PSY 159, Emotion, Stress, & Health 1 credit Fall, 2010

Transcription

1 PSY 159, Emotion, Stress, & Health 1 credit Fall, 2010 Professor: Heather Urry heather.urry@tufts.edu Phone: (617) Office: Psych Bldg, rm 126 Office Hours: Wed, 1:30-3:30 PM, or by appt Seminar Meeting Time/Place: Mon, 1:30-4:00pm (Block 7), Psychology Bldg, rm 201 Course Description. We all experience emotions and get stressed out, but how do psychologists define and measure these terms? And what do we know about how emotion and stress "get under our skin"? In this 1-credit course, you will learn how to define and measure emotion and stress. You will also learn about their psychological and biological underpinnings, and the mechanisms underlying how emotion and stress are related to the health of the body. This will be a seminar course geared toward advanced undergraduates. PSY 159 fulfills the requirement for a 100-level PSY course for general psychology majors. It also serves as one of two required PSY electives for the biopsychology major and, at the university level, the Natural Sciences distribution requirement. Course Objectives. Inspired by the Department of Psychology s learning objectives for psychology majors (see specific course objectives are as follows: 1. Critically examine theories and empirical findings in at least two subfields of psychology; in this course, we will focus on the links between emotion, stress, and health. 2. Read and critically evaluate original journal articles related to psychological topics, in this case emotion, stress, and health. 3. Gain oral and visual communication skills for reporting empirical research findings. Required Textbook. Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why Zebras Don t Get Ulcers (3 rd ed.). New York: Henry Holt and Company. If you prefer not to purchase this book, one copy will be placed on reserve for short-term checkout at Tisch Library. Additional required readings will be made available via Blackboard. Prerequisites. Any 10- or -20 level PSY course. Assignments. Reaction Papers. You will write 4 reaction papers, up to 2 pages, double-spaced, typed (1 margins, 12 pt. Times New Roman font or equivalent). These should represent your reaction to some aspect of the assigned readings based on your own experiences or observations. You must incorporate at least one empirical journal article related to the topic (one not already assigned). You will be allowed to revise and resubmit *1* of the 4 reaction papers in hopes of earning more points. Revisions will be due on Fri, Dec 10. Your final grade for the one revised reaction paper will be the average of the original and revised scores. More details, including the criteria by which papers will be evaluated, will be provided at a later date. See Reaction Paper Late Policy below. version 2, September 24, 2010 page 1 of 7

2 Midterm Exams. There will be two noncumulative, mandatory midterms during the regular semester. The format will be multiple choice and short answer. See Make-up Exam/Quiz Policy below. Quizzes. There will be six multiple choice quizzes at the beginning of class covering the reading for that day s class. You will not know in advance on which days quizzes will be administered thus it is in your best interest to come prepared for every class period. Your five best quiz scores will be used towards your final grade for the course. This means you can miss (or bomb) 1 out of the 6 and still have the chance to earn full credit for the quizzes. See Make-up Exam/Quiz Policy below. Presentation. You will deliver a 30-minute presentation with one partner to teach the rest of the class the most important content represented in one chapter from the RMS text. Your presentation must draw on at least two journal articles (ones that have not previously been assigned) in addition to the chapter you re covering. These presentations will be given using PowerPoint at the end of the semester. Additional guidelines will be provided at a later date. You cannot earn points for this assignment without coming to class and presenting on your assigned day (either Mon, Nov 29 or Mon, Dec 6). Evaluation. The assignments will be weighted as follows in terms of calculating your final grade for the course: Reaction Papers 200 pts 20% Exam pts 25% Exam pts 25% Quizzes 200 pts 20% Presentation 100 pts 10% Total 1000 pts 100% *Final course grading scale: A %, A %, A %,B %,B %, B %, C %, C %, C %, D %, D %, D %, F 59.9% and below Policies. Make-up Exam Policy. Students will only be allowed to take an exam at an alternate time in absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt unavoidable emergencies that are fully documented with correspondence from a physician or dean. No exceptions. In those exceedingly rare circumstances when a make-up exam is allowed, you must arrange with me in advance to take the make-up exam **prior** to the in-class exam version. Make-up Quiz Policy. You can miss one quiz for any reason (e.g., illness, unavoidable emergency, skipped class) with no penalty towards your total points for the quizzes. Since it is highly unlikely that you would need to miss class on a quiz day more than once for reasons that are outside your control, no make-up quizzes will be given. If you do have extreme circumstances that make you miss more than one quiz, please provide documentation from a physician or dean. Reaction Paper Late Policy. Reaction papers should be handed in on time. Without a note from a physician or dean, those that are turned in after the due date will be penalized by 5% for each day late. No exceptions. version 2, September 24, 2010 page 2 of 7

