Description:

This course is intended to introduce students to the principles of conditioning and learning and to the investigative techniques used in this area of psychology. Much of the course deals with how discrete responses and emotions are controlled by environmental stimuli and how stimulus-response relationships are altered by experience. The phenomena and research reviewed include both animal and human behavior.

The course consists of a series of lecture/discussion sessions. The material presented in lectures follows the textbook on some occasions and expands on the text at other times. The discussion periods deal with special issues, applications, and problems in writing. Students are tested on all of the assigned readings as well as the additional material that is presented in class.

Texts:

To be announced.

Grading and Requirements:

Exams: 2, mid-term, final 70%

Papers

Preliminary Reports 3-4pp.

Term Paper 10pp. 30% total.

Prerequisites:

Psychology 301 with a grade of C or better, Psychology 418 or an equivalent statistics course with a grade of C or better, and upper division standing.

Updated 24 February 1998
Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
University of Texas at Austin

Some graphics courtesy of Ann Pommerehn