PSYCHOLOGY 325 - SOCIAL BEHAVIOR



|Psychology 472W – Senior Seminar |Dr. Dwight Hennessy |

|Traffic Psychology |Office Hours: 11:00 – 11:30 MW |

|Spring 2017 |11:00 – 11:50 F |

|Buffalo State College |C310 Classroom Building |

|12:00 – 1:15 MW |878-5532 |

|CLAS C311 |hennesda@buffalostate.edu |

Readings: As assigned weekly

Course Web Page:

Course Description:

As a senior seminar this course is intended to be an in depth study of Traffic Psychology as a new and growing field of research. Many, however, are surprised when they find out that traffic psychologists cross all major fields of psychology, including clinical, counseling, developmental, educational, social, environmental, biological, and behavioral. The reason is that the traffic environment is simply one more setting in our total life space. It has a strong influence on, and is subsequently influenced by, experiences in other settings in life. For example, what happens to us while we drive doesn’t end when we get out of the vehicle. A bad experience while driving can influence how we act and react at work, home, or leisure. The goal here is to have students apply various psychological principles and practices to an often-overlooked life context.

Students will investigate the interaction of personal, situational, social, and environmental factors as they relate to drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and society as a whole. We will examine factors such as personality, age, perceptions, attention, traffic “accidents”, attributions, learning, stress, aggression, drunk driving, design, and human factors. While the traffic environment will be the main focus, its interaction and overlap with other settings, such as work, home, and leisure will also be emphasized.

Course Format:

The first several classes will be spent discussing assigned readings. These sessions will be led by myself but will be directed by student participation. In order for this to happen you are required to have read the assigned readings in advance of each class. Each student will also be responsible for leading the class discussion during one mini presentation and later one full class period (see presentation section). Finally, each student will be required to write a research proposal on a topic selected early in the term and then present their proposal to the class during the last days of class (see proposal section).

Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory for this course. Any unexcused absence will count against your class participation grade (if you’re not here you can’t discuss the issues). Any more than three unexcused absences will result in failure of the course. No exceptions. Further, I will consider lateness as an absence. If I don’t see you when I take attendance, you will be considered absent. ALSO NOTE: unexcused absence from your class presentation you will receive an automatic failure in the class. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Class Participation (20%):

As mentioned earlier, the format of the class will be based in large part on student participation. By this I mean contributing to the discussion, raising relevant issues, questions for presenter, etc. You will be evaluated each class on your participation level and QUALITY (i.e. repeating things, bringing up irrelevant issues, or otherwise general BS does not constitute quality participation). Again, unexcused absences count against class participation.

NO FOOD IN CLASS PLEASE – it can be distracting and really is not necessary for seminar to work well.

Mini-Presentations (10%)

In preparation for the full presentations, each student will conduct two mini-presentations in class. For the first mini, you will select one article relevant to their topic area and will present an overview of that article to the class (summarizing the major theories behind it and its main research questions), the methodology, and the major outcomes/implications. You will then lead a discussion on the scientific, theoretical, and social merit of the article. For the second mini, you will follow the same pattern of the first mini, but this time you will also focus on a theoretical, conceptual, or methodological limitation of that study. Mini-presentations will be held to a maximum of 20 minutes each. The article must be made available to me TWO weeks in advance and to the rest of the class ONE week in advance of the presentation. You will be graded on your ability to succinctly explain the article (theory, methods, outcomes etc.), to lead the class in some relevant discussion of that article, and to show appropriate preparation (note, taking too much or too little time is part of this process of proper preparation).

Seminar Presentation (30%):

The full presentations will involve students leading the discussion for an entire 75 minute class period, just as I will do for the first several weeks. You will select a topic for discussion (we will do this early in the term), find three relevant articles on the topic to distribute (that means you should be reading far more than 3-4 articles), and lead the discussion of the issue during an entire class period. You will be graded on scholarly level of your discussion, organization, ability to integrate knowledge into the presentation as well as your ability to select relevant articles that pertain to the issue, to demonstrate that you understand the issue at hand, to apply it to a psychological perspective, to encourage intelligent discussion in class, and to answer questions posed by the class. Your presentation should have a theme, focus on science (not opinion), be critical (in the full sense, not just trying to find “flaws”), and flow intelligently.

You must:

• Meet to discuss the topic and articles with me at least THREE weeks in advance

• hand in a proposed discussion plan at least TWO weeks in advance

• hand in an annotated bibliography TWO weeks in advance

• make articles available to the class TWO weeks in advance (electronic versions)

Failure to do so any of these will result in a 5% deduction (out of the 30%) for every day they are late (including weekends). MORE IMPORTANTLY, if you fail to submit ANY of these to me by the day you present, I will NOT let you present and you will receive a zero in the course.

ALL ARTICLES MUST BE FROM PEER REVIEWED SOURCES, UNLESS YOU VERIFY THEM WITH ME AHEAD OF TIME. IF IN DOUBT….ASK!