3 Communication. Our Blackboard course ID is PSY-159_HUrry. If you were officially enrolled in this course as of Fri, Aug 27 (the day they populated the Blackboard course sites with student names), you were added to the course automatically. If not, please me. Students are responsible for the content posted on or relayed via Blackboard (e.g., readings, assignments, announcements, and messages). Check your Blackboard address to make sure it is present and correct. Students can edit their Blackboard address as follows: A. Log into Blackboard B. Go to any course site C. Click on Tools / Personal Information / Edit Personal Information Academic Integrity. Academic fraud is unacceptable. In other words, don t lie, cheat, or steal other people s words and/or hard work. Students are responsible for knowing and abiding the academic integrity guidelines posted on the Dean of Students web site: If I suspect that you have used plagiarized material from another source, I will use a web-based database that compares submitted work to millions of existing sources, to check for plagiarized information. Submission of dishonest or plagiarized work, whether that work represents just a draft that you re working on or the final version, will lead to a failing grade for the course and you will be reported to the Dean of Students as required by their policy. See me if you are unclear about what constitutes academic fraud in any situation. Students with disabilities. Tufts University is committed to full inclusion of all students. Students who, by nature of a documented disability, require academic accommodations should contact me immediately. Students may also speak with the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities x72000 to discuss the process for requesting accommodations. Information is also available on the web at version 2, September 24, 2010 page 3 of 7

4 Tentative Schedule of Topics. I reserve the right to modify the content and timing of scheduled topics, readings, and assignments as needed. Changes will be posted on Blackboard. Readings are noted the week before the particular day we will cover them in class. RMS refers to the Sapolsky text. Any other readings will be available on Blackboard. Note that readings are listed the week before they are due. Mon Sep 13 Introduction 1. RMS Ch 1 and 2 2. Romero et al. (2009). The reactive scope model A new model integrating homeostasis, allostasis, and stress. Hormones and Behavior, 55, Taylor (2006). Tend and befriend: Biobehavioral bases of affiliation under stress. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, Mon Sep 20 Allostasis 1. Reaction Paper #1 2. RMS Ch 3 3. Kubzansky et al. (2006). Shared and unique contributions of anger, anxiety, and depression to coronary heart disease: A prospective study in the Normative Aging Study. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 31, O Donnell et al. (2010). Risk factors for ischaemic and intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke in 22 countries (the INTERSTROKE study): A case-control study. Lancet, 376, Lane et al. (2005). Psychological stress preceding idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, Consedine et al. (2004). Hostility and anxiety differentially predict cardiovascular disease in men and women. Sex Roles, 50, Mon Sep 27 Cardiovascular Disease (RP #1 due) 1. RMS Ch 4 2. Helgeson et al. (2010). Relation of stressful life events to metabolic control among adolescents with diabetes: 5-year longitudinal study. Health Psychology, 29, Plack et al. (2010). Behavioral medicine interventions in diabetes. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 23, Matthews et al. (2008). Association between socioeconomic status and metabolic syndrome in women: Testing the reserve capacity model. Health Psychology, 27, version 2, September 24, 2010 page 4 of 7

