Psy Psychology of Self-Discovery Spring 2016 / McCabe

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1 Psy Psychology of Self-Discovery Spring 2016 / McCabe TuTh 5-6:50, Stevenson laurel.mccabe@sonoma.edu Instructor: Laurel McCabe, Ph.D. Phone: Office Hrs.: Thu 2-3:50 pm Office: Stevenson 3092A The goal of this course is to teach you fundamental skills of self-discovery and self-care so that you can use these skills in your everyday life. We are concentrating on skills relating to self-reflection, emotional intelligence, resilience, and relationships. These are all skills that can be learned, practiced, and improved, and they have the potential to bring you a deeper sense of competence, confidence and efficacy in the world. Each week we ll learn and practice new skills. Learning Goals for this course: Now and in 5 years I d like you to: Increase your self-knowledge and your self-confidence Use the skills of emotional intelligence, mindfulness and meditation in your daily life o Department learning goal: know concepts and perspectives in psychology o Department learning goal: apply psychological concepts to experience o Department learning goal: demonstrate skills that promote behavioral change Learn how to take care of yourself in difficult and stressful life situations o Department learning goal: demonstrate skills that promote behavioral change Care about your own and others lives, increase your respect, empathy and tolerance of others o Department learning goal: increase your appreciation and knowledge of diversity Required Readings: Hartmann, E. (1998). Dreams and nightmares: The origin and meaning of dreams. Cambridge, MA: Perseus. Mininni, D. (2006). The emotional toolkit. Boston, MA: St. Martin s Griffin. Course Requirements Requirements Pts Weekly Project Assignments 2 pp 9 15 pts ea 135 Problem-based Learning in Positive Psychology 60 Dream Depiction 20 Dream Project 20 7 Surveys, questionnaires at beginning and end of 1 pt ea 30 In-class activities 35 Total points 300 Course Website To access the course website, login to your SSU account. Click on the Moodle link, then click on the link for Psy It is each student s responsibility to check the Moodle site for updated course materials, articles, and assignments. Attendance, Preparation, Participation Attendance is critical in this skills-based class. You should complete the readings before class and come prepared to contribute thoughtfully to class discussions and exercises. Up to one excused absence may be made up in consultation with the instructor. An absence is excused if it is to illness or family emergency. Please notify the instructor of such a circumstance as soon as possible. 1

2 Skills Assignments There are 9 skills-based 2-page paper assignments consisting of practice, observation, analysis, reflection, and integration of readings. Problem-based Learning Group Presentation We will spend one month in group-based problem-based learning related to positive psychology that draws on your top signature character strengths. Your grade will be based on your use of your character strengths in group collaboration, your knowledge and application of positive psychology, the creativity and appropriateness of your solution, and the quality of participation and engagement in your group. Dream Projects There are 2 projects to explore dreams: one depicts and explores the dream s feelings, metaphors and images; the other is an exploration of your choosing. In-Class Activities In-class work is an aspect of class participation and is intended to develop and deepen your understanding of the material. Therefore it cannot be made up under any circumstances. In-class activities may include individual and group activities, written assignments, reflections, or questions related to the course material. Come prepared with paper and writing material. Surveys : Positive psychology is a scientific field exploring how positive activities contribute to health, flourishing, flow, happiness, and well-being. We ll contribute to this by taking surveys at the start and at the end of class. These will be totally anonymous and identified by a number or word that you choose. They ll be handed in at the start and toward the end of the class. VIA Strengths Survey (online) (only do once at start of semester) Positive & negative affect scale (PANAS) (online) Resilience scale Mindfulness scale Academic expectations stress survey Current feeling scale Depression Scale Life Orientation Scale Boundaries Scale (take this later in the semester) Meyers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) (take this later in the semester) Grading policy: Your final course grade is based on quality and timeliness of papers and assignments, quizzes, presentations, quality of class participation, and class attendance. Make a good-faith effort on all assignments and come prepared for class discussion and projects. Classroom Etiquette In order to maintain a positive classroom climate, please refrain from engaging in behaviors that are disrespectful and distracting to the professor and to fellow students. These include engaging in side conversations, cross-talk, texting, using cell phones, reading newspapers, checking , surfing the internet. Please turn off cell phones and computers during class. Disruptive behavior in class will bring down your final grade. Papers Guidelines will be handed out with the paper assignments. Rubrics will be used in grading the assignment and will be handed out with the guidelines. Papers should be turned in in class on the date. No ed papers are accepted. Late papers will be marked down 1 partial grade for each week over. Papers are double-spaced, paginated, with 1 margins all around, and a simple 12 point font like Times, Helvetica, Arial, etc. References are in APA style. The Library has simple guideline sheets, see their web site at Writing Center A great resource for writing is the Writing Center in Schulz The staff works with you on specific pieces of writing to help you improve your writing. 2

