Download Advanced Placement Psychology – Syllabus

Advanced Placement Psychology – Syllabus
Mrs. Lopez
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.unit5.org/lopez
Conference Hours: 2nd & 6th
Room 009
Overview
Welcome to AP Psych! Advanced Placement Psychology is the equivalent of a college introductory psychology course.
This is a rigorous and demanding course, intended to provide the scope and level of accomplishment expected in a
college or university setting. The curriculum of this course places a heavy emphasis on essential readings, writing
assignments, independent projects, and frequent tests intended to prepare students for the AP Psychology Exam at the
end of the semester. Please understand from the beginning a fact of paramount importance: the most important person
in this classroom is YOU. Acting as a college student, you are expected to “charge ahead” on your own; to seek, find, and
internalize knowledge on your own. In short, you must be the agent in the educational process. The instructor’s role is to
facilitate your drive and accomplishment by structuring learning situations and selecting learning tools to help you attain
your goals: a successful score on the AP exam, an enrichment of your life through the acquisition of psychological
knowledge, and enjoyment of the course.
Workload Expectations
The AP Psychology curriculum is constructed to mirror that of a three credit general psychology course at the college
level. One college credit is defined as the equivalent to an average of three hours of learning per week necessary for an
average student to achieve an average grade (C) in the course. This is, of course, a general guideline. The amount of time
necessary outside of class varies greatly, and is dependent on both the individual and the letter grade sought.
Required Materials
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3 Ring-Binder (14 Dividers: 1 per unit)
Notebook/loose leaf paper to keep in your binder
Writing Utensil
Your AP Psycho book (Myers)
I will recommend additional books and provide review guides throughout the semester.
Evaluation & Grade Calculation
Unit Exams
Homework/Classwork
Reading Quizzes
Projects
45% of total grade
25% of total grade
15% of total grade
15% of total grade
Unit Exams
Seven unit exams will be given through the semester. Each unit includes two chapters. The length of each chapter ranges
from 4-7 days. Much of the content covered was discussed in detail during first semester psychology, so please consult
saved material as we work through each unit. Exams will include questions from old AP exams, as well as free response
(FRQs) from previous exams.
Important Note Regarding Performance on Exams: It is highly recommended that students keep a notebook OR
create flashcards to better understand the terminology associated with each unit. While this is not a required or
graded element of the course, it is the most concrete and likely way to increase performance on exams
Homework/Classwork
Students will be given individual projects, reading assignments, and in-class work throughout the semester so reinforce
certain material. While this grade is a small percentage of the semester grade, the assignments completed as essential
the overall understanding of the course material.
Reading Quizzes
You will be responsible for reading approximately one chapter of the textbook per week. There will be a comprehensive
reading quiz over that week’s chapter every TUESDAY unless otherwise stated. We will discuss much of the chapter in
class during the week, but you are responsible for all of the material in that chapter.
Projects
There will be multiple projects throughout the semester. Some will be completed individually, while others will be done
with a partner or small group. The semester will end with an in-depth, cumulative project, rather than taking a final
exam.
General Class Expectations
It is expected that you are in this course because you have an interest in Psychology, took the required prerequisite,
desire to work at college-pace, and have an ultimate goal of passing the AP Exam. Any disruption or behavioral issue that
you create will be a distraction to the learning environment, and to the progress of your fellow classmates. Our time
together will be spent on content – not on behavioral distractions. The following classroom guidelines have been
created to ensure an optimal learning environment for everyone involved:
1.) Respectful Speaking and Listening – Make a genuine attempt to differentiate between relevant comments that
are suitable for the entire class, those which would be better served in a one-on-one conversation, and those
which would be better left unsaid. Respect and listen to your classmates and their opinions
2.) Preparation, Focus, & Attention – Be prepared for class each day by being on time with appropriate learning
tools on your desk. These required tools include: Textbook(s), notebook/paper, binder, and writing utensil.
Please keep all unrelated work out of sight since your behavior should be directed towards learning.
3.) Distractions – The consumption and/or sale of food or uncovered beverages is strictly prohibited in class. Also,
the obvious possession and/or use of cell phones, ipods, or electronic gaming devices will not be tolerated.
