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Psychology 2990B 001 FW25

Applications of Psychology

WESTERN UNIVERSITY

LONDON               CANADA

Department of Psychology

Fall/Winter 2025

 

Psychology 2990B    Section 001

APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY

 

 

Welcome to our course, which explores how people ‘use’ psychology to achieve real-world goals. You will recognize concepts that we will discuss from other psychology courses, yet our lens is nevertheless to explore how these concepts are applied. As an evening course taught during a single weekly session, our lectures integrate lecture content alongside additional components to prompt rich reflections on the range of ways we can apply psychology.

 

• CALENDAR DESCRIPTION

 

The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with some of the ways in which psychological evidence and techniques can be applied to the practice of law, business, education, the health sciences, etc. 

 

Antirequisite: N/A

 

Prerequisite(s): A mark of at least 60% in 1.0 credits of Psychology at the 1000 level.

 

3 lecture hours; Course Weight: 0.5

 

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.

 

• COURSE INFORMATION

 

Instructor: Dr. M. Blair Evans, Associate Professor, Industrial/Organizational Unit           

Office and Phone Number: see Brightspace for location, 519-661-2111 x84663

Email: mevan3@uwo.ca

Office Hours: see Brightspace for booking

Teaching assistant: To be determined.

 

Time and Location of Classes:

Lecture: see Timetable on Student Centre

We will also use the OWL brightspace system (https://westernu.brightspace.com/d2l/login) to coordinate all aspects of this course and deliver in-course activities like quizzes.

 

 

For courses that include an online component, students must have a reliable internet connection and computer that are compatible with online learning system requirements.

 

 

• Course Materials

 

Our readings will involve a combination of an online text (see below) along with additional chapters, academic articles, and online content. Readings will be available through our Library. Our OWL brightspace reading guide and podcasts from Dr. Evans will help you navigate the readings. The class schedule below identifies weeks with assigned readings, and these readings are provided along with a guide that identifies key messages to derive from each reading on Brightspace. Several chapters will be posted from the following textbook that is available through online access from our Library – this is a valuable tool for the concepts related to social psychology that we will be applying.

 

SUPPLEMENTAL ONLINE BOOK, AVAILABLE THROUGH UWO LIBRARY

Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3^RD EDITION)

Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts (Sage publications)

 

 

 

• COURSE OBJECTIVES & LEARNING OUTCOMES

 

This course serves as an introduction to the concepts and tools from modern psychology that have found their way into real life. The themes from this course will span domains ranging from health psychology to the psychology of sport, consumer behaviour, organizations, law, human factors, and the environment. We will consider how psychology is used in many ways, ranging from large-scale policies to the design of behavioural interventions.  

 

After introducing the foundations of applied psychology, this course progresses through modules focused on ‘big issues’ and then we will explore how those issues are addressed in several domains of applied psychology. We hope to instil recognition of how psychology is applied, so students will leave the course with awareness of available careers and applications of psychology (e.g., certifications and training routes for relevant professions).

 

Following this course, successful students will have the capacity to:

 

Learning Outcome	Learning Activity	Assessment
Depth and Breadth of Knowledge.
Identify concepts, methods, and examples that are historically important related to applied psychology	·     Lectures ·     Readings	·     Exams ·     Graded quizzes
Recognize the uses of psychology in everyday life and identify the extent that these applications connect with theory and empirical findings.	·     Lectures ·     Supplemental content (videos, articles)	·     Exams ·     Graded quizzes
Knowledge of Methodologies.
Recognize the ideal ways that applied psychologists advance from ‘psychological theory’ toward ‘useful strategy/tool’ through empirical steps (e.g., valid research) and practical steps (e.g., working with stakeholders).	·     Lectures ·     Readings	·     Exams ·     Graded quizzes
Application of Knowledge.
Reflect upon examples of applied psychology in everyday life and propose creative/novel ways that psychology could be applied in the future.   Understanding the career options and professional development pathways to “land” a career that involves applying psychology in one or more domain.	·      Supplemental content (videos, articles, podcasts) ·      Example studies, interventions, and findings from lecture.	·     Discussion
Awareness of Limits of Knowledge.
Recognize the limitations in current practices and policies that are often attributed to applied psychology and understand the fundamental constraints behind any attempt to ‘use’ psychology.	·     Lectures	·     Discussion

 

    

• EVALUATION

 

The evaluation and testing formats for this course were created to assess the learning objectives as listed in Section 4 and are necessary for meeting these learning objectives.

