clarification on.
3. I have never refused to answer any question or hesitated to tell you where to find the answer.
4. I have gone over the questions in class and explicitly stated the correct answer that you could have written down.
5. I have been lenient in accepting quizzes past the deadline and in the wrong format.
6. To me, there seems to me to be no reason that everyone could not score 100% on all of these quizzes.

       Because I like to show you the relevance of principles you learn in psychology to real life, I am going to relate this situation to a basic concept of psychology called "attribution." To what would an outside observer attribute this poor performance on quizzes? There are basically two types of attributions: Dispositional and Situational. A dispositional attribution is attributing an action to a person's internal states — their traits, their attitudes, their personality. The person did this because they are "mean" or "stupid" or "kind," etc. A situational attribution is attributing the event to something in the situation: "It was dark"; "the house was burning," "There was a gun to my head," "I had a bad childhood," etc.
        In most instances people are inclined to emphasize dispositional attributions over situational ones. This is called the fundamental attribution error and is made all the time. It is an "error" because it minimizes or does not acknowledge the situational causes of a behavior.
        What are the consequences of this error? For one thing, it affects how an observer feels about the person (the "actor"). If it was a positive act, they will judge them positively — the actor is "good," "unselfish," "kind," "thoughtful," etc. If it was a negative act, the actor is seen as "stupid," "lazy," "immoral," "cruel," "selfish," etc.
       So...applied to the class's performance on these quizzes, what attribution would an observer be likely to make? Would they make situational attributions, such as "the quizzes were too difficult," "the instructor was expecting too much," or "there wasn't enough time to complete the quizzes," etc.? Or would they make dispositional attributions: "The students were lazy," or "the students were indifferent," or "the students didn't care about their grades"? Which attribution do you think an instructor would likely make??? Remember, if they make a dispositional attribution, it's the fundamental attribution error!

10-09-08 — Ralating psychology to current events: Some of you following the political campaigns may have noted the recent use by the McCain campaign of Barack Obama's middle name ("Hussein") to question his patriotism. Can you imagine what they'd say if his middle name was "Saddam"? Or "Beelzebub"? Or "Adolf"? And if his middle name was "Jesus" would they publicize that? Would that influence your vote? By the way, did you notice that if you multiplied the number of letters in John McCain's name by 60 and added 6, you'd have 666 — the number of the antichrist? Whoa! This is some powerful critical thinking!!!
        This again, as I mentioned in a previous class shows the power of classical conditioning. No one is immune to it. The emotional response to "Hussein" is going to occur. When someone says "Imagine waking up and finding that "Barack HUSSEIN Obama is your president," you can't help having a physiological response. This is of course called a "negative association" and politicians thrive on attaching it to their opponent. To the critical thinker its impact is lessened by their prefrontal cortex which steps in after the response and says, "Wait a minute! This is irrelevant, you idiot! A person's name says nothing about their qualities!" And then we always have "guilt by association" which is a simple description of classical conditioning. Remember! Any time one stimulus is paired with another, the little neuron axons and dendrites start to hook up to form an association and thereafter when one fires, the other fires. The stimulus "Hussein" elicits the response "Ewwwwww!" That's a little oversimplified, but you get the idea. We talk about the plasticity of the nervous system which means simply the connections can and do change in response to stimuli. When you're young (like me) the system is very plastic. Older people have more trouble.

10-08-08
       I have posted your quiz scores for quiz 3 in the left frame in the link "Quiz Scores." Let me know if you think there's a mistake. Zeroes indicate you didn't turn in a quiz.

       A reminder: Make sure you hit the reload button when you access the webpage or the page may give out of date information!

10-06-08 — Don't forget you will be taking a paper and pencil quiz tomorrow!
       Also, here's something from MSNBC's webpage relevant to our discussion of "bad words": The Supreme Court will decide "whether TV networks can be fined for expletives ["bad words"] blurted out during live programs. The networks, including NBC, a parent company of MSNBC, argue that they should not be punished for 'fleeting expletives' that performers utter during unscripted programs."
        Can you imagine? Being punished for a saying a word — a series of sounds that our ear analyzes and interprets??? It boggles the mind! How can a phonetic configuration of pressure differentials (a word) that is nothing more than an expression of feeling be so offensive that it would warrant a fine? Are we back in kindergarten where our parents would spank us for saying "naughty words"? I'm reminded of the time I came out of a movie theater where an especially violent movie was playing and was accosted by a couple with a child. They asked me if I thought the movie was appropriate for their child. I said, "Well, I don't know. There was an awful lot of graphic violence — you know, shootings and stabbings — a lot of blood!" The couple responded: "We were more concerned about the language. Was there a lot of swearing and bad words?" I shook my head and walked away. Oh, the power of classical conditioning!

