Students learn about some of the explorations and discoveries made by psychologists over the past century.

Transcription

1 AP Psychology Syllabus Mrs. Amy Elmore Course Description The central question addressed in AP Psychology is: how do psychologists think? The psychologist David Myers wrote that to think as a psychologist, one must learn to restrain intuition with critical thinking, judgmentalism with compassion, and illusion with understanding. (Sternberg, 1997). Whether students choose to pursue a career related to psychology or one in some entirely different field, this habit of mind will be of great value. The AP Psychology course is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings. Students learn about some of the explorations and discoveries made by psychologists over the past century. Students assess some of the differing approaches adopted by psychologists, including the biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives. Most important, students come to an appreciation of how psychologists think (or at least an appreciation of the kind of critical analysis that psychologists espouse and hope to model in their words and actions). Required Resources for 1. Text: David Myers, Psychology (New York: Worth, 2003) Ring binder with notebook and loose leaf paper 3. Flash Drive 4. AP Psychology Exam Study Guide (any publisher) Course Outline I. Scope, History, and Methodology Historical Schools: Functionalism vs. Structuralism Modern Approaches: Psychodynamic, Behaviorist, Cognitive, Humanistic, Evolutionary, Neuroscience Nature of Scientific Inquiry: Sources of bias and error

2 Research Methods: Introspection, observation, survey, psychological testing, controlled experiments Statistics: Central tendency, variance, significance, correlation Ethics in Research: Human participants, animal subjects II. Behaviorism Historical Background and Philosophy of Radical Behaviorism Classical Conditioning: Pavlov, Watson, applications, biological critique, cognitivist challenge Operant Conditioning: Thorndike, Skinner, Bandura, behavior modification, biological critique, cognitivist challenge III. Neuroscience Neuron: Neuronal and synaptic transmission, psychopharmacology, drug abuse Brain: Research methodology, neuroanatomy, brain development and aging, hemispheric specialization Nervous System: Structural and functional organization Endocrine System: Anatomy, HPA-axis, and immune system Genetics and Heritability IV. Sensation and Perception Psychophysics: Thresholds (absolute, difference, Weber s constants), signal detection theory Sensory Organs and Transduction: Visual (including color vision and feature detection), auditory, olfactory, gustatory, proprioceptive (including kinesthetic and vestibular) Perception: Attention, processing, illusions (including Gestalt psychology), and camouflage V. Developmental Psychology Methodology: Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies Nature vs. Nurture (maturation versus learning) Influential Theories: Piaget and cognitive development, Freud and psychosocial development, Kohlberg and moral development, Gilligan and gender differentiation

3 Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood VI. Intelligence and Psychological Testing Psychological Testing: Methodology, norms, reliability, validity Intelligence: Defining intelligence, history of intelligence and aptitude testing, nature-nurture issues VII. Consciousness, Memory, and Language States of Consciousness: Waking, sleep and dreaming, hypnosis, altered states Memory: Information processing, storage, retrieval Accuracy of Memory: Loftus and Schacter Cognition: Problem solving and heuristics Language: Skinner and Chomsky VIII. Motivation and Emotions Motivational Concepts: Instincts, drives, optimal arousal, Maslow s hierarchy Hunger and Eating Disorders Sexuality and Sexual Orientation Achievement Motivation: McClelland and the TAT, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivators Physiology of Emotion: Fear, anger, happiness Expression of Emotion: Darwin and Ekman Theories of Emotion: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter-Singer IX. Personality Psychodynamic Perspective: Freud, Jung, Adler Trait Perspective: Allport, factor analysis and the five-factor model, assessment (Myers-Briggs, MMPI) Humanistic Perspective: Maslow and Rogers Social-Cognitive Perspective: Bandura and Seligman X. Stress and Health Stress as a Concept: Selye

4 Stress and Health Adjustment XI. Abnormal Psychology Approaches to Abnormality: The Rosenhan study, historical approaches (deviance), the medical model, the biopsychosocial model Classifying Disorders: Evolution of the DSM-IV-TR Major Categories of Disorders: Anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders Major Approaches to Psychotherapy: Psychoanalysis, behavioristic, humanistic, cognitive, group, pharmacological Does Therapy Work? Eysenck, outcome studies, and the Consumer Reports study XII. Social Psychology Attitudes and Behavior: Fundamental attribution error, roles, Festinger and cognitive dissonance Group Influence: Asch and conformity, Milgram and obedience, facilitation and loafing, Janis and groupthink Prejudice and Scapegoating Altruism: Darley and Latané Assessment Practices Traditional Assessments Unit Tests These tests are modeled on the AP Exam, with 50 multiple-choice questions and one essay to be completed in 58 minutes. Quizzes These are randomly scheduled at least once each unit and use the multiple-choice format. Midterm Exam

