Download Psychology Syllabus

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SOCIOLOGY SYLLABUS
Instructor: Mr. Luis Gonzalez
Class Location: Room 322
Conference Period: 1stth period – 8:25 – 10:00am
Textbook: Sociology: The Study of Human Relationships
The purpose of this Psychology class 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.
Course Objectives
1. Students will prepare to do acceptable work on Psychology Examinations.
2. Students will study the major core concepts and theories of psychology. They will be able to define key
terms and use them in their everyday vocabulary.
3. Students will learn the basic skills of psychological research and be able to apply psychological
concepts to their own lives.
4. Students will develop critical thinking skills.
Textbook (Primary)
Understanding Psychology – Holt
Homework Expectations
Ample notice will be given for any assignment, quiz, or exam. The amount of work depends on the unit
being covered in class. There are assigned pages to read in the textbook every night.
Vocabulary terms are also given for each unit. Quizzes are administered frequently, at least once a unit.
The quizzes range from using fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and/or multiple-choice questions. Exams
will be given at the end of each unit and will consist of multiple-choice questions and one free-response
question.
Other assignments given to students are class presentations, group projects and papers. These assignments
vary with the unit being covered.
Psychology is not a Texas Core Curriculum class and thus has no guidelines from the Texas Department
of Education. So this class will follow the American Psychology Association’s standards.
Course Outline
Unit I: History, Approaches and Research Methods
A. Logic, Philosophy, and History of Science
B. Approaches/Perspectives
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C. Experimental, Correlation, and Clinical Research
D. Statistics
E. Research Methods and Ethics
Objectives
Students will:
• Define psychology and trace its historical development.
• Compare and contrast the psychological perspectives.
• Identify basic and applied research subfields of psychology.
• Identify basic elements of an experiment (variables, groups, sampling, population, etc.).
• Compare and contrast research methods (case, survey, naturalistic observation).
• Explain correlation studies.
• Describe the three measures of central tendency and measures of variation.
• Discuss the ethics of animal and human research.
Major Assignments:
1. Compare/Contrast Schools of Thought essay
2. Case Study: How to conduct an experiment
Essential Questions:
1. What is psychology and how did it grow?
2. Why don’t all psychologists explain behavior in the same way?
3. How does your cultural background influence your behavior?
4. How can critical thinking save you money?
5. What does it mean when scientists announce that a research finding is “significant”?
6. Do psychologists deceive people when they do research?
Key Terms/Vocabulary
behavioral approach
biased sample
biological approach
biological psychologists
case studies
clinical and counseling psychologists
cognitive approach
cognitive psychologists
community psychologists
confounding variable
consciousness
control group
correlation
critical thinking
culture
data
dependent variable
developmental psychologists
double-blind design
educational psychologists
empiricism
engineering psychologists
environmental psychologists
evolutionary approach
experimenter bias
forensic psychologists
health psychologists
humanistic approach
hypothesis
independent variable
industrial psychologists
naturalistic observation
operational definitions
personality psychologists
placebo
psychodynamic approach
psychology
quantitative psychologists
random assignment
random sample
random variables
reliability
sampling
school psychologists
social psychologists
sociocultural variables
sport psychologists
statistically significant
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experiment
experimental group
surveys
theory
validity
variables
Unit II: Biological Basis of Behavior
A. Physiological Techniques (e.g., imagining, surgical)
B. Neuroanatomy
C. Functional Organization of Nervous System
D. Neural Transmission
E. Endocrine System
F. Genetics
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe the structure of a neuron and explain neural impulses.
• Describe neuron communication and discuss the impact of neurotransmitters.
• Classify and explain major divisions of the nervous system.
• Describe the functions of the brain structures (thalamus, cerebellum, limbic system, etc.).
• Identify the four lobes of the cerebral cortex and their functions.
• Discuss the association areas.
• Explain the split-brain studies.
• Describe the nature of the endocrine system and its interaction with the nervous system.