10-04-08 — I'm having real trouble recording your submitted quizzes and making sure you get credit. The problem is there's little consistency in the format and no easy way to determine names. Some of you continue to fail to put your name on your spreadsheet, not realizing that that makes me have to look at who sent the file, and in some cases, your email ID is a tricked-out name like "Bzzapi46" or "Bow-Wow on the Prowl" or "CornmushAndTaters"! And it doesn't help that some don't submit them as an Excel spreadsheet and I have to transfer the answers by hand.
        Anyway, Tuesday, I'm going to have you fill out a hardcopy answer sheet of all items and go with that as your "quiz." That way I can be sure everyone gets appropriate credit. (How can you miss any?)
        The syllabus says 10-7's class topic is "Sleep and Dreams." I also want to talk about hypnosis and maybe do a demonstration. I'll put up some questions soon (maybe Sunday), as well as some reference sources for you to look over.  

10-02-08 — Here's a question you should be able to answer: From MSNBC Website: "The CBS News poll showed that Mr. Obama has a nine percentage-point lead over Mr. McCain — 49 percent to 40 percent. It is the first time Mr. Obama has held a statistically significant lead over Mr. McCain this year in polls conducted by CBS or joint polls by CBS and The Times." What are the odds that this difference is due to sampling error?
        Next question: "PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update of registered voters finds Barack Obama at 48%, and John McCain at 44%...the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points." What is the probability that that Obama's percentage is really only 45%?
        For the vice presidential debate tonight, the "spin doctors" for Sarah Palin are trying to lower expectations. Shouldn't they try to raise expectations? How does this relate to the influence of contrast effects that we talked about in class?

9-28-08 1700 hrs.—

Quiz due dates:
Tuesday, 9-30: 10 answers
Wednesday, 10-1: 10 answers
Thursday, 10-2: 10 answers
Friday, 10-3: 10 answers
Monday, 10-6: 10 answers
Tuesday noon: 8 answers

You can answer the items in any order you want. I will have an Excel spreadsheet key in which I will paste your answers opposite the item number, so you must submit your answers in column A of an Excel spreadsheet where the row number corresponds to the item number. This will produce a spreadsheet with answers in intermittent rows, where the cells are filled in as you continue to submit your answers. The row number will correspond to the number of the item you are answering. For example, if you choose to answer for your first 10 questions items 3, 6, 14, 15, 17, 22, 28, 42, 48, and 52, your answers should appear in rows 3, 6, 14, etc. If you answered "A" to question 38, you should enter an "A" in column A of row 38 on the spreadsheet.(Example) Failure to follow these instructions will result in a 1 pt (10%) penalty.

9-28-08 — I have posted two new links in the left frame. One of them deals with supernaturalism and the dangers when policy-makers believe in it. I want everyone to understand that I am not endorsing any political viewpoint, but only pointing out failures to think critically, a shortcoming found in abundance among leaders of both parties. Understand that failure to think critically does not mean an individual would not be a good leader, but simply that they may be more vulnerable to errors in policy decisions when such decisions require critical thinking. Also, it is possible that a person may think critically in one area, but not another.
       In addition, note the quiz questions. Again, I don't expect you will know very many. Your job is to find the answers by hook or by crook. If you've looked and can't find them, ask me or use your critical thinking skills to come up with plausible hypotheses. Here's a question that illustrates how you can use critical thinking to get a probable answer: Does a cow have to have a calf before she gives milk? You farm people know this, but how about the rest of you? We'll discuss how you can find the answer by thinking critically.

1600 hrs: In an attempt to get some discussion going and foster critical thinking, I would like to devote some time in each class period to controversial topics so we can demonstrate and practice critical thinking. You bring them up and I will try to give some psychological or scientific background to them. They can be on anything — psychology, religion, philosophy, politics — anything! It is possible I may need to censor and restrict at some point but I'll try not to.

