- Four exams will be given. Each will consist of 50 multiple choice questions. Your grade is primarily determined by the average of these 4 exam scores.
- Each exam will only cover material since the previous exam.
- You will be responsible for both the assigned readings and the lecture material. Students who don't take each of these aspects of the course seriously typically do not do as well as they would like to in the course.
- The results of the exams will be posted on the Internet a couple of days after each of the exams (with your permission).
- If you are wearing a hat with a brim, I will ask you to turn it around or take it off when taking exams.
- Please bring a couple of Number 2 pencils for the exams.
- Cheating on an exam will lead to an automatic failure of that exam and possibly other penalties.
- Another way to fail an exam is to not show up for it. If you must miss an exam, it will be a lot easier if you let me know BEFORE the exam. If you don't, I will require written documentation of the emergency.
- If you have 3 exams in any 1 day, I'll be happy to reschedule the one for this class. If you wish to reschedule an exam, send me an email making the request in the week before the exam. I will then send you an email with the times that the psychology department has available for make-ups. Your reply to this email with the choice of a date and time will then serve as my reminder to make a test available to the appropriate proctor. For any given student, I am willing to do this twice in any semester before written documentation is required.
- There is no provision for "extra projects" to improve grades. However, I may increase your grade beyond that which is indicated by the arithmetic average of your test scores for any of the following reasons:
- class participation
- improvement over the semester
- one test score that is significantly lower than the other three
- I will provide you with a conservative estimate of your overall performance in the course after each exam.
Psychoactive Drugs & Behavior - 290 (Sec. 1)
Dr. M. Plonsky - Spring, 2005
Last update 1/20/05.
Contains:
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Course Description - goals, book, attendance, grading, contact info.
Tentative Class Schedule
Background Information Survey
Grade Postings
Send Dr. Plonsky Email using a web form.
Supplementary Materials
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Online Resources Related to the Lecture Topics
Current Articles (access limited to the UWSP Campus)
Textbook Website
A. GOALS
From the catalog course description, the course will be an "Introduction to psychopharmacology; examine effects of commonly used drugs on the central nervous system, behavior, and the motivation for administration, consumption, and abuse of legal and illegal drugs." Thus, the main goal of the course will be to gain an understanding of the
effects of drugs on behavior. We will also discuss the issues of drug regulation
(i.e., laws) and the notions of use and abuse. The attitude taken will
be to provide accurate unbiased information about the use and effects of
drugs, rather than to make value judgments as to whether drugs are good
or bad.
B. BOOK
The required text (available in the college bookstore) is: Hanson, G. R., Venturelli, P. J., & Fleckenstein, A. E. (2004). Drugs
and Society (8-th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Note that you are also required to read the current articles as we encounter them in the lectures.
C. ATTENDANCE
While I do not formally take attendance, it is unlikely that you will do well in the course if your attendance is poor. This is due to the fact that the exams include some material only presented during class sessions. If you miss a class, it will be to your benefit to find out what occurred during that class from a classmate.
While cell phones have become popular and useful tools, I have found them to be extremely disruptive to the class. Thus, if you bring such devices to class, please turn them off or, at the least, disable any sounds they make.
It is expected that you check your university email account several times per week since this is a convenient way for me to communicate with the class. I will let you know when grades are posted and make other announcements via this medium (e.g., if I need to cancel a class, I will send an email early that morning).
E. CONTACT INFORMATION
My office is located in Science B-341. I will have office hours on Mondays from 2-3:00 p.m., Wednesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m., and Thursdays from 2:30-3:30 p.m. or you can arrange to see me by appointment. You can see a visual of my schedule here. You can reach me at 346-3961 (and please leave a message if I'm not available) or through electronic mail at mplonsky@uwsp.edu. You can also send me email using a web form. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
| WK | DATE | LECTURE TOPIC | READINGS | WEB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public | Local | ||||
| 1 | 1/25-Tu | Orientation |
Chapter 1, pps 461-484 |
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| 1/27-Th | Introduction | Chapter 2 |
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| 2 | 2/1 | Placebos |
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| 2/3 | " | ||||
| 3 | 2/8 | Basic Pharmacology | Chapter 5 |
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|
| 2/10 | " | ||||
| 4 | 2/15 | " | |||
2/17 |
EXAM 1 | ||||
| 5 | 2/22 | Basic Biopsychology | Chapter 4 |
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|
| 2/24 | " | ||||
| 6 | 3/1 | Ergotropics & Nootropics |
pps. 128-129, 451-460 |
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| 3/3 | Sedatives | Chapter 6 (except pps. 161-164) |
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| 7 | 3/8 | Inhalants | Chapter 14 |
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| 3/10 | Alcohol | Chapter 7 & 8 |
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| 8 | 3/15 | " | |||
3/17 |
EXAM 2 | ||||
| Spring Recess | |||||
| 9 | 3/29 | Analgesics |
Chapter 9 |
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| 3/31 | Stimulants | Chapter 10 |
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| 10 | 4/5 | Tobacco | Chapter 11 |
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| 4/7 | " | ||||
| 11 | 4/12 | OTC Drugs |
Chapter 15 |
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| 4/14 | Psychiatric Drugs | pps. 161-164 |
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| 12 | 4/19 | " | |||
4/21 |
EXAM 3 | ||||
| 13 | 4/26 | Hallucinogens | Chapter 12 |
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| 4/28 |
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| 14 | 5/3 | Marijuana | Chapter 13 | |
|
| 5/5 | " | ||||
| 15 | 5/10 | Laws | Chapter 3 |
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|
| 5/12 | " | ||||
| 5/16-Mo | EXAM 4 | (2:45 - 3:45 p.m.) | |||
Comments? mplonsky@uwsp.edu.