Major Assignments:
1. Psychologist Report-narrative essay over a random psychologist.
2. Draw a neuron and label parts
Essential Questions:
1. What are neurons, and what do they do?
2. How do biochemicals affect my mood?
3. How is my nervous system organized?
4. How is my brain “wired”?
5. How can my hormones help me in a crisis?
Key Terms/Vocabulary
Action potential
Amygdale
Association cortex
Autonomic nervous system
Axon
Biological psychology
Central nervous system
Cerebellum
Cerebral cortex
Corpus callosum
medulla
midbrain
motor cortex
nervous system
neurons
neurotransmitter
nuclei
parasympathetic nervous system
peripheral nervous system
plasticity
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Dendrites
Endocrine system
Fiber tracts
Fight-or-flight syndrome
Forebrain
Glands
Glial cells
Hindbrain
Hippocampus
Hormones
hypothalamus
reflexes
refractory period
reticular formation
sensory cortex
somatic nervous system
spinal cord
sympathetic nervous system
synapse
thalamus
Unit III: Developmental Psychology
A. Life-Span Approach
B. Research Methods
C. Heredity–Environment Issues
D. Developmental Theories
E. Dimensions of Development
F. Sex Roles, Sex Differences
Objectives
Students will:
• Discuss the course of prenatal development.
• Illustrate development changes in physical, social, and cognitive areas.
• Discuss the effect of body contact, familiarity, and responsive parenting on attachments.
• Describe the benefits of a secure attachment and the impact of parental neglect and separation as
well as day care on childhood development.
• Describe the theories of Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg.
• Describe the early development of a self-concept.
• Distinguish between longitudinal and cross-sectional studies.
Major Assignments:
1. Case Studies over Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development, Piaget’s Cognitive Stages of
Development, Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development and Kohlberg’s Moral Stages of
Development
2. Case Study: James Marcia’s Identity Achievement Chart
Essential Questions:
1. What does genetic influence mean?
2. Why should pregnant women stay away from tobacco and alcohol?
3. How do babies think?
4. How do infants become attached to their caregivers?
5. What threatens adolescents’ self-esteem?
6. What developmental changes occur in adulthood?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Accommodation
Assimilation
Attachment
Authoritarian parents
gender roles
generativity
genes
identity crisis
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Authoritative parents
Behavioral genetics
Chromosomes
Concrete operations
Conservation
Conventional
Critical period
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Developmental psychology
Embryo
Ethnic identity
Fetal alcohol syndrome
Fetus
Formal operational period
information processing
maturation
midlife transition
object permanence
permissive parents
postconventional
preconventional
preoperational period
puberty
reflexes
schemas
sensorimotor period
socialization
temperament
Teratogens
Terminal drop
Unit IV: States of Consciousness
A. Sleep and Dreaming
B. Hypnosis
C. Psychoactive Drug Effects
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe the cyclical nature and possible functions of sleep.
• Identify the major sleep disorders.
• Discuss the content and possible functions of dreams.
• Discuss hypnosis, noting the behavior of hypnotized people and claims regarding its uses.
• Discuss the nature of drug dependence.
• Chart names and effects of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogenic drugs.
• Compare differences between NREM and REM.
• Describe the physiological and psychological effects of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
Major Assignments:
1. Critical Thinking exercise: Can subliminal messages change your behavior?
2. Case Study: Subliminal messages in rock music.
Essential Questions:
1. Can unconscious thoughts affect your behavior?
2. Does brain activity stop when you are asleep?
3. Can you be hypnotized against your will?
4. How do drugs affect the brain?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Addiction
Agonists
Altered state of consciousness
Antagonists
Blood-brain barrier
Circadian rhythm
Conscious level
Consciousness
psychoactive drugs
psychological dependence
psychopharmacology
rapid eye movement sleep
REM behavior disorder
role theory
sleep apnea
sleepwalking
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Depressants
Dissociation theory
Hallucinogens
Hypnosis
Hypnotic susceptibility
Insomnia
Jet lag
Lucid dreaming
Narcolepsy
Night terrors
Nonconscious level
Opiates
Preconscious level
slow-wave sleep
state of consciousness
state theory
stimulants
subconscious
substance abuse
sudden infant death syndrome
tolerance
unconscious
withdrawal syndrome
Unit V: Sensation & Perception
A. Thresholds
B. Sensory Mechanisms
C. Sensory Adaptation
D. Attention
E. Perceptual Processes
Objectives
Students will:
• Contrast the processes of sensation and perception.