9-15-08 — Ok, starting with the next quiz (soon to be posted), I will give only one day's' grace on the deadline. So if the test is due at 9:00 p.m. Friday, I will not penalize you if you don't email it by 9:00 p.m. Saturday. Keep in mind that when you email me, the date the email sent appears in the message. And again, if you have questions, ask. Keep checking this page for late-breaking announcements. I hope to have a summary of topics from last class posted by tomorrow.

9-14-08 — I want everyone to understand that the quizzes are required and unless you have a legitimate excuse, you will receive a zero for any missed quizzes. As of today (Sep 14) all quizzes should have been emailed to me. I still don't have Quiz 1 for Ell, Kabua, and Karanu. For Quiz 2, I don't answers for Chen, Goodpasture, Karanu, Lewis, Mann, and Orlanzzini. If this is wrong, let me know! If you having trouble submitting them, send me an email (dchezik@gmail.com) and I will help you!
        For next class period, we will be going over the ear, so please read the relevant links. I'll try to put something on the webpage for you.(Also try looking up some links on the web, as well as other resources.) I'll try to post a summary of last class as well. Remember, too, that you can ask me a question either in class or by email! I'm available! From time to time we will be discussing critical thinking as it applies to current events. Remember, the first question to ask about controversial information is: "Why should I believe that?" Remember, too, the more improbable the claim, the more evidence and logic needed to back it up.

9-8-08 — Hope you all had a pleasant weekend! I have posted a new quiz for you. This will be due (email only, please!) by this Friday, Sep 12. I am providing these quizzes online as a learning tool. I realize I have not (yet) covered this in class, (I will!) but as I mentioned before, my goal is to have you learn how to find information however you can. For this class, your instructor is probably the most convenient source, in class or out. E-mail me your questions or contact me on Skype when I show I'm available. However, you can also look things up in textbooks, on the internet, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.
      Another part of this exercise is to learn to evaluate sources of information. In general, published sources are better than unpublished sources, mainly because publication usually involves a review process by qualified editors. Information from the internet is always suspect because no one monitors its validity. (This is why Snopes.com and "Truth or Fiction" are so helpful!). It has always been curious to me that we are so willing to believe. We expect what we hear or read to be true! It's probably because we don't have time to ask "the critical thinking question" ("Why should I believe this?:) of every bit of information that comes in. And some even think that you couldn't print it if it wasn't true! Unfortunately, there's no law against lying or exaggerating (except for slander or in contracts) and people aren't reluctant to take advantage of this! Remember just saying something doesn't make it true!

9-5-08 I just realized that Park takes attendance very seriously — you miss a couple of classes and BAM-O! you're administratively withdrawn! I think I'll start calling the roll!.

9-2-08 I just updated the webpage and sent the class a message informing them. If you didn't get the message, it means I don't have your email address. Let me know!

9-2-08 update 0715 — I would like for you to learn how to look up stuff you don't know. Here are some concepts you should know about our wonderful brains.

1. cortical projection areas
2. prefrontal cortex
3. amygdala
4. mind-body problem

I'm curious as to how difficult you find these. I'd like to have you look these up and then ask questions about them. Don't be overwhelmed. I just want you to know what they are, not how they work. Just a single descriptive statement like: "Contical projection areas: each sense has a projection area on the cortex where sensory information is transmitted so that it will be conscious." I'll go over anything you don't understand.

9-2-08 — I hope that you're finding the physiological basis of your mind and behavior interesting and that you'll have some questions during class. Incidentally, I saw a newscaster use my question-asking technique in an interview. He said, "This may be a naive question, but..." It works! Try it!
       I still don't have quiz answers for a couple of people. I'll go over a couple of questions in class today (Tues, the 2nd). I hope we have some good discussion today! Also note the vote caster link on this page. I'd like some feedback about the different topics we cover, so please take the time to cast your vote. I'll also entertain questions you would like to take a class poll on.

8-31-08 — I'm putting some discussion questions in the week 3 link in the left frame. See what you think. You can get pretty far out on some of these! If you have any questions you think would make good discussion questions, let me know. I hope everyone has turned in their quiz by now! I'm also going to have a minipoll posted. Any suggestions here would be appreciated!

