[Lois]

Professor: Ostovich

The course was very interesting and was an introduction to social psychology so it covered a breadth of topics: altruism, sex, relationships, etc.

Ostovich herself is a really great lecturer and it's important that you go to class so that you really understand the experiments. Some people have said that she's a difficult prof, but as long as you understand the material from the text (for the multiple choice components) and lectures (for the short answer), it's definitely possible to do well.

The course had two midterms and a final examination. As mentioned earlier, these consist of MC and SA questions. Make sure that you're very specific when answering the short answer. On a similar note, writing everything down that you know about the topic can hurt you as the TAs will deduct part marks for irrelevant information.

Material:
- the material is probably the best part of the course, as it's REALLY interesting and applicable to everyday situations.
- material started off with research methods, and continued with conformity, persuasion, prejudice, aggression, altruism, self esteem, attribution, cognitive dissonance, groups, and sex (best for last ).

The Prof:
- Dr. Ostovich is an AMAZING lecturer; almost every class was captivating, and that's tough to say for a night class (IMO).
- She's very knowledgeable in the field and her lectures are easy to follow.
- Downside: she does not post her notes, but rather summary slides, so u NEED to take good notes during class and catch all of the small details
- She heavily emphasizes experiments & the significance of their results

Course Breakdown:
- Marks consist of 2 midterms worth 30% each and a final exam (40%)
- Midterms were non cumulative and consisted of multiple choice and short answer, short answer being worth twice as much as multiple choice.
- Beware of the short answer, your answers must be VERY specific and contain all of the key words the T.A's are looking for. If you fail to include something, they will not hesitate to penalize, and you'd be surprised how easily small marks off can add up.
- She likes taking her multiple choice questions from the textbook, so it is beneficial to at least skim through the assigned chapters
- The final exam consisted of 15 multiple choice and 9 short answer. I found it to be a little more subjective/ unfair with respect to the midterms. The questions were all application based, and while that would be fair in any other circumstance, the 2 midterms gave us no exposure to these types of questions, so it was kind of hard to know what an adequate answer was to get full marks. The midterms more so focused on experiments and their results, whereas the exam gave situations to analyze and apply concepts.

Overall:
- It's the type of course that has high interest, but requires more effort than expected. You really need to know the material well and have experience writing short answer tests. I found that particularly challenging, since I'm only in 2nd year sciences and haven't really had much exposure to writing paragraph form, short answer type of questions. But I absolutely LOVED the material and the prof.

Fall 2010

Pros
- content is enjoyable
- prof is energetic and engaging, going to class was fun

Cons
- while the course is in no way difficult, the short answer part of the midterms/exams can really bring down your mark. You are in a conflict between trying to write a very comprehensive answer, (but if it is too long or has unnecessary information you lose marks) and trying to stick to the main points only to later find out you didn't mention something that you thought was unnecessary information

This problem comes from the fact that the TAs are given a marking sheet that has keywords and if they see all those keywords in your short answer, you get the marks. This is just my experience, but on the first midterm I got 100% on the multiple choice, and mid 70's on the short answer mainly due to losing a few marks on each question for straying away from the TA's marking sheet. Omitting what seemed like obvious and unnecessary information like "the subject would feel embarrassed" in hopes of not losing marks for writing excess information.

Similar thing happened with the exam where I got 90% on the multiple choice and 60% on the short answer. The instructors seem to care little about whether or not you understand the information, but they are very keen on following the marking sheet letter for letter.

But aside from that, it was a fun introduction to social psychology.

I noticed this summer it's being taught by GERHARDT, K. Anyone know this prof and what he/she is like? And how this course is during the summer?

I liked 1xx3 better than 1x03.. would you think id like this course?

Originally Posted by ishk33

I liked 1xx3 better than 1x03.. would you think id like this course?

This course reminded me of 1x03 since we used most of what was taught in 1x03.
If you enjoyed the various theories like bystander intervention, social loafing etc then you will like this course too but if you only like the biological aspects then maybe try psych 2ap3.

I know this course is considered difficult, but you can do well if you study for the midterms and the exam a certain way, this is what helped me,
Study Tips:
I found that when studying for this course it was useful to describe each experiment by stating:
Independent Variable:
Dependent Variable:
Description of experiment:
Results:
Significance of results:-how does this prove or disprove the theory this experiment is trying test

I figured I would attach the course syllabus. Enjoy!

LOVED this course. i still find myself applying concepts i learned in it to everyday life. when i took it this past term the tests were all MC and so i cannot comment on the short answer portion. but her MC are definitely fair.

Originally Posted by lifesci09

LOVED this course. i still find myself applying concepts i learned in it to everyday life. when i took it this past term the tests were all MC and so i cannot comment on the short answer portion. but her MC are definitely fair.

should we be making extensive notes on readings or just read over the concepts talked about in class?

on readings you should focus on experiments and their findings as well as concepts she didnt't discuss in class cause thats what she will test on. and UNDERSTAND them so you can apply the concepts in regards to new examples

Originally Posted by lifesci09

LOVED this course. i still find myself applying concepts i learned in it to everyday life. when i took it this past term the tests were all MC and so i cannot comment on the short answer portion. but her MC are definitely fair.

Hey, so there is no short answer component to her midterms?? did you take the course in the summer? Im thinking of taking it in the summer