BEHV1018 Psychology: Human Behaviour Autumn 2024

Western Sydney University acknowledges the peoples of the Darug, Dharawal, Eora and Wiradjuri nations. We also acknowledge that the teaching and learning currently delivered across our campuses is a continuance of the teaching and learning that has occurred on these lands for tens of thousands of years.

Subject Details

Note: Students with any problems, concerns or doubts should discuss those with the Subject Coordinator as early as they can.

Contents

• About Psychology: Human Behaviour2
  • An Introduction to this Subject2
  • What is Expected of You2
  • Changes to Subject as a Result of Past Student Feedback3
• Learning and Teaching Activities4
• Assessment Information7
  • Subject Learning Outcomes7
  • Assessment Summary7
    • Summary x 310
    • Multiple Choice13
    • Participation16
    • Quiz19
    • Final Exam22
  • Readings and Resources24
    • Essential Readings24
    • Recommended Readings24
    • Other Teaching and Learning Resources24
  • Key Teaching and Learning Policies25

Note: The relevant Subject Outline Companion supplements this document

1 About Psychology: Human Behaviour

1.1 An Introduction to this Subject

Psychology is a field of scientific inquiry that uses a set of scientific techniques and methods to explain and understand the causes of behaviour. As a profession, psychology applies its knowledge to practical problems in human behaviour. This subject covers a range of topics in psychology at an introductory level including: the history of psychology, intelli- gence, social psychology, developmental psychology, Australian Indigenous and cross-cultural psychology, personality, and abnormal psychology.

1.2 What is Expected of You

Study Load

A student is expected to study an hour per credit point a week. For example a 10 credit point Subject would require 10 hours of study per week. This time includes the time spent within classes during lectures, tutorials or practicals.

Note for Summer Terms: As Summer subjects deliver the same content and classes over a shorter period of time, the subjects are run in a more intensive mode. Regardless of the delivery mode, the study hours for each subject in Summer will be around 30 hours.

Attendance

It is strongly recommended that students attend all scheduled learning activities to support their learning.

Approach to Learning

Deliveryoflecturesandpost-lectureactivities

There are no face-to-face lectures in this subject. All lectures are delivered via video through vUWS. Video lectures will be released on the Friday of the week before your tutorial. It is expected that you have engaged in your online lecture and post-lecture activities before attending your actual tutorial.

Deliveryoftutorials

Tutorials provide the key forum for demonstration and discussion of subject content. Class time will also be dedicated to preparing for the written assessment tasks. Tutorials will be held on-campus, facilitated by members of the teaching team. As a core psychology subject, there is an expectation that you will attend your scheduled class (and maintain a minimum 80% attendance rate). Please be advised that there will be some provision for online classes, for students with extenuating circumstances that prevent on-campus attendance - please consultthis linkto submit an allocation amendment request.

Online Learning Requirements

Subject materials will be made available on the Subjects vUWS (E-Learning) site (https://vuws.westernsydney.edu.au/). You are expected to consult vUWS at least twice a week, as all Subject announcements will be made via vUWS. Teaching and learning materials will be regularly updated and posted online by the teaching team.

Special Requirements

EssentialEquipment:

None

LegislativePre-Requisites:

None

1.3 Changes to Subject as a Result of Past Student Feedback

The University values student feedback in order to improve the quality of its educational programs. The feedback provided helps us improve teaching methods and Subjects of study. The survey results inform Subject content and design, Subject Outlines, teaching methods, assessment processes and teaching materials.

You are welcome to provide feedback that is related to the teaching of this Subject. At the end of the semester you will be given the opportunity to complete a Student Feedback on Subject questionnaire to assess the Subject. If requested by your Subject coordinator, you may also have the opportunity to complete a Student Feedback on Teaching (SFT) questionnaire to provide feedback for individual teaching staff.

As a result of student feedback, the following changes and improvements to this Subject have recently been made:

• There is greater opportunity for feedback in written assessments to be used in future assessments within this
• There is now a continuing focus upon assessment tasks in the tutorials with selected tutorials devoted to the academic summaries assessment task.

