Psychology 387 Online is a course that teaches the basic concepts of
behaviour analysis,
a part of psychology broadly concerned with learning processes and behaviour
change.
The course is taught using the
Personalized System of Instruction (PSI).
PSI is a method of instruction that has proven more effective and more
highly rated by students
than standard methods of university teaching. PSI is an instructional system
based on the idea of
mastery learning
Evaluation in the course is based on a set of seven
unit quizzes and a final exam. Advancement from one unit to the next is dependent on
passing a unit quiz with a score of 80% or more. Students who do not pass may
restudy the unit and retake the quiz.
The course is self-paced. Students can proceed
through the course as quickly as they can pass the unit quizzes or as slowly as is necessary
to
learn the content of the units.
Clear study objectives specify to students what they are expected to know
for quizzes and on the exam. This leave students free to concentrate on
learning rather than being perplexed what the course really requires.
The course materials consists of extensive conceptual exercises that
provide students with practice in identifying concrete examples of course
concepts and principles. An
online example of such an exercise teaches the
concept of positive reinforcement, a key concept in the course.
Students may take quizzes on 24 hours a day and receive immediate
feedback about
For several hours during weekdays, mainly
during evenings, students may call an 800 number to call a course tutor to ask
questions,
discuss the course content, policies, and procedures, or to set up a study
schedule. Psychology
387 tutors have doctoral degrees and extensive experience in the field of
behaviour
analysis.
Delivery mode: Home study or Paced study
Touchtone Registration course code number: 9253
Credits: 3 - Social Science
Course Coordinator: Lyle Grant
Learning introduces students to the principles of learning and how those
principles can be used to modify human behaviour.
The course emphasizes the application of learning theories and principles to solve
behavioural problems as they exist in
oneself, one's family, schools, the workplace, and in larger social, economic, and
political groups. Topics include
reinforcement, extinction, punishment, schedules of reinforcement, stimulus
discrimination, prompting and fading,
stimulus-response chaining, generalization, modelling, rule-governed behaviour,
problem-solving, cognitive therapy,
feedback, Pavlovian conditioning, concept learning, general-case instruction, and
stimulus equivalence.
Prerequisite: Psychology 289
