Blain Abnormal Psych Syllabus

PSY 262 Abnormal Psychology Hybrid Course: Mondays and Wednesday 9:30 – 10:30 Meets via Zoom Instructor: Scott D. Blain Email: ​blains@augsburg.edu Office: Digital this semester Office Hours: After class Monday, Before class Wednesday, Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00

Course Description What is mental illness?

Why do some people who experience trauma flourish while others struggle?

Do the categories in the DSM represent real, discrete brain diseases?

These are just a few of the many questions we will be addressing throughout our semester together. We are exposed to issues related to the field of abnormal psychology every day, whether it’s hearing about a celebrity with a drug problem, or learning that your best friend is depressed. As a field and in this course, abnormal psychology involves understanding a broad range of symptoms falling under the umbrella of mental illness and psychopathology.

Throughout the semester we will learn about the nature, causes, and treatment of different mental disorders and symptom clusters—from depression and anxiety to personality disorders and psychosis. Additionally, we will discuss the pros and cons of various systems of classifying and diagnosing psychopathology, with a focus on the shortcomings of the DSM and promise of dimensional, hierarchical models.

Learning Aims While the above description gives an overview of what we will be learning this semester, we also have several specific learning aims, which are listed here: 1. You will compare and evaluate various historical and contemporary frameworks and convey your understanding of psychopathology and psychotherapy.

2. You will master knowledge of various psychopathology symptom clusters, and understand how these symptoms are related to one another and to typical personality.

3. You will develop, and communicate through course assignments, a skeptical and discerning attitude that encourages rethinking and challenging widespread assumptions about mental illness, psychiatric treatment methods, and what we call “abnormal.”

4. You will apply psychopathology theory to examples from current events and fiction.

5. You will develop a fuller understanding of how psychopathology and symptoms of mental illness might manifest in your own life and the lives of those around you.

Course Texts and Technology ● There is no formal textbook for this course, rather, we will use various stand-alone primary and secondary sources throughout the class. Our course texts will include a collection of chapters from the ​NOBA Project​, a few research articles, theory and literature review papers, case profiles, video clips, and magazine/newspaper articles. ● You can use Moodle and Google Drive to access our course readings/sources, as well as lecture slides and notes, quiz study materials, assignment guidelines, and ongoing feedback on your class performance. ● In our live Zoom sessions, you are encouraged to participate actively in polls, chat discussions, verbal discussions as a large group and in breakout rooms. You are encouraged, but not required, to turn on your video feed during the Zoom sessions (video can be especially useful when we’re in breakout rooms). ● All materials generated for this course, including those created by me, you, or your peers, are covered by a Creative Commons ​Attribution-Share Alike International license​.

This means you are free to share and adapt materials provided to you during the course, but you must give appropriate credit when using these materials and, under no circumstances, are you allowed to sell or market materials created by me or your peers.

Course Component Overview (1000 points total) Participation (200 points + 25 bonus) As application and discussion of the material is an essential part of understanding psychology and pursuing further education in the field, you will be graded on your active participation in class discussions, both synchronous (through Zoom) and asynchronous (through forums). For this portion of the grade, you will earn credit using a combination of points from attending class and participating in our online discussion forums. The synchronous and asynchronous modes of participation are both included in the same grade category to encourage students to discuss the material both orally (in our live Zoom sessions) and in writing (on the forums), but also as a way to encourage participation of all students, regardless of personality and learning style.

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For each live Zoom session you attend, you will be given 5 points (up to 130 points if you attend every session throughout the semester). We will also have 8 forum assignments throughout the semester; for each of these forum assignments, you can earn 10 points for posting a satisfactory response to the main assignment prompt and 2.5 points for each thoughtful comment on other students’ posts (up to 120 points total, for 8 completed assignments and 16 comments). Please know that you may earn above the 200 points allocated to this category.

Any points in excess of 200 will be halved and added to your grade, so that you can earn up to 225 points. This means you can earn up to 2.5 points of extra credit, here!