• There is a clearer rationale for the importance of topics covered in this This is made clear to students in the weekly materials on vUWS.
• The content of the tutorial program is aligned more closely to the lecture topic schedule (i.e., the same topic in the same week).

2 Learning and Teaching Activities

The above timetable should be used as a guide only, as it is subject to change. Students will be advised of any changes as they become known on the Subjects vUWS site.

3 Assessment Information

3.1 Subject Learning Outcomes

3.2 Assessment Summary

The assessment items in this Subject are designed to enable you to demonstrate that you have achieved the Subject learning outcomes. Completion and submission of all assessment items which have been designated as mandatory or compulsory is essential to receive a passing grade.

To pass this Subject you must

The pass mark for the weighted items (i.e. the three Academic Summaries, the multiple-choice Library Information Task, the Research Participation Task, the four in-semester Quizzes and the Exam) is 50%. This 50% pass mark is a weighted cumulative mark - that is, you do NOT need to get 50% or more in each of the individual assessment tasks (i.e., Academic Summaries, multiple-choice Library Information Task, Research Participation Task, Quizzes, AND the Exam) to pass the subject; instead, you need to achieve a total mark of 50% or more across these items.

Please be reminded that ALL requests for extension should be submitted via theWesternNow Student Portal. This process is suitable for short disruptions (up to 3 days) and/or extensions built into academic reasonable adjustments plans.

For disruptions greater than 3 days, please follow theDisruption to Studiesprocess instead.

Feedback on Assessment

Feedback is an important part of the learning process that can improve your progress towards achieving the learning outcomes. Feedback is any written or spoken response made in relation to academic work such as an assessment task, a performance or product. It can be given to you by a teacher, an external assessor or student peer, and may be given individually or to a group of students. As a Western Sydney University student, it is your responsibility to seek out and act on feedback that is provided to you as a resource to further your learning.

• You will receive comprehensive feedback on your main Assessments, namely the Academic Summaries and the
• TheAcademic Summaries feedback will be provided in accordance with the marking criteria, and you can expect

this feedback within three weeks of submission. This feedback will be made available to you on the vUWS site. Written feedback will be provided via Turnitin.

• Quizfeedback will be provided when the cohort has finished the After completing the quiz, the correct

answers will be provided on Gradecentre.

Academic Integrity and Student Misconduct Rule

Western cares about your success as a student and in your future career. Studying with academic integrity safeguards your professional reputation and your degree. All Western students must:

• befamiliar with the policies listed above;
• applyprinciples of academic integrity;
• acthonestly and ethically in producing all academic work and assessment tasks; and
• submitwork that is their own and acknowledge any sources used in their

Each time you submit an assessment, you will declare that you have completed it individually, unless it is a group assignment. In the case of a group assignment, each group member should be ready to document their individual contribution if needed.

TheStudent Misconduct Ruleapplies to all students of Western Sydney University including Western Sydney Univer- sity programs taught by other education providers. You must not engage in academic, research or general misconduct

as defined in the Rule or you may be subject to sanctions. The University considers submitting falsified documentation in support of requests to redo, resit or extend submissions, including sitting of deferred examinations, as instances of general misconduct.

More information is available in thequick guide to academic integrity. It is your responsibility to apply these principles to all work you submit to the University.

Disruption to Studies and Requests for Extensions

Western recognises that there may be times when things outside of your control impact your ability to complete your studies.

You can complete the Request an extension or apply for a Disruption to Studies Provision to request that you are:

• grantedan extension,
• excusedfrom a compulsory teaching activity,
• providedan alternate assessment such as a supplementary, or
• awardedanotherDisruption to Studies

Before you fill in the form, you should:

• Compileany documentary evidence that you have which demonstrates that you have been impacted by an event outside of your control.
• TheSupporting Documentationwebsite outlines the type of documents that you can submit to substantiateany impact.

Please note that if you dont have documents, you should still submit the form but you may be asked for documentation at a later stage. Need help?