The seminar should include:

• An introduction of the topic (what it is, definitions, what problems it represents etc)

• History & background of the research in the area

• Theoretical issues

• Review & critique of relevant theory/research in the area

• APPLICATION OF HOW THE THEORY EXPLAINS, SOLVE, PREDICTS etc the issue

• Conclusions & suggestions for future research

Please do not read a prepared paper for your presentation because it discourages participation among classmates. You may use visual aids etc. if you clear them with me first. I suggest that you see me in advance of your presentation as often as you can (not just the one mandatory meeting) to discuss what you will do. I will try to give you as much advice as I can to make it as stress free as possible – but YOU have to be prepared and seek the help you need.

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books and articles that you used to develop your topic (not just the article from your mini presentation and the 3-4 you hand out to the class – ALL the sources that went into the development of your ideas, presentation, outline, research proposal etc.). Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph – i.e., the annotation. They are slightly different than an abstract. Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries while annotations are descriptive and critical. They typically include a very brief synopsis (what is the point of the article/book, what was found, what does it tell us in the end), an assessment (usefulness of the source, comparison to relevance of other sources on the topic, critical evaluation of problems), and a reflection (how does it fit with your topic, contribution to your thinking). These are ultimately part of your presentation grade.

Critiques/Questions:

For those NOT leading the presentation, you will also be required to come up with a list of at least three critiques or questions from each of the readings. A TYPED copy of these will be handed in at the end of each class. The questions may take the form of research criticisms, theoretical critiques, questions about the direction of the research etc. Please note that a critique does not necessarily mean you are saying the work is terrible – all research has flaws. While they are not formally graded, they will be considered in grading your participation mark. Poor questions tell me you have not been reading and/or preparing for class – ultimately impacting your ability to participate. Be aware – I know BS when I see it.

Presentation Peer Feedback:

For each presentation made in class (mini, seminar, and proposal), all other students will be given a feedback form in order to evaluate the presenter from a student perspective. I will ask you to be honest but respectful. I will then use any consistent patterns into consideration when grading the presentations.

Research Proposal (30%) & Presentation of Proposal (10%):

Each student will also be responsible for designing a research proposal in accordance with APA style. You will formulate a research question and design a research study to test your idea. The proposal will include a title page, an introduction, method, proposed statistical techniques, discussion and references. The final weeks of class will be set aside for each student to present their proposal to the class. Your paper will be due MAY 3 at the beginning of class. The final paper is worth 30% of your final grade, while the presentation will constitute 10% of your final grade. Late papers will result in a 10% (out of the 30%) deduction for each day it is late (any time after the beginning of class means it is late). Failure to hand in a proposal will result in an automatic course failure. Also, you MUST BE PRESENT for all proposal presentations. Unexcused absence from any will lead to a zero on your proposal and presentation.

FORMAT:

Title Page:

Follow APA format to give details about the title, author, affiliation, date, etc.

Introduction:

The first step will be to do some library research to find out about your topic and write a brief APA style introduction to the topic (defining the problem and key constructs/variables), a summation of previous research and a critical evaluation of existing theory. This will culminate in a hypothesis or research question on which your research proposal will be based. You will be evaluated on your ability to synthesize current research and clearly communicate how this leads to your hypothesis.

Methodology:

The next step will be to decide on the method you would use to investigate this research question. NOTE—you will not actually be performing this research. It is simply a proposal. The methodology will include all APA components (participants, apparatus/materials, and procedure). It must be ethical and conceivable to conduct. You will be evaluated on quality of your ideas (simple replications of existing studies will result in poor grades), your ability to incorporate conceptual issues into your research, foresee possible biases and confounds, and to communicate your method in a manner that would allow anyone to pick up your proposal and replicate your method.

Results:

While you will not be expected to show exact numbers, you should know the type of statistics that would be used to test your data and your hypothesis. You will be evaluated on your ability to anticipate the correct statistical techniques and issues that would be required by your specific design (including post hocs, strength of effect etc. if necessary). Tables/figure etc. should be in APA format as well.

Discussion:

You should now be able to interpret what you would have found. This should link back to your classic articles and your hypotheses/predictions. You also need to provide “value added” information to tell me you have really thought about the potential outcome. What would be the implications of your study? What are the shortcomings? What could be done in the future?

References:

You will be required to present an APA style reference section for all citations in your paper.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is using any work, idea, thought, etc. of someone else (from books, articles, television, conversations, the internet etc.) and present it as your own. In essence this represents cheating. I realize that the ideas you will be basing your papers on will be from the work of others. This is common practice in scientific writing. When you do so you must give them credit for their ideas or work by giving them a citation along with their idea. By citing them, you are saying that the idea is theirs and not yours. Your ideas can flow around theirs, but you must give credit where it is due. The most common form of plagiarism at the undergraduate level is REWORDING where you simply rearrange the words. This is plagiarism because you didn’t do any work (cognitive or otherwise) in rewording.