• Distinguish between absolute and difference thresholds.
• Label a diagram of the parts of the eye and ear.
• Describe the operation of the sensory systems (five senses).
• Explain the Young-Helmholtz and opponent-process theories of color vision.
• Explain the place and frequency theories of pitch perception.
• Discuss Gestalt psychology’s contribution to our understanding of perception.
• Discuss research on depth perception and cues.
Major Assignments:
1. Case Study: Attention and the Brain
Essential Questions:
1. What is the difference between sensation and perception?
2. How does information from my sensory organs to my brain?
3. How do sensations become perceptions?
4. What determines how I perceive my world?
5. Can you “run out” of attention?
Key Terms/Vocabulary
Absolute threshold
Accessory structures
Accommodation
Adaptation
Amplitude
Analgesia
Attention
Auditory nerve
Basilar membrane
olfactory bulb
opponent-process theory
optic nerve
papillae
perception
perceptual constancy
pheromones
photoreceptors
pinna
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Binocular disparity
Blind spot
Bottom-up processing
Brightness
Cochlea
Coding
Cones
Convergence
Cornea
Dark adaptation
Depth perception
Eardrum
Feature detectors
Figure
Fovea
Frequency
Gate control theory
Ground
Hue
Internal noise
Iris
Just-noticeable difference
Kinesthesia
Lens
Light intensity
Light wavelength
Looming
Loudness
pitch
place theory
proprioceptive
pupil
receptors
response criterion
retina
rods
saturation
schemas
sensations
sense
sense of smell
sense of taste
sensitivity
signal-detection theory
somatic senses
sound
stroboscopic motion
timbre
top-down processing
transduction
trichromatic theory
vestibular sense
visible light
visible sense
volley theory
wavelength
Weber’s Law
Unit VI: Learning
A. Classical Conditioning
B. Operant Conditioning
C. Cognitive Processes in Learning
D. Biological Factors
E. Social Learning (Observational Learning)
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe the process of classical conditioning (Pavlov’s experiments).
• Explain the processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and
discrimination.
• Describe the process of operant conditioning, including the procedure of shaping, as demonstrated
by Skinner’s experiments.
• Identify the different types of reinforcers and describe the schedules of reinforcement.
• Discuss the importance of cognitive processes and biological predispositions in conditioning.
• Discuss the effects of punishment on behavior.
• Describe the process of observational learning (Bandura’s experiments).
Major Assignments:
1. Linking exercise: Learning and Consciousness
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2. Case Study: The “I can’t do it” attitude
3. Critical Thinking exercise: Does watching violence on television make people more violent?
Essential Questions:
1. How did Pavlov’s experiments help teach psychologists about learning?
2. How do reward and punishment work?
3. Can people learn to be helpless?
4. What should teachers learn about learning?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Avoidance conditioning
Classical conditioning
Cognitive map
Conditioned response
Conditioned stimulus
Discriminative stimuli
Escape conditioning
Extinction
Habituation
Insight
Latent learning
Law of effect
Learned helplessness
Learning
Negative reinforcers
Observational learning
Operant
Operant conditioning
partial reinforcement extinction effect
positive reinforcers
primary reinforcers
punishment
reconditioning
reinforcer
second-order conditioning
secondary reinforcers
shaping
spontaneous recovery
stimulus discrimination
stimulus generalization
unconditioned response
unconditioned stimulus
vicarious conditioning
Unit VII: Memory
A. Memory
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe memory in terms of information processing, and distinguish among sensory memory,
short-term memory, and long-term memory.
• Distinguish between automatic and effortful processing.
• Explain the encoding process (including imagery, organization, etc.).
• Describe the capacity and duration of long-term memory.
• Distinguish between implicit and explicit memory.
• Describe the importance of retrieval cues.
Discuss the effects of interference and motivated forgetting on retrieval.
• Describe the evidence for the constructive nature of memory.
Major assignments:
1. Critical thinking exercise: Can traumatic memories be repressed, then recovered?
2. Linking exercise: Memory in the courtroom
Essential Questions:
1. How does information turn into memories?
2. What is one most likely to remember?
3. How do we retrieve stored memories?
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4.