If you are having difficulties with understanding or completing an assessment task, contact your Subject Coordinator as soon as possible. Western also has a range of academic support services, including:

• LibraryStudy Smart: book a one-to-oneZoom consultationwith a literacy You can discuss how to develop your assignment writing and study skills or seek assistance tounderstand referencing and citationrequirements. Check the Library Study Smart website for how-tostudy guides and tools.
• Studiosity:Upload your assignment draft to Studiosity within vUWS to receive writing feedback within 24 hours.

• Onlineworkshops, programs and resources: From maths and stats help to academic literacy and peer support programs, the University has a range of resources to

Please also remember that there is a range ofwellbeing support available- from counselling and disability services to welfare.

• AcademicSummary x 3

Overview

Because psychology is a science, conclusions about any topic are based on evidence, not personal opinion. Knowledge in psychology comes from theories developed from research evidence, which is why research is so important in psychology.

The academic summary tasks aim to develop your ability to read, understand, and critically summarise an academic journal article (and use accurate referencing) following the guidelines in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Please note that some lecture and tutorial material will cover information related to the academic summary, and provide support in completing the tasks (please see the Subject Weekly Schedule).

Details:

Assessment format:

Written report submitted via Turnitin.

Length/Duration:

The length of each Academic Summary is 500 words, excluding the reference list. The academic summary must also

have a proper title page (with an author by-line). There is no 10% rule over the word limit. The academic summary should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with 2.5 cm margins.

Late penalty:

Suppose the assignment is submitted (without an approved extension) after the due date and time. In that case, it will attract a late penalty of 10% (of the maximum mark) per day (including weekends) up to a maximum of 10 days, at which time the penalty will be 100% of what the assignment is worth. In addition, assessments will not be accepted after the marked assessment task has been returned to students who submitted the task on time.

Submission method:

The Academic Summary must be submitted electronically (to Turnitin through vUWS) before the due date. You will only have access to the vUWS link for submitting your Academic Summary through Turnitin once you have completed the online Library Literacy Quiz to mastery. Even if you do not complete the Library Literacy Quiz before the due date of the Academic Summary, you will incur a late penalty until the task has been mastered and the Academic Summary is submitted through vUWS. There is no hard copy submission for this assignment. Your assignment will be marked electronically, and you can view the feedback via the Turnitin link in vUWS.

Is the assessment compulsory?

Yes, you must complete this assessment to be eligible to pass the subject, regardless of the aggregate mark you achieve across assessments.

Is a Cover Sheet required?

No. You will be asked to declare your acceptance of the acknowledgements usually included on the cover sheet when you submit.

Please note: You must refrain from using previous assignments that you have written, whether for this subject or another. This will be counted as plagiarism.

Marking Criteria:

• LibraryLiteracy Task

Overview:

This task will be available in the first week of s emester. You should complete it online, through vUWS, well before the due date of the first academic summary. We recommend completing it in week 2. This task is designed to develop your skills in accessing relevant information and resources using the library and related databases, to provide skills necessary for the completion of the required assessment tasks.

DetailsAssessment format:

The task must be completed online, through the subjects vUWS site.

Length/Duration:

This is a 20-question quiz that you can do as many times as you like. The quiz must be completed to 90?curacy before it is recorded as being MASTERED (i.e., you must give correct answers to at least 18 of the 20 questions). Your vUWS grade book will show Mastered next to the Literacy Quiz. Once you have mastered the task you will be able to access the vUWS link for submitting your Academic Summary through Turnitin.

Due date and time:

We strongly recommend that you follow the recommended due date for the Literacy Quiz, so that you can gain the most benefit from the task.

There are no penalties for completing it late. However, you must complete the Literacy Quiz before submitting the first Academic Summary task. As such, mastering the Literacy Quiz early in the semester will help ensure that your Academic Summary is submitted on time.

Late penalty:

The vUWS link for submitting your Academic Summary through Turnitin will appear after you have mastered the

Literacy Quiz. Normal late submission penalties will apply to the Academic Summary, if you are delayed due to completing the Library Literacy Quiz.

Is the assessment compulsory?

Yes, you must complete this assessment to be eligible to pass the subject, regardless of the aggregate mark you achieve across assessments. .