Another method of avoiding plagiarism is to quote the original sources. Quotes are used when the wording of the source is reported verbatim. HOWEVER….for any assignment in this course I don’t want you to use quotes. I would rather you tell in your words what you think the author meant – and then give them a citation. Don’t be confused, however, into thinking that if you aren’t using a direct quote that the idea is yours. If you paraphrase or summarize the ideas of someone else, it is still their idea and you must give them a proper citation.

You might be surprised, but it is typically evident when plagiarism has occurred. Avoid the temptation because I will deal with such dishonesty harshly and assign a grade of zero and report you to the chair.

Final Grades:

Your final letter grade will be based on your cumulative scores as follows:

Mini-Presentation 10%

Participation 15%

Seminar Presentation 35%

Proposal 30%

Presentation 10%

The final letter grades will be distributed as follows:

A = 90% or greater

A- = 85 – 89%

B+ = 80 – 84%

B = 70- 79%

C = 60 – 69%

D = 50 – 59 %

E = Below 50%

As a general rule I DO NOT “curve across the board”. But depending on the distribution of final scores, the above criteria may be adjusted for those close to the cutoff. As an alternative, “plus” grades may be given to those close to the cutoff points. However, this will NOT be done on an individual test basis.

Schedule (Tentative):

|Topic |Date |

|Introduction to the course |Jan 23 |

|What is Traffic Psychology |Jan 25 |

|Research Methods 1 & 2 |Jan 30/Feb 1 |

|Example Minis |Feb 6 |

|Selected Seminar Topics (me) |Feb 13 - 22 |

|Mini presentations (first round – 3 per day) |Feb 27 – March 6 |

|Mini presentations (second round – 3 per day) |March 8 - 15 |

|Full presentations |March 27 – April 19 |

|Research proposal presentations |April 26 – May 10 |

|CEP Scheduled Meeting (last group of proposal presentations) |Wednesday May 10 @ 9:40 |

Some suggested topics for seminar presentations (but not limited to):

|Accident reconstruction |Learning |

|Ageing drivers |Memory and learning |

|Bicycles |Motorcycles |

|Cell Phones (Attention) |Pedestrians |

|Child Seats |Perception / cognition |

|Commercial vehicles |Personality/temperament and driving |

|Cross culture issues and driving |Risk taking |

|Alcohol |Seat belt use |

|Design / human factors issues |Speeding / violations |

|Driver education |Therapy / Behavior Modification |

|Drugs |Traffic accidents and human performance |

|Eyewitness Testimony |Vision |

|Fatigue |Work and driving |

|Law enforcement / Technology |Young drivers |

Avoiding Plagiarism, Lazy Writing and the Grey Area In Between

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association defines plagiarism as presenting “substantial portions or elements of another’s work or data as their own, even if the other work or data source is cited occasionally”. Clearly, you must indicate the source of ideas included in your paper with proper citations. Not to do so would be plagiarism, for which the penalties can be severe – including failure of this course and possible expulsion from the college.

Another problem that is sometimes encountered with student papers is what has been called Lazy Writing (Rosnow & Rosnow, 1986). Students utilizing this approach simply lift paragraphs from a source(s) and string them together as quotations. If proper citations and quotations are included, this is not technically plagiarism, but it is still a form of academic dishonesty when the overall idea is being presented as your own (HENCE I WANT NO QUOTATIONS WHATSOEVER – YOU MUST SUMMARIZE THINGS INTO YOUR OWN WORDS WITH CITATIONS). Further, the result is almost always an unacceptably weak paper. There is no evidence of student creativity and the student actually wrote very little, so the grade is usually very poor (typically a failure).

There is also another form of academic dishonesty in which students submit papers that include or even totally consist of a string of sentences, entire paragraphs, or abstracts lifted from sources in the literature, but the student modifies the wording slightly (THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS SUMMARIZING IN YOUR OWN WORDS). Clearly, if the sources are not indicated, this is plagiarism, because the ideas in the paper are not the student’s. However, even if the citations are included, this may still be plagiarism! Roig (1999) defined plagiarism as the “appropriation of strings of 5 consecutive words or longer” taken directly from a source. Thus, modifying a word here and there (or worse yet, a passage word for word without adjustment) but including the citation at the end or beginning of a sentence/paragraph is still plagiarism (see APA’s definition in the first paragraph here)! The student is still claiming that the wording is their own, which is not the case.

The bottom line is that there should be no reason to “borrow” even a single sentence (whether verbatim or changing a few words). Don’t risk it!

In order to prevent any misunderstandings, please sign below that you have read the above and that your paper properly attributes authorship of both ideas and strings of words. If you don’t understand, then speak with me.

I have read the above and my signature indicates that I understand what plagiarism and academic dishonesty are regarding my final paper.

Name Signature

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