PSY 340 Brain and Behavior 1.1 Introduction

Course Format

I do NOT use Canvas and NO notes, tests, or grades for this course are found in Canvas

The course will be conducted in person in Grewen Hall 207.

Course Webpage

Everything related to this course will be found on the PSY 340 webpage that can be accessed via my webpage at www.hevern.com

Attendance and the Student's Job

My job as your psychology teacher is to provide you with the best understanding of how our whole nervous system (and some other body systems) and our behaviors as people are related. I will do so with lectures in class that both verbally and visually will help you to understand these relationships

YOUR JOB as a student is to learn what I (and the textbook) are teaching you. Only you can learn the material of the course and this will require real effort on your part. I can't do your job, only you can. I can try to help you, but, in the end, it is the student who learns.

Both research and my experience over almost 4 decades of teaching come to a fundamental conclusion: STUDENTS NEED TO ATTEND CLASSES REGULARLY IN ORDER TO LEARN. I will expect that you will be in class on a regular basis.

Every student can miss up to 5 classes without penalty. I do not need to know why you are absent. However, as the syllabus states, absences in excess of 5 need to be for serious reasons and you must contact me to explain why you are not in class. Extreme absences, e.g., more than 10, put you in danger of failing the course. The exception to this limit involves students who are members of Le Moyne College athletic teams.

Office Hours

My regular office hours in Reilly Hall 222 are Mon 3:00 to 4:30 pm and Tuesday, 2:30-4:00 pm, either in person or via Zoom. Students can also request to meet with me via Zoom at other times and days.

Required Textbook

Kalat, James W. (2019). Biological psychology (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/CENGAGE. (This is not the 12th/2016 edition). There is a copy of this textbook in the library's reserve section.

Schedule & Assignments are all listed at https://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/psy340/psy340sked.html

Chapter readings are listed in the right column and are due on the day of the assigned class

Lecture Notes

All of my lecture notes are available at https://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/psy340/psy340lectures.html. They will always be available by the day of the scheduled class.

Components of Course (% of final grade)

Four 1-period tests (each worth 22.5% of final grade)
Class Participation (10%) Attendance without active participation is equal to a participation grade of B (80%). Participation involves actually attending class, making comments, asking questions, contributing examples in discussions or via email to me.

Personal and Mental Health Concerns. We know that a significant number of students both at Le Moyne and nationally have been experiencing increased levels of anxiety, stress, depression, and other personal and mental health concerns. There are many sources of support and help that you have as a Le Moyne student. Please be sure to make use of them (see listing of resources in the course syllabus).

Electronic Devices. During the actual class period, no cellphone should be used or even visible to me. Cellphones should be stowed in your backpack or pocket. If I see your cellphone during class, I reserve the right to deduct 5 points from among the 500 points earned in the class for each violation.

Please attend to your needs in regard to the bathroom/restroom BEFORE you come to class. Note that, on test days, students leaving to go to the bathroom will not be readmitted to continue the test (let me know beforehand if there is a medical issue involved).

Extra Credit

One book report can substitute for one weak/poor test (see syllabus for explanation)
If any Psychology faculty member or student working with faculty are offering research opportunities for credit, I will accept participation for credit as the equivalent of 5 points our of the 500 for the semester) for each participation (up to a total of 15 points).

What behaviors do you expect of dogs because they are living creatures?

What other behaviors do you expect of dogs because they are dogs?

What other behaviors do you expect of humans because they are human?
(= How are dogs and humans different in their behaviors?

1. All living creatures exist within a complex environment and must deal with that complex environment.

Environments include the physical, biological, and social worlds that surround and interact with a creature.

2. All living creatures have fundamental needs to stay alive & reproduce.

3. Each living creature copes with environments using their own kind of body, i.e., the specific features of the body which allow it to live within and interact with the environments (motor system, sensory system, communication system, digestive system, sexual system, etc.)

4. The bodies (including the brain and nervous systems) of each type of creature share many similarities because all creatures share similar challenges

How to stay alive: finding food, water, shelter from environmental threats
How to reproduce AND guarantee that offspring will themselves be able to thrive
How to deal with threats by predators, enemies, or other creatures which may harm

5. BUT, each creature copes with environments (that is, BEHAVES) in ways that are specific and peculiar to that creature and its type of body.

Dogs grow summer and winter coats of fur but humans put on clothing
Dogs will pant in order to cool down but humans will perspire
Dogs can move around on all four legs within a few days of birth but humans take almost a year to walk on two legs
Dogs reach sexual maturation within a year but humans reach sexual maturation after only 12 to 14 years
Dogs primarily explore the world with their noses but humans primarily explore the world with their eyes and ears
Dogs can bark and whimper but humans can engage in complex forms of communication both in language and gesture
Dogs cannot build structures or use tools or create artistic works, but humans can do all of these things
Dogs learn to cope with the environment by trial-and-error but humans also study and learn via social learning, schooling, and media
Dogs and humans are both highly social creatures and, thus, both are quite alert to the signals received from their social worlds

The brains of dogs and human beings share many similarities, but also profound differences because brains are the fundamental means by which each type of multi-cellular living creature successfully interacts with the environment.

We have no access to the environment directly except through the information our brains receive from the rest of the body.

We have brains in order to cope with the world.
For humans, the world is not only physical but highly social
Behaviors are the actions that the brain takes in order to cope.

Fundamentally, this course studies the ways in which the brain allows us to cope with the world by generating and modifying all the behaviors that we humans engage in on a daily basis.

What do you know about the brain and behavior already?

Let's explore how much you may already know about the brain and behavior by taking a short True/False quiz on 16 questions here. Please do NOT take this quiz until we are actually in class.

In light of how you answered the questionnaire, look over those answers that you got wrong.

Why might you have gotten a question wrong?

Some issues in the study of brain and behavior are complex and require special knowledge

But, there are also many beliefs that biological psychologists call "neuromyths." This term refers to commonly-held false beliefs about how the brain and the mind work.

One goal of this course is to challenge such neuromyths by using scientific evidence

What kinds of questions or challenges have I faced in practice that relate to biological psychology?

1. School/Clinical Psychologist

Student services needed after brain injury (neuropsychology)

Health care & mental states

Hypertension & treatment by medication

Depression

How are they related?

Adolescent development: sexual orientation

Attention deficit disorder

Language skills

Anxiety & phobias

2. Priest/Counselor

How do I deal with a family member who is showing mental deterioration? (Alzheimer's disease)

Addictions: gambling, drinking, marijuana, cocaine, tobacco, caffeine

Intellectual disabilities

Psychosis (schizophrenia), bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders

The effects of strokes