Best.Professor.Ever.

Take this class. I would stop the review there but professor Johnson honestly deserves a good review. He doesn't give tests cause he had students cheat on them in the past and just decided to make it more about the material. You learn pretty easily in this class cause it's super super low stress. You just have to read before each class and you'll easily be able to answer the question for that day with you group. Just be clear in your response and you'll get a good enough grade. The only other grade in the class is a draft proposal to the NIH for a research topic of your choice. It's not the same thing as the paper you have to write for 100B so don't think it is. It's a different format, but the thought is similar that you have to come up with a novel idea (about anything in the field of science/health/psychology) and research it thoroughly. Write as much as you can and include graphs and pictures and you'll get a 100%. Got an A+ in the class (didn't know they gave out A+s). Anyways, he's funny and awesome so just take it. okay? okay.

This class was really easy, if you are prepared for every class you will get an A. The only project is one paper at the end of the quarter which is not too difficult.

The grading scheme for this class is essentially: 1 point for submitting a peer review (attendance), 3 points for your groups' written work, and 2 points for what your group mates rate you (they rate you out of 10, then you get an average of all their ratings of you, then times that by .2). So 6 points a day, and he allows you to miss 2-3 days worth. On top of this, you can participate for up to 3 extra credit points, and write a 10 point paper. This is what makes the class "easy".

However, by no means is this class a walk in the park. Remember your group mates will rate you. Some people always give 10s, but some people will not. Sometimes your group members don't notice how much you participated, and sometimes I've had a person or two rate me lower cause I was late to class or (constructively) criticized their edits of the group assignment. The readings you'll do every week are mentally taxing if you aren't familiar with cognitive science imo.

I'm still in this class, and do enjoy it. I find the TA to grade a bit harshly on the 3 point assignment. It's a lot more relaxing in comparison to having to study/cram for an exam, but honestly sometimes I have a hard time understanding the terms used in his articles. Sometimes the questions he gives each group are a little out our scope of understanding. Be wary of this, but 100% take this class if it's offered. If you just show up everyday, read the articles, and "do the work" then you'll end up with a good grade.

Professor Johnson is a very engaging professor who is clearly passionate about infants development which shows in his lectures. Sometimes I felt as if the lectures were a little confusing and hard to follow. The papers also were kind of hard to follow as they were written in a way that you could only follow if you knew and were involved with research in perception. Your job in this class is to read these research papers and then to be in a randomly assigned group and work on a small group response. What everyone ends up doing is creating a google doc and everyone ends up working on it. Then you get into a combined group and basically combine your responses together and submit through ccle. That day before midnight you have to submit peer reviews on a scale of 1-5 and write a brief comment. Most people do give full points to others. However, I put in effort and worked on things several times and ending up not getting full points for whatever reason. I think this is because no one really knows anyone’s name and so you are left to guess who is who and assign points. I felt like that definitely hurt people and also some people are not as extraverted as others and won’t make their name be known. I feel as if Professor Johnson really has to fix this aspect of the class in order for this class to work. Also, the grading for the submitted combined responses I felt were a little harsh from the TA at times...super nitpicky even after having have had asked the Professor if wording something a certain way was okay, still got points knocked off. With that being said, I don’t think I would’ve done as well as I did in this class if there were exams as the material is sometimes really hard to follow. I really liked being able to just sit and listen in class. There is an optional final paper that you can write in this class, if you don’t write it then the highest grade you can get is an A-. I started in advance which really helped, and honestly which I had started earlier in the quarter and finished it. Definitely start earlier if you can. I think taking 100B definitely helps with writing it although it’s not mandatory. I followed another reviewers suggestion and googled nih proposals and just loosely followed the structure/formatting of one of the proposals with the instructions the professor gave us. Basically you are writing the paper as if you are proposing a study that hasn’t been done before, same as 100B in that sense. It’s more full of pictures and different formatting, and definitely a lot longer! Mine ended up being about 12 pages including the title page and references.

Some tips if you take this class...because people are petty and forgetful - make sure you print out the research papers so people in your group see it, highlight/write notes, something! And make sure they know your name and you engage in a way where they know your name. PUT A REMINDER ALARM FOR YOUR PEER REVIEWS!! I would’ve gotten an A+ if I had done that which irritates me but seriously just do it!! Do it right after class if you can but just don’t forget! And start that optional paper as early as you can do you don’t have to worry about it at the end of the quarter. Overall this is a good clas to take if you don’t want to have to worry about taking exams - but it’s still work!!

Dr. Johnson is funny, engaging and a great professor.
It might bother others, but I appreciate his approach. There are no exams which takes off a lot of pressure and most of the class involves group work.
This class is EASY, fun and I learned a lot! Take it!

This class was not hard at all. I ended up not writing the final optional paper, which brought me down to a B+. If I had done the paper, I would've gotten an A, but I got lazy lol. 100% recommend this class, make sure to do the final paper if you want an A :)

Awesome class. Best class at UCLA. Must be interested in abstract perceptual concepts, but if you read the assigned readings and engage with the material you will have an awesome time. He is a really funny guy and is super great for designing such a low stress but high learning environment for us. Honestly didn't like the group discussions and kind of wished there was more lecturing and individual work. A lot of my classmates would not even read the material and would write bad responses. There is simply not enough time to discuss every question as a group and we naturally broke up in to groups of twos and threes to finish the discussion questions.

I was often tardy to class because it was a 9:30 in the morning and I was a commuting student at the time. I can definitely see where people are coming from when they say the content is dry and boring, but I think overall, he was a very reasonable professor, and the class was almost too easy. I was in a haze during this quarter, sleeping 2-4 hours a night (not an exaggeration in the slightest), and I still passed with relatively no hiccups. And as mentioned before, I was often tardy, and it wasn't enough of a problem to prevent me from getting an A. Most of your grade will be based on in-class group work. Your task is to answer a few questions about articles that you are to have read before class. Even if the questions seem a little nuanced and confusing, he is a reasonable grader, and he's very willing to clarify things for students. My mind was seriously impaired by chronic sleep deprivation, so I asked a lot of questions, and I don't recall him being irritated or anything like that. There's not really any homework, but there was an optional research paper. I felt so guilty about the class being so easy that I considered doing it, but I couldn't bring myself to because I simply didn't have it in me at the time. I struggle a lot with general anxiety, and it was still a breeze. If you're looking for a reasonable upper-div psych elective, please don't be afraid to take him. Also, I still learned a lot from his lectures despite the state of my mind. It was that interesting (at least to me).

If I could give more ratings to professor Johnson, I would. If you're looking for a low stress very engaging class, this class is for you. You just have to read 1-2 articles before each class which are so fun to read, and when you get to class, he spends about 45 mins talking about the material for the next class, and we get into breakout rooms for the rest of the class and answer 5 questions about the reading in a group of ~6. For each class, you get max 1 point for attendance and that is based on a scale that your peers rate you on, but if you show up and contribute to classwork, you get full points. You also then get 2 points for submitting peer reviews for the students in your group (groups change about 4-5 times throughout the quarter). Lastly, you get a maximum of 3 points for getting the answers correct, which if you answer them accordingly, you will get full points. And you get to miss three classes with no penalty. There is also optional extra credit and an optional paper which are really not optional if you want to receive an A or A+. In order to receive an A, you would need to complete the extra credit (3 points from SONA studies), and also receive a 2/10 on the paper, and an 8/10 to receive an A+. This class is definitely doable!! I love prof Johnson and can't wait to take more classes with him!