Homework

There will be three homeworks throughout the quarter, based on the material covered in class. You can download them by clicking on the relevant link in the schedule page. These are due after we have covered the material in class, and are usually available more than a week beforehand so you can be working on them as we discuss the relevant material in class. Homework assignments must be turned in during class the day they are due for full credit, unless prior arrangements are made with the instructor through email.

Late assignments will be accepted, but will lose 10% of the total score possible on the assignment for every class session late (not every day late). This is to encourage you to do the assignments, as it is far preferable to work through the material late than never. Moreover, homework comprises a hefty portion of your grade, so please do it - even if it's late. Late assignments may be emailed to the TA and Prof. Pearl (in .doc or .pdf format).

You should feel free to work together on homework (and in fact this is encouraged), but you must write up your answers separately and note on the assignment you hand in who you worked with. If you do not do both of these, it will be considered academic dishonesty and you will receive a 0 for that assignment.

Midterm

There will be a midterm in class on 2/09/10. This will cover the material up until that point. The midterm questions will come from the review questions posted on the website for the topics covered. (Some of these questions may have even appeared in the homework.)

The midterm is open-note (including your book, the lecture notes, and any notes of your own you wish to bring), but it is non-collaborative (no group efforts, please). If you are caught collaborating during the midterm, you will all receive a 0 for the midterm.

In addition, there will no makeup for the midterm unless you have an emergency (family, medical, etc.) that day, at which point you should contact the instructor as soon as possible afterwards and make arrangements. A doctor's note or some other form of "proof of emergency" will be expected in that situation. If you know ahead of time that you cannot take the midterm that day, you should contact the instructor beforehand to make arrangements to take it at some other time.

Final

There will be a final in class on 3/11/10. This will cover the material presented throughout the quarter, with a focus on the material presented after the midterm. The final questions will come from the review questions posted on the website for all the topics covered. (Some of these questions may have even appeared in the homework.)

The final is open-note (including your book, the lecture notes, and any notes of your own you wish to bring), but it is non-collaborative (no group efforts, please). If you are caught collaborating during the final, you will all receive a 0 for the final.

In addition, there will no makeup for the final unless you have an emergency (family, medical, etc.) that day, at which point you should contact the instructor as soon as possible afterwards and make arrangements. A doctor's note or some other form of "proof of emergency" will be expected in that situation. If you know ahead of time that you cannot take the final that day, you should contact the instructor beforehand to make arrangements to take it at some other time. Please note that having more than 2 finals on that day is a valid reason to schedule the final for another time (most likely during the following week).

Extra credit

You may earn up to a total of 3 extra credit points by volunteering to participate in laboratory experiments. As subjects in experiments, you have the opportunity to learn how experimental research in psychology is conducted today, and you help provide the necessary subjects for the School's extensive research program. You will receive 0.5 points for each half hour that you participate, with your maximum participation limited to 3 hours (i.e., 3 points).

Procedure: Sign up online using this link to the scheduling program called experimetrix

https://experimetrix2.com/uci

Contract: If you agree to take part in an experiment, you form a contract with the experimenter to be punctually present at the time and place designated on the sign-up sheet. If you must cancel your appointment, do so using the above experimetrix website at least one hour before the time of the experiment. The penalty for non-informed, nonattendance is the loss of 0.5 points. Your attendance at the experiment will be recorded by the laboratory assistant. Also, the experimenters may run out of experiments before the end of the quarter, so early participation is the safest way to ensure that you don't miss out on this easy way to accumulate points. In addition, please note that you will need to allocate your earned credits to your selected classes before the end of the quarter if you want your credits to show up for this class (and all other classes you allocate them to).

Note: Instead of volunteering to participate in experiments, you may volunteer to write a 4-page (double-space typewritten) paper for up to 3 points of extra credit. You must get approval from Prof. Pearl for the topic of the paper, and the TA will grade the paper and decide, based on its quality, how many points of extra credit it receives. Papers are due by the end of class on Thursday, Mar 11. Late papers receive no credit.