 

Mid-term Exams (20% each) and Final Exam (40%) 

 

Mid-term and final examinations will comprise most of the course evaluation activities, worth a total of 80% of the final grade. Items will consist of primarily multiple-choice and matching questions based on material from the preceding lectures and readings, while also including some short-answer style items. The final exam will be cumulative, although lectures will have ‘Questions of the day’ (QODs) that will help students recognize key content. QODs are short-answer style questions and are learning preparation activities that will guide students toward the critical concepts when leading into the final exam. Further information about exam content will be provided in class throughout the term, along with exam reviews.

 

The Mid-term exams will be scheduled during class time (Feb 3 /March 17). The final exam will be scheduled with the registrar.

 

Exam conflicts.  Make-up exams will not be offered for mid-terms. Students with an adequate excuse for missing a mid-term (i.e., arranged through academic counselling) or who use the student portal to report an absence will be assigned a score based on your grade on the other Midterm (i.e., the other midterm will end up having a weight 40%). Students cannot, however, be absent for both Midterms, so reach out in advance if you are facing limitations to your capacity to attend our course on those dates. Students who do not have a documented and excused absence for a missing midterm will receive a grade of 0.

 

To excuse yourself from the registrar-scheduled final exam, contact academic counselling with our course’s information, the final exam date, and any documentation to validate your excuse. If your accommodation is approved, you and the academic counsellor should contact me via email to schedule you for a make-up exam.

 

Reviewing exam results. Exam grades will be posted within OWL brightspace. Each student is also permitted to view their midterm responses by scheduling a meeting with a teaching assistant at any point in time during the term.

Quizzes (13%; 5 quizzes, grades derived from top 4 grades)

 

Throughout this semester, students will complete brief quizzes on assigned reading material for a given week. The purpose of these quizzes is to assess understanding of the reading material and to provide practice at retrieving information. Each quiz will cover the content of the reading or listening assigned for that day only.

 

Quizzes will take place during class time, in-person. Occasionally, quizzes may be assigned as an at-home quiz completed on your own time.  All quizzes are completed on your own personal device (i.e., computer; phone; tablet) using an OWL Brightspace quiz. The quizzes range from 8-10 items in length in matching, multiple choice, and true/false format, and there will be a time limit of 2 minutes per item.

 

Quiz grades will be based upon students’ top five (4) quiz grades. This means that students may miss one (1) quiz without accommodations or documentation. Quizzes that are missed with appropriate approval will result in: (a) an extension to submit the quiz within the 2 days following the initial due date, or (b) a dropped quiz if you are unable to complete the quiz within 2 days, whereby the quiz grade will be based on the remaining quizzes. Otherwise, it is your responsibility to complete quizzes.

 

Students who were not in class, or who do not complete a quiz by its assigned take-home due date, may still submit a quiz. Late quizzes will remain visible on OWL Brightspace and can be submitted up to 48hrs after their due date/time and will receive a 20% deduction in grade. After 48hrs, quizzes will not receive a grade.

 

Discussions (7%)

Our class will complete eight (8) different discussions related to readings for a given week. Students will be graded for two components of these discussions – (a) replying to discussions, and (b) producing a discussion prompt.

                                                                     

Replies (5%; completed during class time). Students will receive grades for responding to discussion prompts in the discussion forum. The discussion window will open during lecture time periods and the discussion prompts will be posted within lecture slides. During a break in class time, students will be prompted to use their devices to respond to the online prompt. Each discussion reply must be 100 words or longer and must be posted during the time window for which the discussion is opened in class.

 

There are 8 discussions scheduled for the term and students will be graded on five (5) discussion thread responses based on completeness alone. Students will therefore only be graded on five responses, and up to three responses may be missed with no penalty. Late replies will not receive a grade, and discussion replies that are unrelated or poorly connected with course content (i.e., irrelevant post; post does not relate to in-class prompt) will not receive a grade.

 

Prompts (2%; submitted by 5pm on discussion dates). During the term, you must pick one week when you will complete and submit a single ‘leading’ discussion prompt shortly prior to lecture, that week. The purpose for these prompts is that the instructor several ‘top’ prompt submissions to be used during in-class discussions described above (i.e., student prompts may be used in that week’s lecture to elicit peer replies).

 

We ask that you submit this prompt as a text entry assignment, within OWL Brightspace. These 200-word prompts must include: (a) reflection on one or more ideas from the reading assigned for a specified week, including accurate definitions or descriptions of key concepts, and (b) a description of a ‘real world’ example this concept or idea within real life, such as by describing and sharing a source that you found online (e.g., YouTube video; blog post; podcast) or your reflection on a personal experience that you have had. The assignment will be graded based on completeness/timeliness (i.e., was it submitted prior to the lecture for which the reading was required?) as well as the clarity of the explanation linking the reading content to your real-life example. A discussion prompt rubric will be posted in Brightspace.

