Overview

This is a survey course. You will learn “the basics” of the discipline of abnormal psychology – vocabulary, concepts, theory, and research, and you will have the opportunity to discuss many topics with other students and with me.

The course is also, however, whatever you make it. As you complete the assignments you will have many opportunities to make decisions which will influence the nature and scope of your learning activities. The more energy you put into the course, the more benefit you will derive from it.

Do you want to have a “sneak preview” of how you may do in this course? Rate yourself 0n a 1 (low) to 10 (High) scale on these 3 questions:

1. How interested are you in learning the content in this course? _____

2. How important is it for you to learn this material? _____

3. Based on past experience, how well do you expect to do in the course? _____

Add the three scores together. If your total is 15 – 19, you will probably do OK. If you scored 20 – 25, you are likely to do better that average. If you scored 26 or above, I expect you will do exceptionally well in this course. If you scored 0 – 15, that doesn’t mean you are doomed! But ask yourself “Why am I taking this course?”, and if you can’t come up with a pretty good answer, you may find yourself putting in too little effort to achieve well.