Marking Criteria:

The library literacy task will consist of up to 20 questions (that are randomly drawn from a pool of questions). You can attempt the Library Literacy Task as often as you like, and when you achieve mastery (over 80%), you will receive your full grade for this assessment item.

• Participation

Instructions:

Overview To facilitate your understanding of research in psychology, we provide you with an opportunity to participate in real research projects that are undertaken by psychology staff members, postgraduate students, and honours students. This participation enables you to directly experience research in the discipline of psychology; and it gives you exposure to different areas of research, research methodology, and related theories. At the same time, the data from your participation may contribute to science and may even be cited in future versions of psychology textbooks! The research participation task is managed by a web-based Research Participation Management System (RPS), called SONA, which is the product name for the online system. Through SONA you choose and signup for experiments in which to participate. For more details, see the Using SONA attachment. Further details will be provided through the vUWS site.

DetailsAssessment format:

Research participation through the Research Participation System. Within the first week of Autumn semester, you should be provided with a login and password for the Research Participation System or RPS (sometimes also called the Experiment Management System/EMS), or SONA.

You will be sent the account details via your student email account. If you lose your password, please click on the Lost your password? link at the SONA website. Your username is your student number and your email is your student email address. Signing up to research occurs through Research Participation System (SONA) athttp://uws.sona-systems.com

Length/Duration:

Once you have logged in to the RPS, you will be able to select from a number of research participation tasks that can be completed throughout semester. There is no set schedule for research studies. You need to check the system regularly to check for new studies and new timeslots. Some studies will be conducted online.Initially,youwillonlybeallowedtoobtain10ofyour30creditpointsfromonlinestudies.

Late penalty:

There will be no extensions on research participation, so be sure to complete them well before the expiry time.

Is the assessment compulsory?

No, you do not need to complete this assessment to pass the subject, but it is a very good idea to do so as it is a guaranteed 5% of your total mark.

Is a Cover Sheet required?

No, not applicable.

Marking Criteria:

To receive full marks (i.e., 5% of the final grade), you must attain 30 credits worth of research participation. You can achieve full marks for this assessment item in three ways.

1. Youcan receive full marks (i.e., 5% of the final grade) by obtaining 30 credits of participation in research This is the equivalent of 5 hours. In addition, partial completion will be awarded partial credits (e.g., 2.5 hours = 15 credits = 2.5% towards the final grade).
2. Researchparticipation is a valuable and practical learning experience for students, and it is expected that most

students will elect to complete the research participation task. However, it is an ethical requirement of research with human participants that every participant must give their informed consent to participate in research. Therefore, any student who declines to consent to participate in any research projects must contact the subject coordinator before Week 10 of the semester to arrange an alternative assessment task. The alternative task will consist of a 300-word summary of journal articles, with each summary worth six credit points. Partial completion will be awarded partial credits (e.g., three reports = 18 credits = 3.0% towards the final grade).

3. Ifat the end of Week 13, there were insufficient studies to allow all students to achieve full marks, you can

receive full marks (i.e., 5% of the final grade) by completing the balance of credits through alternate research tasks (similar to option two above). However, this decision will be made by the Subject Coordinator after considering the supply and demand of studies across the first 13 weeks of the semester. If the supply of studies has been deemed satisfactory, then alternate research tasks will not be opened to students.

You can only gain a maximum of 5% towards the final grade (i.e., participating in research tasks above 30 credits will not contribute more than 5% of the final grade). For your research experience, however, you can participate in as many tasks as possible.

Further details about this task will be available in lectures, tutorials, and on vUWS.

Iftherearereasonsthatyouarenotabletocompleteresearchparticipation,pleasegetintouchwiththeSubject Coordinatorforalternateresearchtasks.YoullneedtocontacttheSubjectCoordinatorbeforeweek10.

• Quizx 4

Instructions:

Overview

There will be four quizzes spaced over the semester, assessing key knowledge from the subject. Correct answers can be obtained by working through the readings and the lectures (i.e., the questions come directly from these sources, unless otherwise explicitly mentioned). You will have one attempt on each quiz (within the 1-week opening time of the quiz); so please make sure that you have completed all of the lectures and readings before you attempt the quiz!

Be sure also to complete each quiz well before the expiry time, and notify the subject coordinator by email - as soon as possible - if you experience any technical problems, or problems that prevent you being able to complete quizzes during the period they are available.

DetailsLength/Duration:

Quizzes will be completed and submitted through vUWS. Each quiz is 20 questions in length, which will be drawn from item pools.

Due date and time:

• Quiz1 (5%) released on Friday 15th March at It will be closed on Friday 22nd March at 5pm. You will have 1 attempt to complete the quiz within this 1-week period.
• Quiz2 (5%) released on Friday 12th This quiz will be closed on Friday 19th April at 5pm.You will have

1 attempt to complete the quiz within this 1-week period.

• Quiz3 (5%) released on Friday 10th This quiz will be closed on Friday 17th May at 5pm.You will have

1 attempt to complete the quiz within this 1-week period.

• Quiz4 (5%) released on Friday 31st This quiz will be closed on Friday 7th June at 5pm.You will have 1

attempt to complete the quiz within this 1-week period.

The questions are based primarily on the lecture and the textbook readings that are aligned to the lecture material

(except for those weeks where there are no readings, and the questions are drawn from the lecture only).

Is assessment compulsory?

No, you do not need to complete any of the quizzes to be eligible to pass the subject, but it is a very good idea to do so given that quiz completion is worth a maximum of 20% of your mark.

Is Cover Sheet required?

No, not applicable.

Marking Criteria:

Each quiz will consist of up to 20 questions (that are randomly drawn from a pool of questions) that will be taken directly from the lecture or the readings. If there are no readings for that week then the questions will come directly from the lecture. You can attempt the quiz only twice and the highest graded attempt will be used.

• Final Exam

Instructions:

OverviewThe examination consists of 30 multiple-choice questions (1 mark each) and 5 short-answer questions (4 marks each) to be completed in a 1-hour exam. For each of the multiple-choice questions you will be asked to indicate the most correct answer from a choice of four alternatives. Each short-answer question will be based on a selected research article (from a pool, which will provided before well in advance of the exam). The exam will be completed and submitted in vUWS, and as such this will constitute an open-book exam.

Details Late penalty:

Students must ensure they are available throughout the Formal Examinations Period, so they can attend their subject examinations at the time and place they are scheduled. For information about Deferred Examinations, refer to the University Examination Policy at the link below.

Is the assessment compulsory?

Yes, you must complete this assessment to be eligible to pass the subject, regardless of the aggregate mark you achieve across assessments.

Is a Cover Sheet required?

No, not applicable.

Marking Criteria:

The multiple-choice exam questions will be drawn from the material presented in the lectures, online materials, textbook, and tutorials throughout the subject. The open-response questions will be in a similar format to the academic summary assessment questions - this part of the exam will test your ability to comprehend and critically evaluate empirical psychological research.

Grades are assigned according to the percentage bands from your overall score, as follows:

GradeCriteria

• High Distinction 51-60 (i.e. 85-100% correct)
• Distinction 45-50 (i.e. 75-84% correct)
• Credit 39-44 (i.e. 65-74% correct)
• Pass 30-43 (i.e. 50-64% correct)
• Fail 0-29 (i.e. 0-49% correct)

4 Readings and Resources

4.1 Essential Readings Prescribed Textbook

Burton, Westen, D., & Kowalski, R. (2023). Psychology (Sixth Australian and New Zealand edition.). John Wiley & Sons.

Essential Reading

These will be added to vUWS

4.2 Recommended Readings

4.3 Other Teaching and Learning Resources

5 Key Teaching and Learning Policies

The University has several policies that relate to teaching and learning. Links to important policies affecting students are below. It is your responsibility to ensure you familiarise yourself with these policies so that you are aware of your rights and responsibilities.

• Assessment Policy
• Assessment Policy - Review of Grade Procedures
• Bullying Prevention Policy
• Disruption to Studies Policy
• Enrolment Policy
• Examinations Policy
• Learning and Teaching Policy
• Progression Policy
• Student Code of Conduct
• Student Misconduct Rule