Psychology 243

Syllabus for PSYCH 243:

<div class="MsoNormal">Dr. John A. Johnson </div>

Introduction to Well-Being and Positive Psychology

Office 172 Smeal 375-4774

MWF 11:00-11:50 141 Smeal Building

Office <div class="MsoNormal">Hours: MWF 10:00-10:50</div>

Spring Semester, 2012

<div class="MsoNormal">Email: j5j@psu.edu</div>

Required Readings:

Cancellations and Delays due to Weather:</span></span>

<span style='font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt'>Please read the campus procedures concerning delay or cancellation of classes due to weather conditions at: http://www.ds.psu.edu/weather.htm .  <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span><span style='mso-tab-count:1'></span>If the campus announces a delay due to weather, this means our class will run from 12:15-12:55 PM instead of 11:00-11:50. Thus, our class will start later than usual and will be only 40 minutes long.

Obviously, if the campus announces cancellation due to weather, we will not be meeting. If the weather is bad but the campus does not announce a cancellation, and you believe that driving conditions are too dangerous for you, please do not risk your life for the sake of class. This is a valuable class, but your life is more important! </span></span>
Course Objectives:

The overall objective of this course is to learn how to make your life more satisfying and meaningful. This general objective can be broken down into three more specific objectives, namely, learning how to:

(1) avoid and escape negative states such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, anger, and self-defeating behavior;
(2) deal effectively with the normal demands of everyday life (have good relationships with others, cope with stress, organize yourself, set and accomplish goals, etc.); and
(3) improve yourself beyond mere normality (become more creative, increase awareness, and develop a higher quality life).

The study of psychological well-being has undergone an interesting evolution over the past 60 years. Originally, the focus was on the first two objectives, that is, helping people to overcome emotional and behavioral problems and to cope effectively with the stresses and demands of everyday life. Courses dealing with this subject matter were often called "The Psychology of Adjustment," which gave the impression that there was one standard of mental health for everyone to live up to.

Over time, however, psychologists became dissatisfied with this focus on eliminating negatives and encouraging adjustment. An alternative approach, which began with humanistic psychology in the 1960s and developed into what is now called Positive Psychology, came to focus on each person's unique potential for positive growth and excellence. In the words of our textbook author, Chris Peterson, Positive Psychology is "The scientific study of what goes right in life" (p. 4).

This course promotes both the original goals of a psychology of well-being (getting rid of negatives and dealing with ordinary challenges), while emphasizing Positive Psychology's focus on growth and excellence.

Methods for Achieving Course Objectives:

Chapter 2 of Chris Peterson's textbook is titled "Learning About Positive Psychology: Not a Spectator Sport." This means that in our course we will be learning by doing. Prior to many classes, everyone will be expected to complete a homework assignment in preparation for that class. The assignment usually includes reading from one or more of the textbooks. But in addition to any textbook reading, you are expect to engage in an activity related to the topic. Instructions for each activity are posted on ANGEL. The instructions will tell you how to write a short "activity report" for the activity.

You are to bring each activity report to class to help you discuss your experiences with the activity with members of your small group. In these discussions, students are meant to learn from one another. I will usually kick off the discussions with a short lecture. After groups discuss the topic of the day for a period of time, I may visit the various groups to see how things are going, or I may moderate a full-class discussion of the topics for that class period. You will turn in your activity report at the end of class. All reports must be typed unless Dr. Johnson indicates otherwise.

Course Outline:

The following course outline charts when we will be covering the different topics. Blank areas in the Topic column indicate a continuation of the previously listed topic. Any changes from this outline will be announced in class. For reading assignments and other activities in our books, I have used the following shorthand book titles:

Primer - A Primer in Positive Psychology, by Christopher Peterson

Taking Control - Thoughts & feelings: Taking Control of your moods and your life, by Mathew McKay, Martha Davis, and Patrick Fanning

Freedom - How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, by Harry Browne

Week

Meeting 

Topic 

Reading Assignment 

Activity

1

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Introduction to the Course

 

 

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What is Positive Psychology?

Primer, Chapter 1 

 

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Learning is Not a Spectator Sport

Primer, Chapter 2

1. Begin activity Three Good Things which is due on class 5

2

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Martin Luther King Day – No Class

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Cooperative Learning

Instructions for Cooperative Learning Activity (on ANGEL)

2. Cooperative Learning

<div class="MsoNormal">5 F 1/20<span style='font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"'><o:p></o:p></span></div>

Pleasure

Primer, Chapter 3

(Turn in Three Good Things)

3

<div class="MsoNormal">6 M 1/23<span style='font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"'><o:p></o:p></span></div>

Happiness: Survey of theories

Primer, Chapter 4;
Freedom, Chapter 27

3. Happiness Profile

<div class="MsoNormal">7 W 1/25<span style='font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"'><o:p></o:p></span></div>

 

 

 

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Happiness: Freely choosing what you really want to do.