8-29-08 — A student relayed an interesting thing that relates to critical thinking and our discussion about the paranormal. She said I could post it so here it is: "About psychic people: My mom went to a psychic to read the future, and it was pretty interesting outcome.... it was about when I was 10 i think. The psychic said that my mom would be moving within 2 years overseas, and she saw a way older man in the picture that would lead to a marriage and she would have a stepson who would be about my age.... but my mom said that all that sounded crazy to her and not close at all to what her life is right at that moment... but then a year or two years later my mom got remarried to an american and we ended up moving to america... it was crazy to flash back to the day my mom visited the psychic. of course not everything come true like the step son, but even that almost did because the first man that she was in relationship with had a son about my age. How would you explain that? How did the psychic get so close?
      My answer: First of all, I don't know if all this happened in the way that the student said.Memory tends to distort over time.
       But let's say that it did happen in exactly the way the student describes it. Psychics are very good at "cold readings."(inferring details about a person using minimal cues. You'd be surprised how much information a person gives away in subtle clues.) The other thing is that "hits" always stand out much more than misses. It's curious that when a psychic misses by a little, it's seen as more convincing than if they are exactly right! For example, if that psychic had said your mother would meet a man who was born on August 21st, 1932 whose name was Karl Rothgeb and they would get married October 14th, 1933 at 2 in the afternoon at an Episcopalian church on Elm Street by a minister named Arbuthnot — for some reason that wouldn't be as convincing as the generalities you related. I guess because if the psychic is exactly right, you suspect they cheated somehow.(Like psychic John Edwards who has hidden microphones!). It's as though we expect psychics not to be accurate on the details and are willing to accept generalities as hits. Here's another way to look at it: It's easier for generalities to be "hits," because they include more things than specifics! And if the psychic spouts enough specifics, some of them are bound to be right just by chance, allowing us to conveniently ignore the misses!
       Why didn't the psychic say exactly how old the man would be? They are given so much leeway (and they know this!). If the psychic said your mom would meet a man in his 60s from Minnesota, we would tend to count it as a hit if she met a man who was 59 (he's almost 60, or he looks 65, etc. ) and from Iowa (Well, both states are in the Midwest, right? So the psychic was right!). Later when we retell this, we tend to distort a little. We would say, "And the psychic told my mother how old this man was (they didn't!) and even was right about where he was from! (The psychic was wrong, actually.)
      We see that happening in your statement: "... Of course not everything came true like the step son, but even that almost did because the first man that she was in relationship with had a son about my age."
      You can see that if you don't insist on accuracy, it's hard to know where to stop! What if your mother had met another man she was attracted to who had a son? What if one of her single male co-workers had a son? Etc, etc. You can always stretch a near miss into a hit! The problem is how accurate do psychics have to be before we agree they're psychic? Any event can be described with greater specificity but with psychics it's never clear how specific they should be or what the probability of the event is. How about this? – I can predict the future: Tomorrow the sun will come up and it will rain somewhere. I guess I'm psychic!
      The other thing is that people tend to forget the psychic's mistakes, so they can spout a large number of specific facts, like your father drives a Honda, works for Sprint, married a woman with red hair and says "Damn it to Hell!" when he gets mad. If your father drives a Toyoto, you could say that was a hit because Toyoto is a Japanese car just like a Honda. If he works for AT&T, you can say well, he was right because AT&T is a telephone company like Sprint. If your mother is blonde but always says she's going to get redhaired wig, you can claim another hit for the psychic!If your father says anything with damn or hell in it, you can again interpret it that the psychic called it! When I had a psychic give me a reading ($35), he said my wife was "a psycholigist like me." When I told him that was wrong, that she was a speech therapist, he said (I'll never forget this!) "Well, that is the same to me!" Geez! How could he miss???
      He wrongly diagnosed my mother's health problems, and didn't know other things he should have (if he was a psychic!) There were so many things he could have told me (if he was psychic), but didn't. But, to show you how it works, what I remember most clearly is that he said there was diabetes on my father's side, which was correct!!! (I don't know the base rate for having a diabetic on your father's side if you're diabetic, but since diabetes is inheritied, it's probably pretty high!)
      So, how do you know if someone is truly psychic? Remember first that "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Also, a good test is: How rich are they? Anyone that is psychic should be a quadruple billionaire and famous for solving unsolved crimes. And think about predicting powerball numbers! Wow! Ever hear of someone like that?