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How accurate are memories?
What causes us to forget things?
How does the brain change when it stores a memory?
How much can the brain remember?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Acoustic codes
Anterograde amnesia
Brown-Peterson procedure
Chunks
Context-dependent memories
Decay
Elaborative rehearsal
Encoding
Encoding specificity principle
Episodic memory
Explicit memory
Immediate memory span
Implicit memory
Information-processing model
Interference
Levels-of-processing model
Long-term memory
Maintenance rehearsal
Method of savings
Mnemonics
parallel distributed processing
primacy effect
proactive interference
procedural memory
recency effect
retrieval
retrieval cues
retroactive interference
retrograde amnesia
schemas
selective attention
semantic codes
semantic memory
sensory registers
short-term memory
spreading activation
state-dependent memory
storage
transfer-appropriate processing model
visual codes
Working memory
Classtime:
1. It is very important for a student to report to class on time. During the first few minutes of class
almost all explanations are given and pertinent information about that day's class is presented. If you
are late, you will miss important information. Students may be given 2 (two) or more trivia questions
per day to answer. If they are absent from school; they must stay after school (minimum of 1 hour)
and complete an alternative assignment to make up the points; or they can choose to fore go the
assignment and lose the points.
2. Students are expected to be in their assigned seats before the last bell rings. Being in the room but
not in your seat is considered being tardy. Tardiness will result in after school detentions (see
handbook).
3. Students are expected to bring to class daily:
A. Assignments
B. Sociology Notebook
C. Supplies-- pen (blue or black ink only), pencil, and notebook paper .
D. Textbook
CLASSTIME- Class time is valuable and important and there should be no reason to leave class
after the bell rings.
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DISMISSAL FROM CLASS- Students will be dismissed from class by me not by the bell.
CLASSWORK-Classwork will be regularly assigned. If you work in class-you will not have as much
homework. Since I consider my class and the subject I teach as very important you will work hard and I will
expect you to do your best at everything you do. Your classwork is very important so avoid absenteeism unless
absolutely necessary. It is the student’s responsibility to find out any work they missed due to absence and
make it up If a student fails to complete the work in a limited time (depending on the length and reason for the
absence), it will be entered in the gradebook as a “0” and averaged as such. If you are absent on the day a test
is given, you must plan to stay after school on the day you return to make up the test; or you will be given
a zero (0) for the test score. Tests cannot be made up during the school day- if you absolutely cannot stay
after school, you can talk to me about taking the test during lunch- only if the test is short enough that you
can complete it during the lunch time alloted. Make-up tests will not be the same as the one given in class;
also information provided in class such as word banks, open book/ open note may not be provided on
make-up tests. (If you are absent more than one day, you have the same number of days you were absent to
make up the test after school.)
REMEMBER: Students are not allowed more than 10 days absences per semester. Students that are a bsent more than
ten (10) days per semester will receive no credit for each class in which they are absent more than ten (10) days per
semester. Students must obtain an admit slip from the principal’s o ffice before being admitted to class. The admit slip
must be picked up by the student before the first bell I n the morning. If a student is late to class, you must go to the
office or tardy station and get a tardy slip from the office and you will be counted absent.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS-All late assignments will be graded and recorded with a 35% penalty unless students
have been absent and notification has been given to the teacher. If students were sick, please inform the teacher of
any work that may have been done during the previous days absent in order to make up the assignments.
CHEATING
Cheating on the examinations or the in-class essays will result in an “F” grade for the course.
Cheating on homework or in-class assignments will result in an “F” on the assignment for all parties involved in
the cheating. Cheating includes: looking at another student's examination paper; at lecture or study notes, at
summaries, or at the textbook during the examination. Giving another student answers to questions or failing to
prevent another student from copying off of your examination paper or assignment also constitutes cheating.
Having someone else take an examination, or do an assignment for you is cheating. Copying material directly
from the Internet and claiming that it is your own work product is also cheating unless on the assignment you are
allowed to use this material and work cite it.
PARENT'S SIGNATURE: _______________________________________
Students Signature: _______________________________________
Date: