Professor David Moore
108 Broad Hall
Office extension: 71648
E-mail: dmoore@pitzer.edu

Pitzer College
Psychology 10
Introduction to psychology
(Section 1)
Fall, 2008

Class meets Mondays & Wednesdays from 12:00 p.m. - 1:10 p.m.,
in Broad Hall 214.

My OFFICE HOURS will be on:

Mondays from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., and
Tuesdays from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

If I need to change these as the semester's schedule becomes clearer, I'll obviously let you know. Also, if by any chance this turns out not to be enough, I'll certainly arrange for others. In addition, I'm free to be scheduled -- in fact, if you'd let me know that you'd like to come in to talk, that would be even better for me. Under any circumstances, I'll be in my office or lab lots, so you can just drop on in.

The TEXTBOOK is:

Kowalski, R. & Westen, D. (2009). Psychology (5th ed.). New York: Wiley.

A note about the construction and scoring of TESTS:

All of the tests given in this class will be cumulative, because there's no reason to forget what you've just learned the minute a particular test is over. So, any material covered earlier in the course (in either the textbook or in the lectures) will be fair game on a later test. That said, in every case, the bulk of the questions on each test will be about the most recently covered material (i.e., that covered since the preceding test).

Also, note that I will grade using both a curve and non-curve, depending on how everyone is doing. This will benefit everyone; if everyone does well on an exam (say greater than 90% correct), everyone (to my mind) deserves an "A" and that is what everyone will get. It is, however, possible that there will be a wide range of scores, and that they will not be particularly high (my examinations might be somewhat difficult for those not yet accustomed to college level standards). Even if no one does better than, say, 90%, I will NOT downgrade everyone; rather, the students whose scores are RELATIVELY high will do well, and those whose are not, will not.

Be aware that I do not like to categorize students until the last possible moment, which is my way of saying that you should not expect bold letters ("A", "D", etc.) on your returned exams. I am not aware of any good reason to label Hendrix' 90 an "A-" but Morrison's 89 a "B+". Rather, I will attempt to make clear to everyone where they stand among the continuum of students that make up the class (I will do this by scoring tests numerically). By the end of the semester, when I am forced by this institution to draw lines, it will be clear (both to me, and to each of you) who is deserving of what grade.

A HELPFUL LITTLE HINT ABOUT WHAT TO STUDY WHEN PREPARING FOR THE TESTS GIVEN IN THIS COURSE: I believe that the authors of your textbook were very thoughtful as they decided what to include and what not to include in their book, and that they therefore did not choose to include anything that is really unimportant. Consequently, I consider all of the material in the book to be fair game when it comes to devising test questions. Knowing, as I do, that some of you need help focusing on some aspects of the course at the expense of others, I would advise you to consider the material I discuss IN CLASS to be more important than textbook material that I do not discuss in class. But that having been said, I do believe that everything in the book is worth knowing about and understanding, so PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME WHICH PARTS OF THE BOOK YOU SHOULD STUDY WHEN PREPARING FOR EXAMS; to give you any answer to that question would imply that I think some parts of the book are unimportant. I believe that those students who have mastered the most material--as evidenced by their performances on exams--should receive the best grades...so the more you learn while studying, the better :-)

Finally, please note that I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate students with disabilities; if you need to request accommodations or need additional assistance, feel free to contact the Academic Support Services Office at campus extension 73553.

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