8-29-08 — When you call up this website, be sure to hit "refresh" on your browser or you may not be looking at the most recent changes!
Something you may want to explore for future reference is the apa journal list below.. This gives links to all the APA journals including links to their table of contents. In addition, by clicking on links in the table of contents, you can call up abstracts of all the articles in the journal (you have to pay to get the full article, but the abstract will tell you what the article is about and if you need the full article, you can get it at McAfee Library (ask the librarian for help!). Boy, I wish I had had such a resource when I was in college! Take advantage of it! Just browse if you like! See what's available. And keep in mind the journals listed are all peer-reviewed.
      From time to time I may be sending email messages to the address you gave me. (I'll try to announce it here when I do that at first, so you can tell if you're getting your messages!) Also when you send me an email, be sure to include any previous message so I know what you're talking about.

8-28-08 —There is a little addendum that I wanted to add onto the discussion of psychology as a science: You need to know that the real documentation of psychology's scientific credentials is the many psychology research articles published almost daily. Such articles describe experiments intended to advance the knowledge that psychology encompasses and use the scientific method. Because there are so many submissions for publication, it's necessary to screen for "scientificness," otherwise the field would be inundated with "garbage" (some say it already is!). Researchers submit their studies to journals, which vary in their scientific respectablity. The first criterion in evaluating a journal's scientific quality is whether it's "peer-reviewed." "Peer-reviewed" means that the editors distribute submissions to recognized experts in the field to evaluate and to recommend publication (or not!). This screens out a lot of crap (which is the technical term for research that's poorly done). An article published in a peer-reviewed journal carries more weight than one that isn't. You will note that in some of our psychology courses, a literature review is required and the articles reviewed must come from "peer-reviewed" publications. (It is of course interesting that no one ever seems to provide a list of these, and the journals don't display a banner on their title page that says, "Hey! Look at me! I'm peer-reviewed!").

Some journals are more selective in what they publish and more prestigious than others. Typically, "good" journals do not charge for publication but rely on subscriptions for their costs. Others are what are known as "pay journals": The researcher pays a certain amount per page to have their work published. These tend not to be as prestigious as non-pay journals, although there are exceptions. Near the top of the prestigious list are the APA journals (published by the American Psychological Association ) (list of APA journals). Psychologists strive to be published in these journals because it looks so good on their vitae (academic resume). In some institutions, a faculty member's tenure may hinge on their publication record. There is a slogan at these institutions — "Publish or Perish!"

The APA (don't confuse this with that other APA — "The American Psychiatric Association.") is also prominent in determining the style in which publications are written. There is even a style manual which is strictly adhered to , and many disciplines outside of psychology even follow it. You may have noticed that the Core Assessment for this course must be written in APA style.

In addition to publishing scholarly articles, the APA also has an ethics board which rules on violation of ethics for its members. Too many violations and the member is kicked out — not a good thing for your career!

The APA may also become involved in pro-social initiatives but they try to stay out of politics in general (although the members tend to be on the liberal side!)

8-25-08 — In concluding our introduction to psychology and science, we will be spending a little time next class period on the methods of psychology and drawing comparisons between psychology and the "hard sciences." Why do the physical sciences like physics and chemistry look down their noses at psychology? Why do so many scoff at psychologists and their findings? Why do some claim psychology is not really a science?

Quiz

1. Who founded Experimental Psychology? A) William James; B) Aristotle; C) E.B. Titchenor; D) J. B. Watson; E) Wilhelm Wundt.
2. When was the first experimental lab established? A) 1885; B)1863; C)1938; D)1879.
3. Where the first experimental lab founded? A) Germany; B) England; C) the US; D) Russia.
4. Which is the first question asked by critical thinkers? A)What's the source? B) What's the empirical evidence?; C)How recent is the information?; D) Why should I believe that?
5. What is a good operational way to measure how certain you are? A)By your gut instinct; B)By the number of experts in the field who agree with your position; B) by the percentage of educated people who agree with you; C) by how much you would bet that your belief is correct; D) by how certain you feel.
6. The Gestalt School of psychology believed that A) lower animals should not be part of psychology; B) The whole is greater than the sum of its parts; C) that behavior should be studied by analysing each stimulus and response in the chain; D)that reflexive responses should not be a part of psychology.
7. The phi phenomenon A)is an illusion; B) is a possible explanation of the Miracle of Fatima; C) is related to Aristotle's "law of identity"; D) was discovered in 1879.
8. "Snopes.com" is A)a listing of early psychologists and their discoveries; B) should be checked before believing a rumor on the internet; C) A resource for studies in early psychology; D) about consciousness.

9. What famous scholar thought men had more teeth than women? A) Aristotle; B) Socrates; C) Hippocrates; D) Homer
10. Aristotle empirically showed A) that an object twice as heavy falls twice as fast; B) That an object falls to earth at a rate proportional to its mass;C) That all objects fall at the same rate; D)Did not empirically test his conclusions about weights.
11. What disqualified the mind as being the subject matter of psychology? A) Animals couldn't be studied; B) Babies couldn't be studied; C) mind could not be empirically observed; D) There were too few minds worth studying.

    8-21-08, 10:29 a.m. — One more thing: I would like everyone to send me an email from their preferred email address so I can more easily enter emails in my gradebook. (dchezik@gmail.com)(When I send back an acknowledgment, gmail automatically puts the address in my address book.) Also see about putting skype on your computer so you can see when I'm available and so we can have conference calls. The address is www.skype.com. It's free! No long distance charges. See graphic below. You can get it at www.skype.com. It is helpful, but not necessary to have a microphone.

    

    8-21-08 — For our next class this Tuesday 8-26-08, I would like to put you in groups that will look over each other's notes, see what you didn't understand, and present questions to me and the class. I will serve as a resident authority and direct the discussion in a didactic direction. Here's a good exercise to see if you understand something: Try to explain it to someone else. Here's the standard format of explanation: First explain the concept in general terms and then give an example. The example part is very important! It will tell if your understanding is correct. Plus it will challenge you! Here's an example: Explain the theory of gravity: "Gravity is the mutual attraction of two objects which is proportional to the masses of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them." Hunh? Example: "In other words, if you have two rocks or apples or cars or planets or whatever, they will attract each other. If one is 10 lbs and the other is 20, and you double the mass of the 10lb one, its force of attraction will become twice as great. Say that they are 10 feet apart. If you increase the distance between them to 20 feet, (in other words, double it) the attraction will be 1/4 as great. This is known as the inverse square law.
      Boy, that really makes you think! Try it! (Notice how I gave an example?)

    We will do this for about an hour, wrap up loose ends and move on to the next topic. I will post a summary shortly so keep checking back! It is important that you know and understand the main characteristics of science given on the webpage!

    8-20-08. Good class yesterday! I appreciate everyone's attentiveness. I would like more discussion.
    Here's a brief review: In thinking critically, remember to look at things in different ways. Remember to simplify the problem without changing its meaning. (the riddle).
    Remember to distribute (space) your studying.
    Review often
    Go over something again several times after you've learned it.
    Be skeptical – know when to believe. Remember the more extraordinary the claim, the more evidence you need.
    Review the critical thinking links and the links on early schools of psychology.
    Review the characteristics of science, especially about requiring empirical observations. Know what "an empirical study" is. Remember that empirical evidence is the gold standard! Empirical evidence trumps logic and everything else!
    Ask questions — any questions. Preface stupid questions with "This may be a stupid question, but. . ."
    Review the early schools of psychology links. Know that Wilhelm Wundt founded the first school of psychology in Leipzig Germany in 1879. Know that it's subject matter was the mind and its method introspection and that it didn't survive because it wasn't empirical. Remember science requires observation to be science.
    John B. Watson started the school of Behaviorism. He threw out consciousness as the subject matter of psychology and replaced it with observable behavior,thereby making it empirical. Behaviorism dominated until the 1940s (or later). On the clinical side of psychology, Freud introduced psychoanalysis around the same time. (see link) I'll keep adding stuff here, so check regularly and reread everything to overlearn. Ask questions

    08-11-08. I plan on spending some time on critical thinking in our first class, so please read the links under "critical thinking." Also note that the pages display best with the Internet Explorer browser - mainly the graphics!

    Aug 10, 08. For those of you who have been checking in, try the "Daunting Riddle" link and see if you can solve it without looking at the answer. We'll talk about it 1st class if we have time!

    08-05-08. I plan on putting topics for each class in a link that will appear in the left frame. Clicking on that link should show you what we will discussing that period. Remember to ask questions