4.) Attendance and Classroom Efficiency – If you must be tardy, please make an entrance that will not disrupt the
learning of others. Also, provide a pass if you enter the room late. After two tardies within the same quarter,
you will be forced to serve a lunch detention
5.) Late Work/Absences – NO late will be accepted in this course. In order to prepare you for a true college class
(where most of your grade will come from 3-4 exams taken throughout the semester), work will only be
collected the day it is due. The only exception is for absences. However, chapter reading guides will be passed
out over a week in advance. Therefore, in the event of an absence the day before a reading guide is due or a
quiz is administered, students will still be expected to turn in all required work on the official due date.
I am very excited to learn, grow, and be challenged with you this semester! AP Psychology, along with all Advanced
Placement courses, can be outrageously rewarding if you choose to put in the required effort. If not, I fear you will
become overwhelmed and disappointed with the class. In the event of questions, comments, or confusion, please consult
me throughout the semester via e-mail or my office hours. Cheers!
AP Psychology Content Schedule
Week 1 (Jan 6- Jan 10): History & Approaches (Prologue)
Week 2 (Jan 13- Jan 17): Research Methods (Chapter 1)
JAN 17: Exam 1
Week 3 (Jan 21-Jan 24): Sensation & Perception (Chapter 6)
Week 4 (Jan 27-Jan 31): Biological Bases of Behavior (Chapters 2 & 4)
Week 5 (Feb 3- Feb 7): Biological Bases of Behavior (Chapters 2 & 4)
FEB 7: Exam 2
Week 6 (Feb 10-Feb 14): Learning (Chapter 7)
Week 7 (Feb 19- Feb 21): Personality (Chapter 13)
Week 8 (Feb 24- Feb 28): Testing & Individual Differences (Chapter 10)
FEB 28: Exam 3
Week 9 (Mar 3- Mar 7): States of Consciousness (Chapter 3)
Week 10 (Mar 10-Mar 14): Cognition (Chapters 8 & 9)
MAR 14: Exam 4
Week 11 (Mar 17- Mar 21): Developmental Psychology (Chapter 5)
Week 12 (Mar 24- Mar 28): Spring Break
Week 13 (Mar 31- Apr 4): Motivation & Emotion (Chapters 11 & 12)
APR 4: Exam 5
Week 14 (Apr 7- Apr 11): Abnormal Psychology (Chapter 14)
Week 15 (Apr 14- Apr 16): Methods of Treatment (Chapter 15)
APR 16: Exam 6
Week 16 (Apr 21- Apr 25): Social Psychology (Chapter 16)
Week 17 (Apr 28- May 2): Social Psychology/Review
MAY 2: Exam 7 (Cumulative Exam)
**MAY 5: AP EXAM**
Week 17 (May 6-May 9): TBD
Week 18 (May 12- May 16): TBD
Week 19 (May 19- May 23): TBD
Begin
optional
review
sessions
Assignments
Reading Quizzes
You will be responsible for reading approximately one chapter of the textbook per week. There
will be a comprehensive reading quiz over that week’s chapter every Friday. We will discuss
much of the chapter in class during the week, but you are responsible for all of the material in
that chapter.
Homework Assignments
These will consist of additional readings (articles, chapters from books) that are relevant to the
material being covered. You will be asked to answer critical questions over these readings.
Other homework assignments will ask you to provide a critical, written analysis of different
theories and ideas that we are discussing in class.
Exams
There will be an exam approximately every two weeks. Some of the exams will be over a single
unit, while other exams will combine the material from several units. These exams will consist
of multiple choice questions and free response questions from prior years AP exams.
Projects
There will be multiple projects throughout the semester. What follows are several of the
projects that students will be required to complete.
Presenting important studies within Psychology
Students will be asked to choose a famous study/experiment and present it to the class
when we are covering the sub-field to which the study best relates. These presentations
will ask students to identify the method by which the research was carried out, the
findings of the study, any ethical concerns within the study, and the background of the
researcher who conducted the study.
Create an Experiment
Students will be put into groups and given various research questions. From their
questions, groups will be asked to come up with a hypothesis and create an experiment
that could be conducted to test their hypothesis. They will have to identify and explain
the various elements of their experimental design and explain how it controls for any
confounding variables. The groups will then be asked to present their research question
and experiment to the class using a visual aid to assist them.