Freedom, Chapters 1-3

 

4. Identity, Intellect, Emotions

4

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Happiness: Changing limiting thoughts

Taking Control, Chapters 2-4

 

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5. Changing Limiting Thoughts

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Happiness: Developing attitudes of acceptance

Desire, Pain, and Suffering (on ANGEL)

6. Desire, Pain, and Suffering

 

5

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Compassion

Compassion (on ANGEL)

7. Compassion

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Attention

Attention (on ANGEL);
Taking Control, Chapter 20

8. Attention

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Gratitude

Gratitude (on ANGEL)

9. Gratitude

6

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Avoiding the Unselfishness and Group Traps.

Freedom, Chapters 5-6; pp. 55-58 of Chapter 7 (markets, transactions, exchanges)

10. Balancing self-interest with the interests of others

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Avoiding the Rights Trap.

Freedom, Chapter 9

 

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Freedom from Social Restrictions and Bad Relationships.

Freedom, Chapters 17, 18

11. Freedom for yourself and others

7

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Mid-Semester Practice Evaluation of Group Participation

 

 

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Mid-Semester Evaluation

 

 

8

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Positive Thinking; Visualization

Primer, Chapter 5

12. Positive Thinking

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Relaxation and Wellness

Primer, Chapter 9

 

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Relaxation Techniques

Taking Control, Chapter 5

13. Relaxation

 

<div class="MsoNormal">3/5-3/9</div>

* * * SPRING BREAK - NO CLASSES * * *

9

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Worry Control

Taking Control, Chapters 6-7

 

25 W 3/14

Decreasing Depression

Taking Control, Chapters 13-14
Freedom, Chapter 29

 

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10

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Increasing Self-Esteem

Taking Control, Chapter 15

 

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Your Morality

Freedom, Chapters 4, 28

 

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14. Your Morality

11

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Managing Anger

Taking Control, Chapter 17

 

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Character Strengths

Primer, Chapter 6

15. Using Signature Strengths in New Ways

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12

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Values

Primer, Chapter 7

16. Values

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Interests and Abilities

Primer, Chapter 8

17. Interests and Abilities

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13

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Love

Primer, Chapter 10

18. Love Styles

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Communication strategies for overcoming control dramas

Communication and Control Dramas (on ANGEL)

 

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19. Control Dramas

14

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Sex differences in interests, behavior, and communication

Sex Differences in Communication (on ANGEL)

20. Sex Differences in Communication

 

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Marriage and Families

Primer, Chapter 11,
Freedom, Chapters 19-21 & Afterword

21. Marriage and Families

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15

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Your future and the future of positive psychology

Primer, Chapter 12

 

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22. Meanings of Life

Finals Week
4/30-5/4

Exact
Date
TBA

Final Exam

 

 

Assignments and Grades:

Assignments have two completely separate purposes: (1) to allow students to achieve their own personal self-development goals; and (2) to allow grades to be assigned. I do not especially like assigning grades in this course. I am more concerned that the course assignments help students achieve their own self-development goals. However, I do realize that grades are important to many of you in your educational career; furthermore, the university requires that grades be assigned.

Grades are based totally on the number of points earned on activity reports you submit, your contribution to your group's discussions, and on the midterm and final exams. Descriptions of these factors and the manner in which they determine the final grade are presented below.

Activity Reports

For 22 of our 44 classes, you are to bring to class a written description of your experience with the homework activity assigned for that class. The instructions for each activity tell you what to write. The reports are graded on quality. A high-quality report provides thoughtful, sincere, complete responses to the assignment according to the instructions. An low-quality report gives thoughtless, sketchy, incomplete, irrelevant, trite, or phony responses to the assigned activity, or does not conform to the instructions. Low-quality reports usually look like they were thrown together at the last minute The key to writing high-quality reports is to approach the activity with enthusiasm, and then to really put your heart into writing about it. Reports should be typed, but need not follow a particular, formal writing style.

Each activity report is worth 15 points. To earn the full point value, you must write with high quality and turn in the report on the day that it is due. Full credit for late reports can be earned only for a legitimate absence (normally only athletic participation, illness, emergency, death in the family). I will be the judge of whether an absence is legitimate. A report turned in late will receive less than the full 15 points or no points at all. The sooner you turn in a late report, the fewer points you will lose, so if you know you will not be turning in a report in class, emailing it to me the same day would be your best option. Any student who develops a pattern of submitting late reports will have increasingly more points deducted for lateness. The total maximum number of points that can be earned for activity reports is 22 x 15 = 330.

