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Norcross High School Social Studies Department Course Syllabus AP Psychology INSTRUCTOR Name: E-mail: Telephone: Office hours: COURSE DESCRIPTION The purpose of AP Psychology is to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals. Students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. You should be commended for taking on the challenge of a college-level course. The path you have chosen will be tough, but in all areas of life the more challenging the task, the more rewarding the outcome. Each May, the AP Examinations are administered at our high school and other participating schools around the world. The AP Psychology test is two hours in length and in consists of one hundred multiple choice questions and two essays, called free response questions. COURSE OBJECTIVES The central question addressed in AP Psychology is: “how do psychologists think?” 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). 2 GRADING CRITERIA Grades will be calculated using the following formula: Classwork Homework Minor Assessment Major Assessment Midterm Final Exam 15% 5% 15% 42% 3% 20% An AP add-on of 10 points will be added to the overall grade for progress reports and report cards. Please note: these points do count toward your average for the purposes of exam exemption. Only honor graduates and/or seniors with an average of 90% can exempt the second semester final exam. This is county mandated policy. Objective chapter tests consisting of 50-80 more multiple-choice questions will be given on the dates listed. Free-response tests consisting of one essay question with a 25-minute time limit will be given on the dates listed. The question may be directed specifically at the current chapter or require the integration of concepts from chapter previously studied. Questions will be formatted and scored in a manner consistent with the national exam. Daily grades will be composed of items such as multiple-choice questions composed by the students, practice free responses, and any other graded materials not included in other grade categories. The essay portion of the final exam will consist of answering one or two free-response type questions similar to the national exam format. The objective final exam will be approximately 100 questions using a multiple-choice format. The national AP exam will consist of 100 objective questions (2/3 of the grade) and two freeresponse questions (1/3 of the grade). The national exam has no impact on your class grade or the exemption of final exams, but passing it could earn you college credit with some institutions. TEXTBOOK Myers, D.G. (2007). Psychology (8th ed.) New York: Worth. TIMELINE: 3 Topic I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. Chapters Introduction of Psychology Research and Statistics Neuroscience Nature vs. Nurture Stages of Human Development Sensation and Perception States of Consciousness Learning Memory Thinking and Language Intelligence and Testing Motivation Emotion Stress Personality Psychological Disorders and Therapy (Abnormal Psych.) Social Psychology 1 2 3 4 5-6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16-17 18 TOPIC OVERVIEW: I. II. III. IV. Introduction of Psychology A. History of Psychology B. Contemporary Psychology C. The Seven Perspectives of Contemporary Psychology Research and Statistics A. Experimentation B. Statistics in Psychology 1) Correlation 2) Central Tendency 3) Distribution of Scores, Central Tendency, and Scatterplots Neuroscience A. Neurons 1) Components and Functions 2) Neural Impulses (Action Potential and Neurotransmitters) 3) Types of Neurons and the Birth, Life, and Death of a Neuron B. Nervous Systems (Central, Somatic, Autonomic, Enteric) C. Endocrine System D. Brain 1) Components and Functions a) Lower Order Brain Functions b) Higher Order Brain Functions 2) Sperry and Gazzangia’s Split Brain E. Brain Watching Tools (MRI, fMRI, CAT, PET, and EEG) Nature vs. Nurture A. Evolutionary Psychology 1) Natural Selection (Charles Darwin) 2) Modern Research (i.e. Mate Selection) B. Genetics Days (Approx.) 6 6 14 7 6 13 6 8 6 8 7 9 7 5 6 15 10 4 V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. 1) DNA 2) Heritability vs. Environment 3) Twin Studies C. Sir Francis Galton’s Eugenics D. Behavioral Genetics Stages of Human Development A. Pre-natal, Infancy, Adolescence, and Adulthood Development B. The Critical Periods 1) Prenatal Development: Conception to Two Weeks 2) Attachment: Birth to Two Months (e.g. Harlow’s Rhesus Monkeys and their Terry Cloth Mothers) 3) Language: Three to 11 years (Preoperational Stage) C. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development and Milestones D. Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development and Issues E. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development and the Heinz Dilemma Sensation and Perception A. The Five Senses 1) Components and Functions of the Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, and Skin 2) The Sense of Sight, Hearing, Balance, Taste, Smell, Pain and Pressure 3) Thresholds- Absolute Threshold, Difference Threshold/Just Noticeable Difference (JND), and Weber’s Law 4) Sensory Adaptation and Selective Attention 5) Perceptual Organization (Principles and Illusions) 6) Perceptual Interpretation 7) Gustav Fechner and Psychophysics B. Thresholds- Absolute Threshold, Difference Threshold/Just Noticeable Difference (JND), and Weber’s Law C. Sensory Adaptation and Selective Attention D. Perceptual Organization (Principles and Illusions) E. Perceptual Interpretation F. Gustav Fechner and Psychophysics States of Consciousness A. Stages of Sleep and EEG B. Dreams (Psychoanalysis vs. Hobson and McCarley) C. REM and Dreaming (Aserinsky) and REM Rebound (Dement) D. Sleep Disorders E. Hypnosis (Spanos and Orne and Evans) F. Drugs (Depressants, Stimulants, and Hallucinogens) Learning A. John Watson and Behaviorism B. Ivan Pavlov and Classical Conditioning C. B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning D. Albert Bandura, Bobo, and the Social Learning Theory Memory A. Ebbinghaus B. Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval C. Memory Loss, Memory Feats, and Memory Devices D. Elizabeth Loftus and Eye-witness Testimony E. Déjà vu Thinking and Language A. Cognitive Psychology B. Algorithm vs. Heuristics C. Fallacies of Human Thought (Confirmation Bias, Functional Fixedness, Belief Preservation, Belief Bias, Overconfidence, Mental Set, Fixation, Framing, etc) D. Artificial Intelligence, Computer Neural Networks, and the Blue Brain Project E. Grammar and Semantics 5 XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. F. Language Development (Critical Period and Feral Children) G. Benjamin Whorf and Linguistic Relativity Intelligence A. Nature vs. Nurture B. What is Intelligence? (G or Multiple) C. Assessing Intelligence (History/Binet and Current Practices) Motivation A. Drive Reduction Theory B. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Motivation C. Homeostasis D. Hunger and Thirst Motivation (Eating Disorders) E. Sexual Motivation (Masters and Johnson) F. Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology G. Addiction Emotion A. Theories (James-Lange, Cannon Bard, Schacter’s Two Factor, Lazarus’ Concept of Appraisal, and Zajonc’s Shortcut to the Amygdala) B. Arousal C. Polygraphs and Modern Lie Detector Tests D. Ekman and Friesen and Universal Facial Features E. Subjective Well-being (Adaptation Level Syndrome, Relative Deprivation) Stress A. Cortisol B. General Adaptation Syndrome C. Dr. Friedman’s Type A and Type B Personalities and Coronary Heart Disease Personality A. Psychoanalysis 1) Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Karen Horney, Alfred Adler, and Carl Jung 2) Id, Ego, and Superego 3) Defense Mechanisms 4) Psychosexual Stages 5) Therapy Tools: Free Association, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Rorschach Inkblot Test B. Humanistic Perspective 1) Carl Rogers and Person-centered Therapy 2) Abraham Maslow and the Hierarchy of Needs 3) Individualism vs. Collectivism C. Trait Perspective 1) Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation 2) Introvert vs. Extrovert 3) Personality Tests (Myers-Briggs, The Big Five, MMPI, Psychological Disorders and Therapy (Abnormal Psych.) A. Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV B. Diagnostic Labels (Rosenthal) C. Anxiety Disorder (Phobia, OCD, Panic Disorders and Attacks, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) D. Mood Disorders (Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Depression) E. Dissociative Disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder) F. Schizophrenia G. Personality Disorders H. Antisocial Personality Disorder I. Mental Institutions (Past, Present, and Future) J. Therapies (Psychoanalysis, Cognitive-Behavioral, Systematic Desensitization, ClientCentered, Aversive Conditioning, Counter Conditioning, Token Economy, etc.) K. Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatrists, and Counselors L. Psychopharmacology, Electro-convulsive Therapy, Shock Therapy, and Psychosurgery 6 XVII. Social Psychology A. Social Roles and Norms (Stanford Prison Experiment) B. Festinger and Cognitive Dissonance C. Asch and Conformity D. Attribution Theory and Fundamental Attribution Error E. Milgram and Obedience to Authority F. Social Thinking G. Social Influence H. Social Relations TIPS FOR STUDENTS TAKING AN AP CLASS FOR THE FIRST TIME 1. Take complete class notes and date them. Put them in your own words. I recommend using the Cornell Style. Don’t write something you don’t understand without asking about it. Leave some blank space on each page to make additions and clarifications. It is very important to review you class notes each day while they are fresh on your mind. Expand them, clarify them, and add examples so that they will make sense when going back to study from later. 2. Learn to read more effectively. You can read more effectively by doing the following: A. Read actively; don’t just look at the words. If you spend a half hour “reading” but are unable to recall anything when you are alone, you have wasted your time. B. Do not ignore pictures, diagrams, tables, and sidebars in your textbook. These features serve to make the text more interesting and may include important information. C. Take notes as you read. If you can condense a 30 page chapter into a few pages of good notes, it’s going to be much easier to review. Perhaps most important: keep a list of questions about the reading. 3. 3/4ths of the battle is vocabulary! I suggest you make a set of vocabulary flash cards on 3x5 index cards for the terms at the end of the chapter. As you make the cards, you are already beginning to learn the vocabulary. The flashcards provide an excellent means of review. Your textbook publisher also has online flashcards that can be useful. Even though this resource is available I still recommend creating them on your own so they are available whenever you want. 7 NATIONAL EXAMINATION DATE: MONDAY, MAY 2 - 12:00 PM 8 Parents/Guardians: Please return this page indicating that you and your student have both looked over this syllabus. In doing so, you are indicating your understanding/agreement. Please note the opportunities to contact me as needed: 770-448-3674 or via email @ [email protected]. _______________________ Parent/Guardian Signature Telephone:________________ Email:_____________________________ _____________________ Print Student Name _____________________ Student Signature *Progress reports are sent home every six weeks following NHS policy. *Student class grades and attendance can be accessed by creating a Student/Parent Portal account. For more information visit: https://go2.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/parent/wps/portal