According to the mid-semester evaluations many of you suggested that there be additional sources for getting extra credit (there is still a combined maximum of 5 credits total of extra credit). I outline two such sources here. They should be turned into either your instructor (Cooper) or your TA (Kim: Barnwell, 456).

Option 1) This option is an adaptation of the "alternatives to participating in experiments" section outlined on the "student's guide to the psychology department human participant pool" handout that I distributed earlier in the course. I have bolded the additions & changes.

Select an article from a recent issue of a psychology journal. The article must be 2 pages or longer and the journal must be one that is located in the journal reading room, main floor of the Thomas Cooper Library. The article must relate in some way to the issues discussed in class (that is learning and memory). Read the article and write a short, one page synopsis. The synopsis should state directly the major hypothesis being investigated, the method used by the researchers, and how the results supported or did not support the hypothesis. Additionally, include an explicit discussion of how the article relates to the topics discussed in the course. In all, this should be a one to two page, type written, double-spaced paper. Staple to this paper a copy of the front page of the article that includes the abstract. Note that the University policy on plagiarism prohibits you from using text of the article without proper citation. Each paper will constitute one hour of research credit.

Option 2) Some students in the course have had research, job, or personal experiences that are particularly relevant to topic in the course. For example, some of you work in a psychology lab, others may have worked in a setting that used a token economy, or others may have experience with some kind of behavioral modification techniques. All of these experiences are directly relevant to issues in the course. However, notice that these examples all refer to systematic and structured experiences. This is the type of experience that this option is geared towards. It is not meant to include things like "I have a kid and I raised them like this" or "this is how I study for class." As a result of this, you must come and talk to either your TA (Kim) or your instructor (Cooper) to make sure that the experience that you'd like to write about is okay. Do this BEFORE starting to write it.

For those with these sorts of experiences, there is a one-time opportunity to earn two credits. To get these two credits you must write a short (4 to 5 pages, typed, double spaced) paper describing in detail the experience and how relates to the principles and issues discussed in the course. Also, I'd like you to speculate, based on what you have learned, how you might have changed the situation if you had only known what you now know (in other words, try to apply some of what you have learned in a thought experiment), and what you think that change might have resulted in.

This option can only be done once and is worth two points. So, obviously to get the full five points possible, you must opt to do some combination of experiments and/or paper summaries as well.