Psychological Disorders Poster
Students will be asked to choose a psychological disorder from the DSM. They will then
convey information about the disorder on a large poster board to be displayed in the
classroom. They will be asked to identify the causes, symptoms, and available
treatments for that disorder. They will also be asked how that disorder is portrayed in
popular culture and whether or not there is any type of stigma that accompanies that
disorder.
Perceptual Concepts Poster
Students will be asked to look through old magazines to find pictures that illustrate a
number of various gestalt grouping principles and monocular depth cues. They must
provide a written description of the perceptual concept as well as an explanation of how
the concept is evident in the picture that they choose.
Issues within Developmental Psychology
Students will be divided into groups and asked to write a critical review of a chapter
from the book Nurtureshock. They will be asked to identify the authors’ conclusions and
the research on which they are based. Students will then be asked to do further
research to determine whether or not there have been other studies done that either
confirm or contradict the authors’ conclusions. Their reviews will be presented to the
class in oral presentations.
Learning within your Life
Students will be asked to maintain a daily journal for a week in which they record ways
in which either their behaviors or the behaviors of those around them might be best
explained through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, or observational
learning. Students will be asked to identify and explain examples of each of these types
of learning.
Grade Distribution
Type of Assignment
Tests/Major Projects
Quizzes
Homework/classwork
Course Plan
% of Overall Grade
55
25
20
Unit 1: History and Approaches
• Describe and compare different theoretical approaches in explaining behavior:
— Early Years: Structuralism, Functionalism, and Behaviorism
— Developing Later: Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic, and Humanism
— Most Recent: Evolutionary, Biological, and Cognitive
• Strengths and limitations of these approaches to explaining behavior.
• Distinguish different sub-fields within Psychology
• Identify the major historical figures in psychology
Unit 2: Research Methods
• Understand the different types of research, the purposes of each, and the strengths/weaknesses of each.
• Identify the components/terminology of experimental research.
• Understand the different ways that participants are chosen for research.
• Evaluate the validity of different research designs & determine whether their conclusions are warranted.
• Be able to manipulate and interpret statistical data to reach conclusions.
• Discuss the value of reliance on operational definitions and measurement in behavioral research.
•Understand the purpose of ethical constraints to research (e.g., those provided by the American
Psychological Association, federal regulations, local institutional review boards).
Unit 3: Biological Bases of Behavior
• How neurons & neurotransmitters function.
• Discuss the influence of drugs on neurotransmitters (e.g., reuptake mechanisms).
• Discuss the effect of the endocrine system on behavior.
• Describe the nervous system and its subdivisions (Central & Peripheral)
• Understand the functions of the different regions of the brain.
• What research strategies/technologies have people used over time to study the brain?
• How heredity, environment, and evolution work together to shape behavior.
• How does natural selection lead to the emergence of certain traits & behaviors?
• Identify key theorists.
Unit 4: Sensation and Perception
• Basic principles of Sensation (absolute & difference threshold, signal detection, and sensory adaptation,
selective attention)
• Bottom-Up & Top Down Processing
• Functioning of sensory processes (e.g., hearing, vision, touch, taste, smell, vestibular, kinesthesis, pain)
• Common sensory disorders (e.g., visual and hearing impairments).
• Perceptual concepts: Gestalt Organizing Principles, Depth Perception Cues, Constancy, Perceptual sets
• Challenge common beliefs in parapsychological phenomena.
• Identify the major historical figures in sensation and perception
Unit 5: States of Consciousness
• Describe various states of consciousness and their impact on behavior.
• Sleep & dreaming (sleep cycle, theories, disorders)
• Historic and contemporary uses of hypnosis
• Explain hypnotic phenomena (e.g., suggestibility, dissociation).
• Psychoactive drugs (categories & effects) & addiction
• Identify the major figures in consciousness research
Unit 6: Learning
• Classical conditioning (acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, gernalization, discrimination)
• Operant conditioning (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, reinforcement schedules)
•Observational learning
• Interpret graphs that exhibit the results of learning experiments.
• Explain how biological constraints create learning predispositions.