Group Participation

To earn points for participation, you must demonstrate that you have prepared for each class by reading the textbooks, engaging in activities, and making quality contributions to discussions in your group. To judge how well you prepare and participate, I will rely heavily on the assessment of the other members of your small group. Each member of each group will have a fixed number of points (= 10 x [number of persons - 1]) to distribute among all the other group members. If you think everyone contributes equally, you assign an equal number of points to everyone. If you think someone contributes more, and another, less, than the others, you can assign more points to the first person. Your participation score will be computed as 300 x (total points received)/(points distributed by one person).

For example, let's say four people are in your group, including you. Each person will have 30 points to distribute among the other three members. If everyone distributes their points equally, you would receive 30 points. Your participation score will be 300 x (30/30) = 300. If someone is judged to be a slacker and receives only 5 points from each of the other three group members, his or her score would be 300 x (15/30) = 150. Note that if your group members believe you contributed more than an average amount, you could actually end up with more than 300 points for participation, but there is a limit of 30 extra points or 330 total participation points that can be earned for extraordinary contribution. We will conduct an informal assessment of participation (assigning points as per the formula above--but it won't count toward your grade) at mid-semester just to see how things are going. At the end of the course, if any individual's participation score seems to me too high or too low due to bias, I may adjust the score.


Midterm and Final Examinations

The midterm and final exams each consist of 40 multiple-choice questions, worth two points each, based on the readings and lectures. The midterm covers material from the first half of the course and the final covers material from the second half of the course. Readings covered by each exam are as follows:

 

Primer

Taking Control

Freedom

Handouts

Midterm Exam

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 2-4; 20

Chapters 1-3;
5-7; 9, 17, 18

All handouts from the first half of the course

Final Exam

Chapters 5-12

Chapters 5-7;
13-15; 17

Chapters 4;
19-21; 28

All handouts from the second half of the course

Group Writing Project

The Four Agreements is a very short book (138 9x14cm pages) that nonetheless manages to capture many of the most important concepts from this course. The language and style of the book differ from books written by professional psychologists. Although the author, don Miguel Ruiz, attended medical school and became a surgeon, he says that the philosophy of life described in the book reflects the wisdom of his ancestral Toltec culture. The goal of your group writing project is to describe how Ruiz talks about a number of concepts in the course, including mental maps, life scripts, self-talk, limiting beliefs, the identity trap, and nonjudgmental attention. All members of the group are expected to contribute to the paper, and one score will be assigned for everyone in the group. Another document, Instructions for The Four Agreements Group Writing Project, provides specific instructions for writing and submitting this paper, as well as the criteria that will be used to grade the paper. This assignment is worth 210 points.

Letter Grades

The maximum possible number of points you can earn in the course is 1000 (330 for activity reports + 300 for group participation + 160 for the midterm and final examinations + 210 for the group writing project). Grades will be assigned on point totals as follows:
  

Point Total

Letter 
Grade

Point Total

Letter 
Grade

Point Total

Letter 
Grade

960-1000 points

A 

840-849 points

B-

< 600 points

F 

920-959 points

A-

830-839 points

C+

 

 

910-919 points

B+

700-829 points

C 

 

 

850-909 points

B 

600-699 points

D 

 

 

Code of Conduct and Statement of Academic Integrity:

Penn State Students are expected to abide by the University’s Code of Conduct. A Web site maintained by the Division of Judicial Affairs describes appropriate and inappropriate behaviors and the consequences of misconduct.

One of the essential values of every university is academic integrity. Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle. Consistent with this expectation, students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabrication of information or citations, facilitation of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, and tampering with the academic work of other students (also see Faculty Senate Policy 49-20 ). Violating academic integrity is considered a serious offense by the University and is treated accordingly. Procedures for dealing with students suspected of violating academic integrity are described in Faculty Senate Academic Integrity Procedure G9.

Note to Students with Disabilities:

Penn State DuBois welcomes students with disabilities into the University’s educational programs. If you have a disability-related need for modifications and/or reasonable accommodations in this course, please contact Diana Kreydt at The Office for Disability Services, 110G DEF Building, at 372-3037 or dlk34@psu.edu.

For further information regarding the Office of Disability Services, visit their web site at www.equity.psu.edu/ods/ . Instructors should be notified as early in the semester as possible regarding the need for modification and/or reasonable accommodations.