3 Academic Honesty The Psychology department s policy of academic honesty expects students to be honest in attributing others work to those who wrote it, with proper citations, references, and paraphrasing of material. A paper that has material copied verbatim from a book, article, or Internet source without proper referencing will be given an F and reported to the department chair. A second infraction will receive an F for the course. See the department s policy at Students with Special Needs If you re a student with special learning needs and you think you may require accommodations, your first step is to register with the campus office of Disability Services for Students, Salazar 1049, phone DSS will provide you with written confirmation of your verified disability and authorize recommended accommodations. You then present this recommendation to the instructor, who will discuss the accommodations with you. For Thursday Jan 28: This semester we re taking surveys related to resilience and positive psychology as an experiment to see how learning new skills might influence how we experience ourselves in these areas. We'll take them at the start of class and at the end. Bring the completed surveys into class on Thurs Feb 4. Remember to pick a code word or number and put this on the top of each. Use the same code or number at the end of the semester. Keep a copy for yourself so you can compare your answers. They're private and confidential, your responses will not be known by anyone. There are 2 surveys to take online at : Go to and create an account for yourself by logging in, and choosing a password. You'll be asked some general questions about yourself, such as age, gender, and educational level. This is Martin Seligman's research site on positive psychology. Your information will be used to add to the data he collects about positive psychology. Take the VIA Survey of Character Strengths assessment. This will take you from 30 to 60 minutes. Print out the listing of all of your strengths. Pay particular attention to your top 5 strengths. Keep the results because you ll use them throughout the semester. Bring a copy of your results to class on Tues Feb 2 all of the others you will bring on Thu Feb 4. Take the Positive and Negative Affect survey (PANAS). Bring these results to class on Thur Feb 4 with the other surveys. Write your code number or name on the top of the survey, and the date. Make sure you keep a copy for yourself. We ll take two other surveys the Boundary questionnaire and the Meyers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) later in the semester and use the results in class. Schedule of Activities Week of Topic Tuesday Thursday 1 Jan 26 Introduction Syllabus Assignments Positive psychology Resilience handout Positive Psychology film Feeling Chart 3

4 2 Feb 2 3 Feb 9 4 Feb 16 5 Feb 23 6 March 1 7 March 8 March 15 8 March 22 9 March April 5 11 April 12 Resilience Feelings & emotions Read Introduction, Ch 1, 2, 3 in The Emotional Toolkit Bring in Strengths Survey Gateway emotions Internal questioning Thoughts & self-talk Schemas Temperament Gender differences in communication styles Communication styles Optimism: Finding the good Positive emotions Thought shifting Challenging negative thoughts Active constructive responding Praise Read Ch 4 & 5 Read Ch 6 Complete the Sentence Completion and the Temperament exercise in Ch 6 Read Ch 7 Read Ch 8, 9 Dweck, The perils and promises of praise Gable et al, What do you do when things go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing positive events Bring in feeling selfawareness results Choose Secret Friend All 7 surveys Gateway Emotions assignment Bring to class the Sentence Completion and Temperament exercises Gender communication Schulz 2010 Positive Schemas assignment Schulz 2010 Positive Communication styles assignment Schulz 1014 (note different lab) Positive Psychology Project Challenging negative thoughts assignment Spring break Mindfulness Read Ch 10 Schulz 2010 Positive Active constructive responding & praise assignment Relationship Empathy Compassion Self-compassion Self-acceptance Expressive Arts Neurodevelopmental models Read Ch 14 Read Stein & Book, Empathy on Moodle Mindfulness assignment Read Graham, Using empathy to create connections and selfacceptance; & Emotional intelligence, on Moodle Guest: Linda Graham Read Ch 12, on writing, in The Emotional Toolkit Read on Moodle No Class Cesar Chavez Positive Psychology Presentations Positive Psychology paper Boundary questionnaire on Moodle 4

5 12 April 19 Dreams: Intro Dreams: Boundaries Typology Read Ch 1 4; Ch 13, Dream People & Thought People; in Dreams & MBTI in class Self-acceptance assignment Expressive art assignment 13 April May 3 15 May 10 Dreams: Metaphor Dreams: The unconscious Dreams: Biology Hope & optimism Looking ahead Read Ch 6, Metaphor; Ch 10, This View & Freud s View, in Dreams & Film: The Edge of Dreaming Dream exploration Everything Dream depiction assignment Read Ch 11, Biology of Dreaming in Dreams & All 7 retaken surveys (not Strengths) Appreciating secret friend 5