 

Sometimes students ask whether they are still to reply to a prompt during weeks in which they have submitted a prompt.  We encourage you to do so: If you do not also reply to a peer that week, then the missed response will be counted as one of the three replies that you can miss.

 

The discussion schedule will be posted in OWL Brightspace and students can select any week/topic to submit their discussion prompt. Because students may submit their prompt in relation any given week, there are no late marks and there will be no prompts accepted after our term’s final discussion.

 

5.1 POLICY ON MISSING COURSEWORK

 

As a summary of the policies about assignment submission:

 

Activity	Without approved absence	With approved absence
Graded quizzes	Up to 48hrs late, 20% off grade. After 48hrs, no grade.   Every student can miss up to One (1) quiz without any accommodation or documentation required.	Extension or reweighted quiz grade (onto other quizzes).
Discussion prompts.	Submissions are required before 5pm on the day of class for a given week. Students have 8 unique opportunities to submit one discussion prompt, and they only need to complete one, which can be completed prior to our final class.  No submissions allowed after our last class.	Students have 8 opportunities to submit one discussion prompt, which can all be completed prior to our final class.  No submissions allowed after final class.
Discussion replies.	Every student can miss up to two (3) discussion replies without any accommodation or documentation required. No grade for additional late or missed replies.	Reweighted prompt grade (onto other prompts)
Mid-term exam	No exam make-up, and grade of zero.	Exam weight reweighted onto other mid-term (i.e., single remaining mid-term worth 40% of grade)
Final exam	No exam make-up, and grade of zero.	Rescheduled final exam.

 

Keep in mind that instructors are not permitted to receive documentation directly from the student in relation to accommodation requests. All documentation required for absences that are not covered by the absence reporting policy must be submitted to your Academic Counselling Office

 

The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines:  https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf

 

The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:

 

70%         1000-level to 2099-level courses

72%         2100-2999-level courses

75%         3000-level courses

80%         4000-level courses

 

In the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.

 

Policy on Grade Rounding

 

Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered.

 

• ASSESSMENT/EVAUATION SCHEDULE

 

 

COURSE COMPONENT (DATE)	GRADE %
1.     Quizzes (5 quizzes – 7-10pm Jan 20; Feb 10/24; Mar 3/24).	13%
2.     Discussions (eight – see schedule below)
a.     Prompts (1 required, submitted by 5PM Tues of class)	2%
b.     Replies (5 required, posted during class time)	5%
3.     Mid-term Exams
a.     Mid-term Exam #1 (Feb 3)	20%
b.     Mid-term Exam #2 (Mar 17)	20%
4.     Final Exam (Final Exam Period)	40%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7     CLASS SCHEDULE

 

The complete course schedule is provided on the next page.  All students will be required to access brightspace for class information and materials and any updates to the course schedule. Slides and supplemental required readings will be posted under the appropriate modules. A more detailed editable course schedule and a reading guide will also be available within OWL brightspace.

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK	TOPIC	Relevant ‘domain’ of application in focus	Preparation notes (see BRIGHTSPACE for descriptions of key content from each source)
			Readings	Activity
Jan 6	1. APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY - Introducing applied psychology. -Communicating psychological findings and adapting policy.	Public policy	-Schneider et al. (2017)–Ch. 1	-
Jan 13	2. THEORY & METHODS. -Tools in an applied psychologist’s toolbox. -Recognizing how design / measures can reflect the real world.	Community psychology	-Lodzinski et al. (2017)–Ch. 4 -Matthews et al. (2022) – Single-item measure validity	Discussion post Practice quiz
Jan 20	3. HEALTH BEHAVIOR ATTITUDES & INTENTIONS - Can we actually change behavior?	Health promotion Occupational health psych. Exercise psychology	- Hagger & Weed (2019). Do interventions based on behavioral theory work?	Quiz and Discussion post
Jan 27	4. SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY - Harmonizing interactions between groups. - Norm interventions. - Improving built environments.	Environmental psychology Social psychology	- Gatersleben et al. (2023)  - Interventions and pro-environmental behaviours	Discussion post
Feb 3	MIDTERM EXAM #1  - Feb 3
Feb 10	5. PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGY. - Cognitive psych and neuropsychology to understand expert performance.	Sport psychology Cognitive psychology	Bertollo et al. (2020) – Using Brain Technologies in Practice	Quiz and Discussion post
Reading week [Feb 17]
Feb 24	6. PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW - Is psychological evidence being used to improve the jury system?	Forensic psychology	- Borenstein & Greene (2017). The Jury Under Fire.	Quiz and Discussion Post
Mar 3	7. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY - Helping people feel like they belong.	Positive Psychology Educational Psychology	- Walton & Brady (2021). The Social-Belonging Intervention. - Wood et al. (2021) Applications of Positive Psychology.	Quiz
Mar 10	8. CREATING BETTER TEAMS - Setting the stage for people to cooperate in teams.	Healthcare psychology	- Coutts & Gruman (2017)–Ch. 10	Discussion post
Mar 17	MIDTERM EXAM #2  - Mar 17
Mar 24	9. ENGINEERING, COGNITION, AND HUMAN FACTORS - Making systems and places efficient.	Engineering / Human Factors	Roscoe et al. (2019). Human systems engineering.	Quiz and Discussion post
Apr 3	10. ADDITIONAL APPROACHES FOR APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY. - Applying animal behaviour to ‘human’ problems. - Crowd behaviour	Comparative psychology Crowd behavior Traffic psychology	Warren (2018). Collective motion in human crowds	Discussion post
Exam period (Exam arranged by registrar, Apr 12-30)