Case Project (100 points) As part of our class, each of you will record a presentation on a mental illness case study, taken from a work of fiction (e.g., a film, TV series, novel, or video game). For this project, you will use Zoom or similar software to record a 10-15 minute presentation describing your chosen character, including how they can be understood using psychopathology perspectives from the DSM, dimensional models, and other relevant systems of psychopathology. You will also comment on what might be an appropriate treatment modality for your chosen character, if they were to seek help for their symptoms. These presentations will be scattered throughout the semester and will have deadlines based on what unit is most relevant to the given characters. I will post a list of possible characters and deadlines early in the semester, for you to select from and we will establish, before October, who will present which case and when.

Quizzes (500 points) For each of our 6 units, we will have a non-cumulative, open-notes quiz. I will also offer 1 cumulative bonus quiz to everyone at the end of the semester, for a total of 7 quizzes. The quizzes will be administered through Moodle and will consist of approximately 40 questions using a combination of multiple-choice and matching formats. For each of the quizzes, you’ll have an extended time window—usually four days—in which to begin the quiz, with 60 minutes to complete the quiz once you begin (adjusted for any CLASS accommodations).

I realize that 7 quizzes may seem like quite a few, but I use frequent testing for a reason.

Frequent testing​ means that each quiz is lower-stakes and that it’s less necessary to cram for any single assessment. Test anxiety can be a very real issue for many people, myself included.

Frequent testing can help make this easier to manage.

In a further effort to help with test anxiety and extenuating circumstances that may come up in your lives, I will drop your 2 lowest quiz grades (of the 7 total quizzes). This will leave you with 5 graded quizzes, worth 100 points each, for a total of 500 points out of a total of 1000 points for the class. Since 2 quizzes drop and since all quizzes will be administered online with four day time windows, make-up quizzes will not be allowed.

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Final Exam (200 points) We will end the semester with a take-home final exam that integrates key concepts covered throughout the course. Rather than testing specific concepts like the unit quizzes, this final will ask you to apply the methods and theories in new contexts. For this exam, you will be required to complete your work independently and within a scheduled period (24 hours). You will be able to use your notes and the internet. The exam will consist of five essay questions (and you will be able to select from a list of eight prompts).

Grading ● Your grade in the course will be determined using the components listed above. The specific breakdown of course points (out of 1000 + 25 bonus) is displayed in this table: Major Category

Points

Sub-category

Points

Assignments and Participation

225

Attendance and Forums

200 + 25

Assessments

800

Case Project

100

Quizzes

500

Final Exam

200

Total

1000 (+ 25)

Total

1025

● In accordance with the Student Conduct Code, any form of cheating on assessments or plagiarism on assignments will not be tolerated. If you are ever in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism or academic dishonesty, please do not be afraid to address this with me. I would much rather have a candid conversation about these issues before they occur, than finding out about them later. ● If you have any conflicts that make it difficult for you to show up to class or consistently complete on-time work, because of illness, university business, or circumstances in your personal life (not limited to those listed in the university’s official policy on makeup work), please feel free to reach out to me in person or through email. In the majority of situations, I am happy to make accommodations and alternative arrangements that work with your life, while still holding everyone to a high academic standard. ● Here is a list of the course grading scheme and a verbal description of the level of achievement associated with each letter grade. Point thresholds for each letter grade may be lowered based on student performance throughout the semester, but will never be raised. You can access ​university-wide grading policies​ online.

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Grading Scale - Description

Grade

Max

Min

Achievement on assignments and assessments not only demonstrates a clear understanding of course aims, but also consistently demonstrates integration of material across units and application of abnormal psychology concepts in novel or creative ways.

Performance on course assignments and assessments is exemplary and demonstrates successful achievement of learning aims and mastery of content, including successful attempts to synthesize and apply material.

A

1025

940

A-

939

900

Assessments and assignments are completed thoroughly and present a comprehensive knowledge of course concepts and achievement of our learning aims. Effortful attempts are made to apply and synthesize material.

B+

899

860

Assessments and assignments are completed thoroughly and demonstrate knowledge of course concepts and achievement of learning aims. Despite relatively coherent integration of material across units, there may be gaps in how material is applied to novel contexts.

B

859

820

Despite mostly consistent performance on assignments and assessments, few successful attempts are made to apply material in novel contexts and there may be a lack of consistent integration across course units.