5 Mon Oct 4 Metabolism: Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome 1. Reaction Paper #2 2. RMS Ch 5 3. Jones (2006). The role of psychosocial factors in peptic ulcer disease: Beyond Helicobacter pylori and NSAIDs. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60, Guo et al. (2009). Psychological stress enhances the colonization of the stomach by Helicobacter pylori in the BALB/c mouse. Stress, 12, Blanchard et al. (2008). The role of stress in symptom exacerbation among IBS patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 64, Mon Oct 11 Ulcers and Irritable Bowels (eww) (RP #2 due) Assignment for next week: 1. Prepare for Exam 1 Mon Oct 18 Exam 1 1. RMS Ch 8 2. Cohen, S., Tyrrell, D. A. J., & Smith, A. P. (1993). Negative life events, perceived stress, negative affect, and susceptibility to the common cold. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 64, Gouin, J-P., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Malarkey, W. B., & Glaser, R. (2008). The influence of anger expression on wound healing. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 22, Hermes et al. (2009). Social isolation dysregulates endocrine and behavioral stress while increasing malignant burden of spontaneous mammary tumors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, Mon Oct 25 Immunity and Disease (including the Common Cold and Cancer) 1. Reaction Paper #3 2. RMS Ch Dickerson & Kemeny (2004). Acute stressors and cortisol responses: A theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychological Bulletin, 130, Sanford et al. (2010). Differential effects of controllable and uncontrollable footshock stress on sleep in mice. Sleep, 33, Coan et al. (2006). Lending a hand: Social regulation of the neural response to threat. Psychological Science, 17, version 2, September 24, 2010 page 5 of 7

6 Mon Nov 1 Why is Psychological Stress Stressful? (RP #3 due) 1. RMS Ch Caspi et al. (2003). Influence of life stress on depression: Moderation by a polymorphism in the 5-HTT gene. Science, 301, Troy, A. S., Wilhelm, F.H., Shallcross A. J., & Mauss, I. B. (in press). Seeing the silver lining: Cognitive reappraisal ability moderates the relationship between stress and depressive symptoms. Emotion. 4. Beck (2008). The evolution of the cognitive model of depression and its neurobiological correlates. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165, Mon Nov 8 Depression 1. Reaction Paper #4 2. RMS Ch Cisler & Koster (2010). Mechanisms of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders: An integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, Shin & Handwerger (2009). Is posttraumatic stress disorder a stress-induced fear circuitry disorder? Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22, Boyle et al. (2004). Hostility as a predictor of survival in patients with coronary artery disease. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66, Mon Nov 15 Anxiety Disorders and Type A Personality (RP #4 due) 1. Prepare for Exam 2 Mon Nov 22 Exam 2 1. RMS Ch 6, 7, 9, and 10 Mon Nov 29 Presentations 1. RMS Ch 11, 12, 16, 17, and 18 Mon Dec 6 Presentations (Last Day of Class) Fri Dec 10 Revised RP due (optional) version 2, September 24, 2010 page 6 of 7

7 (Student must read, sign and submit this page to the instructor) Acknowledgement of Receipt of Syllabus By signing below, I acknowledge that I have read the syllabus for PSY 159, Emotion, Stress, & Health (Fall, 2010) and understand the policies outlined. Any items that were unclear to me have been clarified to my satisfaction. I shall adhere to the policies outlined in this document and accept the penalties described for failing to do so. Print name here: Signature: Date: **************************************************************************************************** Student Information 1. Why are you taking this class? 2. Have you taken a seminar class before? YES NO (circle one) 3. Describe your last stressful experience (one that you would be comfortable sharing with others in class). a. What was the situation that prompted it? b. What thoughts did you have before, during or after? c. What did it feel like in terms of your subjective experience, your behavior, and/or your bodily response? d. How long did it last? version 2, September 24, 2010 page 7 of 7