UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO

                 THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
 

(formerly Comparative Psychology)
PSY634

SPRING 2011

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    Prof. Mark  B. Kristal
     B71 Park Hall
     645-0262 (please do not leave requests for callbacks)
    Class hours: Fridays, 9:00-11:50, Bell 325
    Office Hours: Wednesdays 10:00-11:00, Thursdays, 9:00-10:00, and by appointment

kristal@buffalo.edu

    REQUIRED TEXTS:

Drickamer, Vessey & Jacob, Animal Behavior: Mechanisms, Ecology & Evolution, (5^thEd.),
New York: WCB, 2002.

Houck & Drickamer, Foundations of Animal Behavior: Classic Papers with Commentaries. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
 

Except for this page and the schedule of lectures, all material for the course can be found on UBLearns. If you don't know how to use it...learn.

Be prepared for a substantial amount of reading and class discussion. There will be a midterm (25%) and, if necessary, a cumulative final (25%). However, if class participation is adequate, the final may be waived. Class participation and possible quizzes will count 10%; presentations will count 15%. A term paper will be worth 25%.  If there is no final, the presentation will count 30% and the paper will count 35%.

For class discussion, I may assign particular papers to individual graduate students (at least in the early part of the semester); the student will prepare and present the contents to the class (about a 10-min presentation). The class will be expected to discuss these papers on the basis of these presentations. 

During the last third of the semester, students will make major class presentations on categories of behavior (e.g., sexual selection, foraging, dominance hierarchies) which will cut across animal groups (the focus of the presentation will be on the behavior and how various animal groups accomplish the task). The length of the presentations and the schedule will  have to be determined later (based on the number of students). You will be able to use the high-tech classroom facilities for your presentations, however, great Powerpoint technique will not be a substitute for high-quality content. You will be graded for individual style and content, and, if several of you coordinate to present different aspects of a behavioral category, you will be graded for the overall organization and coverage of the group. The content of the presentations (and the term papers) must reflect the content of the course -- you have to show that you've learned something from the lectures and readings (concepts, terminology, schools of thought, etc.). Each student presentation should be accompanied by an annotated bibliography handout.

Your individual student term paper will focus on an animal group or taxonomic category (e.g., wolves, cetaceans, mantids, spiders, elephants, reptiles) and may cover one or possibly several behavioral categories (e.g., courtship, foraging and feeding, social interactions, territoriality). It should be around 15-25 pages, and can and should be submitted electronically. The topic of the paper should be cleared with me by the last class before Spring break. The paper can not be on the same topic as ther class presentationj, and should nopt be related to research that are participating in, or have participated in. Do not wait until the last minute to do your term paper.  Websites are not acceptable primary references.  You will have to use books and journal articles - material that has been reviewed and approved before publication. Therefore, you may have to get some stuff by interlibrary loan. You may then use magazines and web sites as secondary information (photos, reports, etc.). Guidelines for writing papers can be found in websites listed on the "Useful & Interesting Links" page on our UBlearns site. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the content of the presentations and the term papers must reflect the content of the course -- you have to show that you've learned something from the lectures and readings (concepts, terminology, schools of thought, etc.). I will also expect the psapers to be literate, well written, sophisticated, well referenced, and in APA style. I will run the term papers (anonymously) through Turnitin, the plagiarism checker. Therefore, I expect you to be throroughly familiar with the rules on plagiarism. Academic dishonesty will nnot be tolerated, and will be prosecuted to the extent outlined by the rules of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

E-mail traffic: Feel free to contact me by e-mail. However, e-mail will not be an acceptable substitute for class attendance and participation. I will transmit good questions, along with my answers and/or comments, to everyone in the class.

Keep your eye on the Update Page on UBLearns. Information regarding assignments, papers, presentations, interesting events, links,etc. will be posted on that page. The information on the other pages (Home page, Supplemental Bibliography, Schedule of Lectures) will not change during the semester.

Schedule of Lectures