Course Objectives

This course is meant to be taken after taking a General Psychology course. By the end of the course a student should have:

• - Ability to evaluate the major theories of psychology.
• - Awareness of your own personal values and goals.
• - Comprehension of causes of stress.
• - Ability to evaluate stressful situations in daily life.
• - Ability to use stress management techniques in daily life.
• - Skill at designing behavioral change programs.
• - Knowledge of stress related psychological disorders.
• - Knowledge of different types of psychological therapies.
• - Ability to communicate effectively and to solve interpersonal problems

  The goal of this course is to teach you nothing. To teach you absolutely nothing. And to teach you how to get absolutely nothing.

  I am committed to listening to everything you say and everything you don't say.

Course Materials

Textbook: Goud, Nelson and Arkoff, Abe (2006). Psychology and Personal Growth, 7th edition. Allyn Bacon. ISBN 0-205-46883-7

Attendance

Attendance is required. There are no excused absences, late arrivals, or early departures. For unexpected emergencies, up to one week of classes may be missed with no penalty. Students representing the college will be excused for additional absences as specified by the Academic Policy on Attendance. Students are only covered by this policy if a written schedule of the activity from the faculty or staff advisor is provided one week before the event.

You cannot participate if you are not in class; so, class participation grades will be zero for any day you are not there. Class participation grades may also be lowered for other signs of inattention, such as, falling asleep, reading the newspaper, studying unrelated material, talking on cell phone, etc.

Class begins when all students are present or accounted for. If you are going to be late, you must contact me by email at David@RelaxNow.Org or by phone: 412-491-7069. This is the only phone I will monitor before class.  If you contact me, you will get credit for 25% attendance or a 15 minute grace period on tardiness.

Academic Integrity

Cheating (copying another student's work), Plagiarism (using someone's ideas without giving them credit), Falsification (making up data or facts), Fraudulent Excuses ("my computer ate my paper"), Obtaining Unfair Advantage (getting copy of exam in advance), Unauthorized Access to Information, or Aiding and Abetting any of the Above will not be tolerated.  All work is expected to be done by students individually unless it is specifically assigned as a team assignment. Any incidence of these behaviors will result in receiving no credit for that assignment and referral to the RMU Judicial Review Committee. Any ideas that come from other sources, such as, the Internet, books, magazines, other students, other people, etc, must be properly cited using APA format.

Your integrity is the most important thing you have.  I you destroy your integrity, people stop listening to you.

E-mail

All assignments may be submitted by e-mail.

Return receipts: as soon as I receive your e-mail, I send a reply which states "received". This e-mail just lets you know that I received an assignment. It does not mean that I have read or approved the item submitted. If you do not receive a return receipt from me within 48 hours, assume that I did not receive your e-mail and send it again.

E-mail is not 100 percent reliable and it is not an instant message nor chat room. You should not expect to receive an immediate reply.

Grades

Meaning of Grades:

Grade Weighting

Students with Special Needs

Students with special needs who have identified themselves to the appropriate department in the college will have those needs accommodated. Reasonable accommodation for such needs may include, but not be limited to: additional time to work on projects and substitution of equivalent learning activities which meet the student's needs, the course goals, and the Communication Skills Program goals.

Complaints

Ask and ye shall receive, but ask intelligently. The number one rule of asking intelligently is to ask the person who is most able to give it to you. If you want a million dollars, ask a person who makes one billion a year instead of a person who only makes $10,000. If you are dissatisfied with something in the class, don't just gripe about it to your friends. Ask your instructor about it. He is the one who can most directly influence your learning experience.