This is a "living document" subject  to change

Dr. Kenneth M. Steele

310F Smith-Wright

Office Hours: Monday 1-3; Tuesday 1-3 (Obtain the calendar link for a Zoom meeting in AsULearn)

Phone: 262-2272 (main office, leave a message)

email: steelekm@appstate.edu

Textbook: Powell, R. A., Honey, P. L., & Symbaluk, D. G. Introduction to Learning and Behavior

 Topics and other material located on web site, http://www.appstate.edu/~steelekm

Description of the course:

This course is a survey of early and modern work on classical conditioning and operant conditioning. The course is divided roughly into four portions. The first quarter will cover the basic procedures to produce and talk about classical conditioning effects. You will learn the labels for the parts of the effect.  You will learn that there is not just one effect but the procedure can produce many effects. The second quarter will cover interpretations and explanations of classical conditioning effects. What causes the effect to occur?  Is there more than one kind of classical conditioning? How do you predict a classical conditioning situation in daily life?

The third quarter will cover basic procedures and terminology of instrumental and operant conditioning. It is focused on the Law of Effect, the idea that you are changed by the outcomes and consequences of your actions.  The basic question here is how do you predict what will be an important consequence and what will be a trivial consequence?  The fourth quarter will cover modern theory and research in instrumental and operant conditioning. It will introduce you to new ways to think about what makes a consequence important.  The general theme is applying the ideas to daily life.  A list of topics and assigned readings is found on the web site.

Structure of the classes:

The course is in-person this semester.  The in-class experience is the best for you and the most fun for me. I use a variety of technologies in class including chalkboard, PPT, web-sites, and interactive videos.  ASU changes its rules for allowed software every semester and does not tell us in advance.  You may expect things to fail or blow-up but we will muddle through because we have to do so.

You may be asking yourself whether the classes will be recorded for your later viewing pleasure.  The basic answer is No.  There are several technical reasons.  I gobble a lot of disk space doing zoom recordings.  I move about a lot in class, and will be moving in and out of the range of the camera and microphone  Another reason is that you don't want to binge on 20 hours of me before a test.  It will be both very painful and not work.

Don't rely on Google to give you the easy, ready answer.  Google is full of misinformation and just because the link pops up first does not mean it is true. 

The Web Site:  Think of the web site as a text book.  You don't read every page of a text book from start to finish like a novel.  It contains material that we may not have time to cover for various reasons.  I may skip topics for various reasons, just like chapters in a textbook are omitted. You are responsible for the material we cover in class. (Hint: come to class.)

Notes, Notes, Notes!  Diagrams, Diagrams, Diagrams!:  Other items you will need are a spiral-bound notebook (or notebook pages), pen or pencil, a straight edge (cheap ruler or even your ID card), and a cheap calculator (or the calculator function on your phone or PC).  You will take lots of notes in this class.  You will be drawing diagrams, and I will be explaining how to read/interpret them.  A lot of conditioning effects depend not on the event alone but when it occurs. Time is very important in predicting conditioning effects.  Calculations will be simple. 

Office Hours: The AsuLearn site will contain a link to schedule office meetings.  These will be in-person meetings at my office (Room 310F, Smith-Wright).  If you need to do the meeting by zoom then contact me in advance by email and we can arrange that the meeting.

Masks: The official stance of ASU is that masks are no longer required for class meetings.  I will not be wearing a mask because I am double vaccinated and have had three booster shots.  If you feel the need to wear a mask then do so.  If you see another student wearing a mask then assume that student has a good reason for doing so.  Always be gracious and kind.

Percentage score grades will be posted, anonymously, on the topics web page under the test-date cell. Final grades are posted on Banner. Grades are not posted on AsuLearn.

I will drop your lowest grade in the computation of your final grade if you take the fifth test.  The final letter grade will be assigned on a 10- point scale (100-90, A; 89-80, B; 79-70, C; 69-60, D; below 60, F). Pluses and minuses will be assigned for averages that are 2 points from a higher or 2 points from a lower grade (e.g., C+ for a 78 or 79, C- for a 70 or 71).

Application Assignments:

There will be 3 application assignments.  The purpose of each is to allow you to practice application of terms and ideas to concrete situations.  They will you to discover how well (or not) you understand an idea.  These are graded on doing and thinking, not whether you were correct on the first try.  The assignments will appear on AsuLearn and you will upload your analysis/answers to AsuLearn in *.doc form.  They will be short (about a page).  If you do so (and turn in on time) then you will receive an extra point on each completed assignment in your final grade.  We will discuss the question in the following class.

Also, be warned that many of the links that you get from Google, if you try a last minute cram session, have completely bogus and wrong information.  I use Google all the time and am amazed at the wrong information commonly provided. Just remember "*.com" means it is a commercial business and not, necessarily, your accurate, trusty friend.

I know who attends class because I remember faces. I will sweeten the deal.  If you are signed in on 75% of the attendance sheets then you get an extra point added to your final grade.

Please, Please, Please ask questions. I know that asking questions in class can be scary for some but don’t let the moment of confusion pass by. Don’t worry about the rest of the class, your job is to make sure that you understand the material.  I am not bothered by questions.  My job is to help you and all of you to succeed.