 

 

 

8     ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

 

Scholastic offences are taken seriously, and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf.

 

Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.

 

Statement on Use of Electronic Devices

 

In-Class Electronics: Electronics are invited into the classroom, both for note-taking and for participating in activities. During class, students may be invited to use their devices to participate in discussion, or to participate in just-in-time readings. Electronic devices are also critical for tutorial sessions, as students in working groups may be invited to use computers, tablets, or phones to search the internet, complete assessments, or participate in writing tasks. It is up to all class members to work and ensure that these devices are used to further your own learning and development – and to prevent distraction of yourself or others. If students have concerns about other’s use of in-class electronics (e.g., distracting peer), then please share any concerns with the instructor.

 

Out-of-class electronics: Quizzes are conducted online using Brightspace on your own time. These activities are open-book. Considering that a portion of the grade in this class is designated for this activity, all academic integrity principles especially apply to the use of Brightspace quizzes – including the necessity for completing quizzes independently.

 

Plagiarism Detection Software

 

All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism.  All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com.

 

 

Use of AI

 

The use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce written work is not permitted unless permission is granted by the instructor for specific circumstances. Any work submitted must be the work of the student in its entirety unless otherwise disclosed. When used, AI tools should be used ethically and responsibly, and students must cite or credit the tools used in line with the expectation to use AI as a tool to learn, not to produce content.

 

AI Policy for Psychology:

Responsible use of AI is allowed in Psychology.  This includes using AI for brainstorming, improving grammar, or doing preliminary/background research on a topic.

 

AI is not to be used in place of critical thinking.

 

The misuse of AI undermines the academic values of this course.  Relying on AI to create full drafts or fabricate sources is prohibited.  You are ultimately responsible for any work submitted, so it is highly advised that you critically review your Generative AI output before incorporating this information into your assignments.

 

If you use AI, you must clearly explain its role in your work.  All written assignments will require an AI Usage Statement, in which you will indicate what tools you have used, what you have used them for, and (broadly) how you have modified this information.  Assignments without an AI Usage Statement will not be accepted.

 

Violations of this policy will be handled according to Western’s scholastic offense policies.

 

Multiple Choice Exams

 

Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.

 

Exam Proctoring Software

 

Tests and examinations for online courses may be conducted using a remote proctoring service. More information about this remote proctoring service, including technical requirements, is available on Western’s Remote

Proctoring website at: https://remoteproctoring.uwo.ca.

 

Personal Response Systems (“Clickers”)

 

In classes that involve the use of a personal response system, data collected will only be used in a manner consistent to that described in this outline. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make every effort to ensure that data remain confidential. However, students should be aware that as with all forms of electronic communication, privacy is not guaranteed.

 

9     Academic Accommodations and Accessible Education

 

View Western’s policy on academic accommodations for student with disabilities at this link.

 

Accessible Education provides supports and services to students with disabilities at Western.

If you think you may qualify for ongoing accommodation that will be recognized in all your courses, visit Accessible Education for more information.  Email: aew@uwo.ca  Phone: 519 661-2147

 

10   Absence & Academic Consideration

 

Academic Considerations: https://registrar.uwo.ca/academics/academic_considerations/index.html  

 

11   OTHER INFORMATION

 

• Office of the Registrar: https://registrar.uwo.ca
• Student Development Services: sdc.uwo.ca
• Psychology Undergraduate Program: https://www.psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/index.html

 

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness@Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.

Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you.

 

If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf. Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal in writing to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).

 

Copyright Statement

 

Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.

 

12   LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton. Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. This land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) whom we recognize as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors of our society.