• Describe the essential characteristics of insight learning, latent learning, and social learning.
• Explain emotional learning, taste aversion, superstitious behavior, and learned helplessness.
• Use of behavior modification, biofeedback, coping strategies, and self-control to address behavioral problems.
• Identify key contributors in the psychology of learning
Unit 7: Cognition
• Compare and contrast various cognitive processes:
— effortful vs. automatic processing; deep vs. shallow processing; focused vs. divided attention
• Understand the different types of memory & the principles that underlie the creation of memories..
• Describe strategies for memory improvement.
• Understand how biological, cognitive, and cultural factors affect language use & development.
• Identify problem-solving strategies as well as factors that influence their effectiveness.
• List the characteristics of creative thought and creative thinkers.
• Identify key contributors in cognitive psychology
Unit 8: Motivation and Emotion
• Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
• Biological underpinnings of motivation (needs, drives, instincts, and homeostasis).
• Motivational theories (drive reduction theory, arousal theory, general adaptation theory)
• Classic research findings in specific motivation systems (e.g., eating, sex, social)
• Theories of stress & the effects of stress on well-being
•Theories of emotion (James–Lange, Cannon–Bard, Schachter two-factor theory)
• Describe how cultural influences shape emotional expression, including variations in body language.
• Identify key contributors in the psychology of motivation and emotion
Unit 9: Developmental Psychology
• Prenatal development & teratogens
• Early Childhood: Development of motor skills, attachment, parenting styles
•Adolescence: Social development & identity formation
• Aging: Memory, intelligence, longevity, disorders
•Theories: Piaget- cognitive development, Kohlberg- moral development, Erikson- psychosocial development.
• Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.
• Identify key contributors in developmental psychology
Unit 10: Personality
• Psychodynamic Perspective: Freud, Jung, Adler, assessment (TAT)
• Trait Perspective: Allport, factor analysis and the five-factor model, assessment (Myers-Briggs, MMPI)
• Humanistic Perspective: Maslow and Rogers
• Learning Perspective: Bandura and Seligman, Reciprocal determinism, social learning theory, behaviorism)
Unit 11: Testing and Individual Differences
• Define intelligence and understand how it measured (abstract vs. verbal measures, processing speed)
• Discuss how culture influences the definition of intelligence.
• Theories of intelligence (Charles Spearman, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg).
• Explain how intelligence tests are designed to ensure reliability & validity
• Interpret the meaning of scores in terms of the normal curve.
• Labels related to intelligence testing (e.g., gifted, cognitively disabled).
• Debate the appropriate testing practices, particularly in relation to culture-fair test uses.
• Identify key contributors in intelligence research and testing
Unit 12: Abnormal Behavior
• How has our understanding of what causes abnormal behavior changed over time.
• Understand the purpose of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the
consequences of diagnostic labels, & the intersection of psychological disorders with the legal system.
• Understand the following disorders & their symptoms: anxiety disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia,
organic disturbance, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders
• Evaluate how various approaches explain disorders: Psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, & biological
Unit 13: Treatment of Abnormal Behavior
• Describe the central characteristics of psychotherapeutic intervention.
• Understand different forms of therapy (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, humanistic)
• Compare and contrast different treatment formats (e.g., individual, group).
• Summarize effectiveness of specific treatments used to address specific problems.
• Cultural and ethnic influence on the choice & success of treatment
• Describe prevention strategies that build resilience and promote competence.
• Identify major figures in psychological treatment.
Unit 14:. Social Psychology
• Apply attribution theory to explain motives (fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias).
• Structure & function of different kinds of group behavior (deindividuation, group polarization).
• Response to expectations of others (groupthink, conformity, and obedience to authority)
• Discuss attitudes and how they change (e.g., central route to persuasion).
• Predict the impact of the presence of others on individual behavior (e.g., bystander effect, social facilitation).
• Differential treatment of members within a group (in-group/out-group dynamics, ethnocentrism, prejudice).
• Impact of social and cultural categories (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity) on self-concept and relations with others.
• Anticipate the impact of behavior on a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Describe the variables that contribute to altruism, aggression, and attraction.
• Discuss attitude formation and change, including persuasion strategies and cognitive dissonance.
• Identify important figures in social psychology