Instructor

Prof. Pooja Purang

Semester

Autumn ‘20

Course Difficulty

On the easier side. Not much effort required. Exams were also on the easier side.

Time Commitment Required

Around 3 hrs a week. This includes attending classes, watching pre-recorded lectures, self study.

Grading Policy and Statistics

Grading was strict. Few people got AAs compared to the “expected” number, given the large batch size.

Attendance Policy

Online semester

Pre-requisites

None

Evaluation Scheme

1 quiz, 1 assignment, midsem (around 30%), endsem (40-50%)

Topics Covered in the Course

Introduction to psychology, research methods in psychology, theories of learning, memory, motivation, personality.

Teaching Style

Pre-recorded lectures which students were supposed to watch and note down the doubts. These were usually an hour long. Two classes a week ( 2 hrs total) to recap and discuss doubts.

Tutorials/Assignments/Projects

No tutorials or projects. Simple assignment, were supposed to submit 1 pg writeup. Prof. used to share key points of the lectures separately.

Feedback on Exams

On the easier side. Had to memorize stuff. Good chance of making mistakes in the exams. Exams were objective and fill in the blank type, on the SAFE app.

Motivation for taking this course

Was interested in psychology - how people think, react and behave in different situations, what is the basis for a certain behavior, how is decision making influenced?

Course Highlights

Personality section was quite intriguing. Course contents were quite relatable to behavior in daily life.

Course Importance

Not very important in technical fields. Will support indirectly in non-technical fields.

How strongly would I recommend this course?

If you are interested in human/animal behavior and decision making, then this course will be worth it !

When to take this course?

5th semester

Going Forward

Advanced courses in psychology, sociology, behavioral economics, game theory and decision making.

References Used

Prof. used to give reading exercises sometimes. She used to share screenshots of the pages of reference books.

Other Remarks

Tip: remember to note down doubts while watching pre-recorded lectures, and ask them in class. Definitely helps if you are genuinely interested in the course, and also for memorizing for exams. There were a lot of things to memorize.

Interesting relevant links

Stanford Prison Experiment - movie

HS 303 Review By: Himansh Rathore