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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Course Academic Level: College Preparation
Teacher: Mr. Woodworth
(973)228 – 1200 x. 746
[email protected]
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Social Psychology is a semester-long course. The course of study includes all units essential to the
understanding of human behavior. To that end, the course emphasizes the study of: learning, memory
and thought, the brain and body, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, altered states of
consciousness, personality, and abnormal behavior. It is hoped that relating each unit of study to the
student’s own behavior will develop an understanding and appreciation for the behavior of others.
MARKING PERIOD OBJECTIVES:
Objectives for the first marking period of the course include completion of the following units:
1. Personality (chapter 14)
a. Purposes of Personality Theories
b. Psychoanalytic Theories
c. Learning Theories
d. Humanistic and Cognitive Theories
e. Trait Theories
2. Learning (chapter 9)
a. Classical Conditioning
b. Operant Conditioning
c. Social Learning
3. Memory and Thought (chapter 10)
a. Taking in and Storing Information
b. Retrieving Information
4. Body and Behavior (chapter 6)
a. The Nervous System: The Basic Structure
b. Studying the Brain
c. The Endocrine System
d. Heredity and Environment
Objectives for the second marking period of the course include completion of the following units:
1. Sensation and Perception (chapter 8)
a. Sensation
b. The Senses
c. Perception
2. Motivation and Emotion (chapter 12)
a. Theories of Motivation
b. Biological and Social Motives
c. Emotions
3. Altered States of Consciousness (chapter 7)
a. Sleep and Dreams
b. Hypnosis, Biofeedback, and Meditation
c. Drugs and Consciousness
4. Abnormal Behavior (chapter 16)
a. What are Psychological Disorders?
b. Anxiety Disorders
c. Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders
d. Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders
e. Personality Disorders and Drug Addiction
TEXT:
Kasschau, Richard, Understanding Psychology, Glencoe McGraw-Hill: New York, 2003.
METHODOLOGIES/ACTIVITIES:
The course is focused on self-exploration. To that end, there are many student-centered activities and
projects that allow for discovery and expression of the true self. There will also be teacher led lessons
on various topics as is deemed appropriate. Many DVD’s and videos are also available that relate to
different units of study; these will be utilized to enhance the learning objectives for the lesson.
ASSESSMENTS:
Each unit or chapter will end with a test. Each project will be graded as a test. Research assignments will
also receive test grades. Quizzes will be administered on focused topics.
GRADING POLICY:
Each marking period, the student’s grade will be determined by the following formula: the number of
points earned divided by the total number of points available. Out of the number of points available:
Summative: (90%) – Each unit will conclude with a test.
Formative (10%) – Quizzes, homework assignments and other assessments.
REQUIREMENTS:
Daily attendance and on time
A willingness to participate in all classroom activities
Proper classroom behavior
Academic integrity
UNITS OF STUDY
Theories of Personality and Personality Testing: The unit provides students the opportunity to
understand the four main theories concerning personality as well as a study of originators of those
theories: Psychoanalytic, Behaviorism, Humanism, and Trait Theories. The students then take several
personality tests so that they can better understand how psychologists evaluate personality.
Learning: Principles and Applications: The unit provides students a look at how learning
occurs and specifically how students themselves learn. The focus of the unit is on how the brain
receives, organizes, and utilizes new information while combining it with old information
resulting in changes in behavior.
Memory and Thought: The unit focuses on how memories (short-term and long-term) are
created as well as why forgetting occurs. Then students learn how the brain thinks and why they
might be more proficient in one area of schooling than another.
Body and Behavior: This focus of this unit is to study the physical parts of the brain and
identify the function of each part while also learning about the necessity for each part to interact
with the other parts.
Sensation and Perception: The students learn about how the five main senses perform their
functions, with an emphasis on vision. The unit then focuses on how the brain takes the
information received and combines it all so that we perceive the environment correctly and can
interact with it effectively.
Altered States of Consciousness: This unit focuses on how the brain processes information
during times when we are sleeping, daydreaming, under hypnosis, or under the influence of mind
altering substances.
Psychological Disorders: The unit starts with an understanding of “normal” and “abnormal”.
The students then study several different disorders and how each affects the brain, the processing
of information, and behavior.