Love & Sexual Behavior
Dr. Travis Langley
Spring, 2018

 

Required textbook:
The Science of Intimate Relationships by G. Fletcher, J. A. Simpson, L. Campbell, & N. C. Overall.

Overview:

This course explores intimate relationships including friendship, romance, sex, and marriage. The material looks at relational behavior that is normal or abnormal, mature or immature, healthy or unhealthy. Discussions will examine factors that may play roles in determining whether relationships succeed or fail, such as communication, negotiation, gender differences, cultural differences, and predictors of divorce. Topics include attraction, courtship, dating, mating, marriage, parenting, divorce, jealousy, fidelity, sexual response cycle, dysfunctions, paraphilias, obsession, impulsivity, sex crimes, and Internet relationships.

Disclaimer:

Course material may at times be of a frank and explicit nature. If you are offended by on topics related to love or sexual behavior, do not take this class. If you are under the age of 18, do not take this class. It is senior-level, after all. Do not redistribute course material to anyone who is underage or who may find such material personally offensive. Proceeding with this course means that you take responsibility for your own actions in doing so.

SCHEDULE

UNIT 1
Chapters 1-3

UNIT 2
Chapters 4-6

UNIT 3
Chapters 7-9

UNIT 4
Chapters 10-12

FINAL
CUMULATIVE plus Chapter 13

EXAMS

Each unit will conclude with a 40-item multiple choice exam covering lecture notes, assigned readings, and class discussion. Bring number 2 pencils for every test. If you have trouble erasing mistakes completely, just ask for a clean answer sheet. Any answer marked wrong due to an incomplete erasure is simply wrong. Bring your own Scantron answer sheet for each test.

On every test, put your name and ID number on the front of the answer sheet and on the back of your test. Follow instructions to put your test and answer sheet face down and in the right stack; otherwise the Scantron machine might grade the back of your answer sheet or grade it according to the wrong answer key.

There will be NO makeup tests, so don’t even ask unless you’ve missed two tests and can prove you had great reasons for both excused absences. As long as you do not miss any tests, your lowest test will be dropped, unless it is the final exam. If you do miss a regular test but have an excused absence, the missing test will be the one that gets dropped. Don’t miss the final; you can’t drop it.

If you arrange for a guest speaker of sufficient educational value to come to our class (or maybe for us to go to them), an extra A will be figured into your average, equal to one test.

Writing Across the Curriculum: The last question on every multiple-choice test will be some version of “Since the previous test, what have you learned from the current course material that was not otherwise covered by this exam?” Write your answers in coherent sentences. In general, each distinct fact you provide will be worth half a point, up to the normal maximum of 3, so to earn full credit provide 6-8 distinct facts. Writing more could earn a little extra credit, up to an absolute maximum of 4, which would almost always bring your score up a full letter grade. Bad answer, not worth any credit: “We talked about atyptical paraphilias, but the test didn’t ask about them.” Good answer: “An atypical paraphilia is a sexual deviance that is less common and is not listed among the eight main paraphilias in the DSM.” Rather than just stating which topic was not covered by the test, tell what you learned about the topic.

GRADING

Test questions range in difficulty to get an accurate idea of exactly how much you know and understand about the course material. I do not feel it is right to establish a curve based on the highest grade in the class, in which case only one score would determine everyone’s grade. The scale on the 40-point tests (although bonus credit makes them worth more than 40) is simply this:

A 35.1 –>          B 30.1 – 35.0          C 25.1 – 30.0          D 20.1 – 25.0          F  <– 20.0

Your professor reserves the right to assign other values for these grade cutoffs. The professor also reserves the right to subtract any number of points from the grade of someone who disrupts class, or to assign a course grade of F to someone caught cheating. Anyone caught cheating will also be referred for University disciplinary measures.

ATTENDANCE

The strongest correlate with poor grades in any class is absenteeism. Poor attendance, therefore, punishes itself. Anyone who does not attend class at all during the first week will be dropped (because apparently they’re not really taking the class). The professor reserves the right to drop anyone for profound absenteeism. If you aren’t here when roll is taken, the reason does not matter. Do not tell me that you’re going to miss class or why you missed after the fact. If you miss class, you are responsible for getting copies of the notes from fellow students.

Class participation, however, will be more likely to help your grade than signing a roll sheet.

ELECTRONICS POLICY

If your phone rings or vibrates loudly enough for your professor to hear it during class, every ring is a classroom disruption and can cost you points. If it rings once, make sure it does not ring a second time. Do not text during class because that is distracting to others. If you need to be on your phone that badly, then you need to be somewhere else. Each time your phone is in sight (yours, mine, or anyone else’s) during class, you lose a point from your best test grade.

Your phone and other electronic devices must be OFF and OUT OF SIGHT during tests. You are responsible for making sure you cannot even see your phone during the test. If your phone is visible, that will be treated as cheating because too many students use their phones to cheat. I do not have to confirm what was on your phone. (Also, do not wear hats during tests. If I have to remind you of this on test day, you lose a point.)

Don’t use computers to take classroom notes. Sorry, but too many professors have run into problems with people distracting other students by sitting there surfing the Internet. 

ARCHIVAL RESEARCH PROJECT

You will complete an archival research project, equal in value to one test. You are REQUIRED to present this at the Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference.

COMMUNICATION

The best way to contact your professor is via email at langlet@hsu.edu.

If you do not normally use your reddies.hsu.edu email address, you MUST set it up to forward messages to you because if I have to email a message to the class, that’s where the system will send it. You are responsible for making certain you are set up to receive messages from your professor.

Students with disabilities:  Individuals who may need academic accommodation based on the impact of a documentable disability (e.g.: sensory, learning, psychological, medical, mobility) should contact the Disability Resource Center for assistance.  For more information, visit the DRC website at www.hsu.edu/disability.

The schedule and other details in this syllabus may be subject to revision.

Students with disabilities:  Individuals who may need academic accommodation based on the impact of a documentable disability (e.g.: sensory, learning, psychological, medical, mobility) should contact the Disability Resource Center for assistance (first floor of Foster Hall, 870-230-5475).  For more information, visit the DRC website at www.hsu.edu/disability.

The schedule and other details in this syllabus may be subject to revision.