Requirements
Course Requirements & Grading
Requirements include the following three things: in-class exams, reading reactions and participation, and a final outreach project. Details and breakdown are below:
1. Three In-Class Exams (25% each x 3 exams = 75% total)
There will be 3 non-cumulative in-class exams in this course. Each exam will cover approximately 1/3 of the course material covered in lectures and readings. Exams may consist of multiple-choice, short-answer, and brief essay questions. The purpose of the exams is two-fold. First, you should be able to demonstrate that you have read the material and understand the factual points and arguments. Second, you should be able to synthesize and integrate the material such that this knowledge can be applied in a broader context. Exams will take place during class on the assigned date in the syllabus and will be closed book. There will be no make-up exams.
2. Weekly Reading Reactions (15% total)
Before class each week, it is important that you carefully read and understand the content from that week’s course readings. The weekly class lectures will be coordinated to complement your readings. To facilitate a better understanding of the lecture and also give you the opportunity to ask questions in class, you are required to submit a weekly reading reaction for each week of class covering both class lectures. The written reaction is not a summary of the readings, but should reflect a succinct, theoretically thoughtful, and logically coherent response. Specifically, you will be provided with several question prompt options to choose from each week for each of the required readings and are required to select 1 prompt question for EACH of the required readings to respond to for class that week (we want to give you intellectual freedom to choose!). Your response should specify which prompt(s) you are responding to and is no more than ½-1 pg., single-spaced, 12-pt font, with your full name and SID at the top. All reactions should be uploaded to Canvas in a word .doc or .pdf format in the appropriate Reading Reaction folder no later than Monday 11:59pm MT the day before class that day (e.g., for Week 2 reading reactions are due Monday the day before the start of class on Tuesday that week). The response will be graded ‘‘1’ (full credit), ‘1⁄2’ (half-credit), or ‘0’ (no credit). For each calendar day it is turned in late, you will have 10% of your score deducted.
3. Outreach Project (10%)
One goal of this course is to promote active dissemination of the course materials to the broader community outside of the classroom, and help bridge the gap between the standard classroom and the broader community. By the end of the semester you will complete a scientific outreach project on a topic of your choice within the field of emotion. This goal of this project is to delve into a topic in class that excites you. You have the freedom to delve into a topic of your choice, but you must make sure the topic is pertinent to the class and the scientific study of emotion. The outreach project has two parts: (i) project proposal that briefly describes the relevant literature motivating your project topic and describes your proposed project and implementation plan; and (ii) demonstrated evidence and brief 1-page summary of your outreach project in which you will help educate the community outside of the classroom about emotion via a video, newspaper article, brochure, or a creative outreach project idea of your own. You have the freedom to delve into a topic of your choice, so long as the topic is pertinent to the class. Additional details for the outreach project will be provided in class.
Extra Credit Opportunities
Several extra credit opportunities are available for interested students. Each extra credit option (Option A or B) is worth 5% maximum of your final course grade, for a total of 10% maximum applied to your final course grade if you fully complete both Option A and B. No late extra credit assignments can be accepted. These are the only extra credit opportunities available for this course so take advantage of them!
Extra Credit Option A: Online Interviews with Emotion Experts. Some of the course lectures are paired with a ~15-minute “Experts in Emotion (EIE)” interview containing a videotaped conversation with Professor Gruber and an expert scholar in the field. These interviews are freely available for viewing on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNew731mjIZn43G_Y5otqKzJA). Some of these may also be viewed during class to stimulate discussion. For extra credit, you have the option to submit a 1-page, single-spaced, 12-pt Times New Roman font, reaction to watching the online interview(s) that accompanies the specific class lecture, discussing and critically analyzing the major themes discussed in each video. When submitting EIE responses, please upload your response to the appropriate Canvas folder assigned for EIE extra credit assignments as a word document (.doc or .docx format only) with the following document tile: LASTNAME_EIE_LastNameExpert.doc (Example: Smith_EIE_Gilbert.doc). Answers will be assigned one of the following three grades: ‘1’ (full credit), ‘1⁄2’ (half-credit), or ‘0’ (no credit). Failure to follow directions will result in a grade of a ‘0.’ For every full-credit response submitted (i.e., assigned a grade of a ‘1’) you will receive 0.5% extra credit point toward your final grade, for a maximum of 10 EIE responses worth up to 5% total extra credit. EIE assignments are due no later than Monday 11:59pm MT for that week’s class to receive credit (e.g., videos watched or assigned in class Tuesday for Week 1 of class have EIE extra credit responses due by 11:59pm MT Sunday for Week 1 of class). No late extra credit assignments can be accepted. A handout with additional details will be available on the Course website for interested students.
Extra Credit Option B: Social Media and Emotion. Social media is an increasingly utilized and effective way to rapidly disseminate scientific information to the broader community and nation at large. Interested students are invited to post “scientifically relevant” information about the science of emotion on twitter and link to the course Twitter account. Twitter posts should take the form of recent (i.e. no older than 2019) scientific articles, news items, local events, etc. and cannot already be posted (by another student or from the course website) on the course Twitter account (https://twitter.com/psych3131). If unsure, please contact Professor Gruber before posting to ensure it fulfills these requirements. When submitting Tweets, please do the following: (1) Tag the course @psych3131 in your Tweet and include the relevant url link with a one-sentence description (e.g., “Study finds laughter effective for reducing cardiovascular reactivity”), (2) Upload your response as a word document (.doc or .docx format) to the appropriate Canvas folder assigned for Twitter extra credit assignments with a screenshot and/or pasted text and url from the post as evidence of your Tweet. For each Twitter post, you will receive 0.5% extra credit point toward your final grade, for a maximum of 10 Twitter posts worth up to 5% total extra credit. Twitter extra credit posts are due no later than the last day of class to receive credit..
Readings and Materials
Please read assigned chapters and/or articles before the class meeting on the assigned date.
Textbook: Emotions, 3rd Edition. Shiota, & Kalat. Oxford University Press. Available at the CU Bookstore or online (e.g., www.amazon.com).
Articles: Articles outside of textbook will be available to download as PDF files off the course website.
Grading
A rough grading scheme is below. Grades will typically be rounded up to the nearest % point. Students who actively participate and engage in the course may enhance borderline grades.
% Points |
Grade |
92.5-100 |
A |
89.5-92.4 |
A- |
87.5-89.4 |
B+ |
82.5-87.4 |
B |
80.0-82.5 |
B- |
77.5-79.4 |
C+ |
72.5-77.4 |
C |
70.0-72.5 |
C- |
67.5-69.4 |
D+ |
62.5-67.4 |
D |
60.0-62.5 |
D- |
57.5-59.4 |
F+ |
52.5-57.4 |
F |
50.0-52.5 |
F- |