5 Students take a midterm exam covering the first six units. The exam is in the same format as the AP Exam (multiple-choice and short essays), but the number of multiplechoice questions is reduced proportionately to the time available in the exam Alternative Assessments Unit Journals Students will write in their double-entry journals approximately twice each week throughout the course. These journals facilitate deep processing of learning and differentiation of instruction by encouraging critical thinking and independent exploration. They also provide an additional forum for the teacher to give feedback to guide individual students. Entries must be linked to the unit that is being studied and contain the following elements: student reflection on readings class discussions and activities. personal experiences recent news or television broadcasts, or Internet research Professional Journal Reviews Each quarter the student will read an article from a professional psychological journal or magazine. For each article write a two page summary and a one page critique of the article.. The report will be given during the time we are studying the subject of each article in class. Each report should focus on the following questions. 1.) What are the credentials of the author? 2.) What is the main thesis of the article? 3.) How convincing was the argument? Is the thesis well supported? 4.) Most importantly, does this article reinforce or refute the historical interpretations presented in the textbook? Give a detailed explanation. The oral presentation should be 5-10 minutes in length. Topics should be selected within the first two weeks of each semester. No two students can choose the same article. Projects

6 Methodology Project The students will be introduced to the methods of psychological research through the posed hypothesis that THC adversely affects memory. Through this project the class will cover the conclusions possible from each research methods. The ethics of research, and the concepts covered in the research unit. Neuroscience Project Superheroes, Sidekicks, Villains and the Brain: A small of group of students will are to make up a superhero, villain, or sidekick for the 17 areas of the human brain. What would that character has as their special power and or special weakness if that part of their brain was super. By the end, you should have 17 separate characters. Applications of Developmental Psychology Students work in small groups to design a children s picture book that illustrates their understanding of developmental psychology. Intelligence and Psychological Testing This project will have three parts. The students will learn take a learning styles inventory to discover their own individual learning styles. Then students will be introduced to Gardner s 8 multiple intelligences and assess their own learning tendencies. As a culminating activity, the students will stage a debate responding to the following statement: Do human have an innate mental capacity (intelligence) that can be quantified as a meaningful number? Personality Theories Breakfast Club Essay: Each student will, after viewing the film, The Breakfast Club, which provides the basic social dynamic in most high schools, choose a character and describe the personality of that character. Then explain how the character s behavior can be explained through the psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, trait, social learning, and behaviorist perspectives. Abnormal Psychology Fractured Fairy Tales: Students will chose or create a fairy tale. The main character should be given a psychological disorder that is not revealed by name in the story. The student should include clues for the reader including symptoms and behaviors typical of the disorder. The majority of the grade for the project will come from the writing of the story. The remainder of the grade will come from reading another students fractured fairy tale and diagnosing the psychological disorder of the main character. Social Psychology

7 Each student will be asked to write a 3-5 page paper, linking a social psychological article to a film. The paper should include a clear and accurate discussion of the journal article, a clear description of the film in general and scene(s) in particular that relate psychology principle, and correctly and critically apply the principle to the film. Extra Credit Psychology Book Review Students wanting to do additional work for extra credit are directed to read one of the books from the reading list, or another title that is satisfactory to the teacher, and complete a critical review. The book must relate to the unit under study at that time.

8 EXTRA CRECIT READING LIST The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat The Island of the Colorblind Awakenings The Eden Express I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Birdy Jay's Journal All Around Town Sybil Girl Interrupted The Bell Jar Toughing It Out Catcher in the Rye The Black Wedding Bartleby the Scrivener The Crack Up Diary of a Madman The Eternal Husband Flotsam and Jetsam Hamlet

9 Home of the Brave Jordi The Judgement Louis Lambert The Lost Phoebe Macbeth Madam Bovary One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The Room Pigeon Feathers Tender is the Night The Vagabond The Yellow Wallpaper Waiting for Godot Ward No.6 The Perks of Being a Wallflower A Child Called It The Prince of Tides A Beautiful Mind One Child Just Checking

10 Kissing Doorknobs Catch 22 Nobody's Child