B-

819

780

Assignments and assessments are completed with effort and engagement, but integration and application of material is lacking. Consistent but minor gaps in content comprehension may also be present.

C+

779

740

Basic minimum course requirements are met, in terms of assignment and assessment completion. Nonetheless, gaps in knowledge are present and some work or portions of work may be late or missing.

C

739

700

Most minimum course requirements are met, despite a trend of significant knowledge gaps and/or partially completed work.

C-

699

660

This also represents the minimum level of achievement to pass the course.

P

1000

660

Assignments and assessments are (1) mostly completed but do not demonstrate an understanding of the course content and aims and/or (2) show a trend of partial completion and consistent missing components, despite some acceptable-quality work.

D

659

600

This also represents an insufficient level of achievement to pass the course.

N

659

0

Work was (1) not completed during the course of the semester and no significant attempts were made to create a plan for makeup work and/or (2) completed but either did not demonstrate relevance to the course content and aims or did not show evidence of a significant enough level of learning to warrant even minimal credit.

F

599

0

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Work may represent a similar level of achievement compared to a D/F grade, but a concrete plan is made that will allow makeup work to be completed in the weeks following the official course end date.

I

N/A

Classroom Climate and Campus Resources Diversity and Equity I believe that drawing upon each of our unique backgrounds can enrich classroom discussion, especially when it comes to a field like psychology! All of us come to this course from different places, with different approaches to living, learning, and interacting with the world. Diversity is an essential part of creating an environment conducive to creativity and productive dialogue, regardless of the specific traits and identities we derive our diverse views and experiences from.

As an instructor, I am committed to serving and educating all students, regardless of where you come from and where you plan to go in your future. In our class, I hope to create an open environment where issues related to culture, identity, and conflict can be discussed without fear of stigma or discrimination. As ​academic freedom​ and the right to free speech are essential for academic and personal growth, my goal is for our classroom to be a place where all viewpoints can be aired without fear of being shut down, but also where we can examine and, sometimes, modify our viewpoints, based on the input and insights of others. Do note that any opinions presented by me are not necessarily representative of those of the university or department of psychology; similarly, the views presented in our course texts are not representative of my own personal views (aside from those articles where I am the listed first author).

If you ever feel there are moments of tension or disrespect in our class, either from me or from a fellow student, please feel free to voice your concerns to me individually (online or in person) or in our class discussions. In addition to following our guidelines for a healthy classroom climate, students are expected to follow the University’s ​Student Conduct Code​, as well as specific policies on ​equity and inclusion​ and ​sexual harassment​. If any disputes cannot be resolved within our class, we may decide to (confidentially) reach out to the university’s ​Office for Community Standards​ or ​Student Conflict Resolution Center​ for additional support (and the offices of ​Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action​ or ​Equity and Diversity​, if applicable.)

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N/A

Campus Support Services College can be a stressful time, especially when you’re just starting and particularly given the current national and global climate! Being in a new environment (be that physical or virtual) with increased responsibilities often contributes to a variety of mental health issues. Many people, myself included, sometimes struggle with anxiety and depression from academic obligations, which can make keeping up in class even harder. These issues can be especially difficult to navigate for those with disabilities and members of marginalized groups.

Thankfully, there are a variety of resources available to help provide support for these issues: ● Healthcare for students dealing with psychological and/or physical health concerns is provided at a variety of locations, on and off campus. These include the ​Center for Wellness and Counseling​, as well as numerous ​off-campus mental health providers​. ● For students with disabilities (documented or undocumented), I encourage you to chat with me about ways you think these concerns might impact your learning and performance in our course. Together, we can work to develop a plan that supports your chances of success this semester. Students with documented disabilities can also reach out to the ​CLASS Office​ regarding access, accommodations, and support. ● If you are ever struggling to keep up in our course, I am happy to have a conversation about possible strategies you can use to succeed in the class! You may also want to consider resources such as ​Tutoring Support​ and the ​Writing Lab​. ● Additional university support resources are available for those of you who might have other specific concerns, including ​LGBTQ+ students​, ​international students​, ​individuals of racial and ethnic minorities​, those impacted by ​interpersonal violence ​or ​sexism​, and students seeking to foster ​spiritual or religious growth​.

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