Download AP Psychology Syllabus Student 2016

AP Psychology Syllabus
Mrs. Lisa Dewey, Redlands High School, Room 423
(909) 307-5500, ext. 31423
[email protected]
Course Overview:
The Advanced Placement course in Psychology is designed to introduce high school students to
the systematic, scientific study of mental and behavioral processes in both humans and animals.
The course introduces ethics and research methods used in psychological science and practice.
Student acceptance into the course is based on the student’s demonstration of previous academic
achievement, as well as the student’s self-motivation.
Course Objectives:
Throughout the academic year, students are expected to perform at the college level and to be
able to apply and integrate principles of psychology into their daily lives. Students are strongly
encouraged to take the AP Psychology Examination on Monday, May 2, 2016. This two-semester
class meets daily for a 55-minute period.
1. Students will develop their reading, writing, and critical reasoning skills as appropriate
for the college level.
2. Students will demonstrate the knowledge of core concepts, theories, and important
historical discoveries relevant to the study of Psychology and its major sub-fields.
3. Students will diligently prepare to succeed in passing the AP Psychology Examination.
Text and Test-Preparation Supplement:
Myers, D. G. Psychology (7th ed.). New York: Worth, 2004.
McEntarffer, R. & Weseley, A. J.. Barron’s AP Psychology 2008 (3rd ed). New York: Barron’s
Educational Services, Inc., 2007.
Course Requirements:
It is suggested that the student prepare a 3-ring binder, with tabs by chapter, to retain
completed notes and all work.
Assignments throughout the year will include:
1. Activities including, but not limited to: individual and group projects, close reading of
the text and supplementary materials, vocabulary activities to promote mastery of key
terminology, and college level note-taking from the text, lectures, and media sources.
2. Text chapter tests consisting of multiple choice questions, designed to simulate those on
the AP Psychology Examination.
3. Free Response Question (FRQ) tests, which are timed, written tests designed to simulate
those on the AP Psychology Examination.
4. Seminars: Once each semester, each student is required to research and present a seminar
to his or her class period colleagues. Seminar presentations are 10 to 15 minutes in
length, and are to be accompanied by a written outline with at least three references from
scholarly sources. Students will sign-up for their presentations at the beginning of each
semester. Guided by a framing question/topic, the seminar will include a presentation
complemented with visual aids and technology. Students will prepare an outline-format
answer to the framing question. Visual aids and technology will be used during the
presentation.
Please note: This parent-signed syllabus is to remain in the student’s binder.
IMPORTANT: With an excused absence for the scheduled day of the seminar, the student
must contact the teacher by no later than 8:30 on the scheduled day of his or her seminar
presentation, either by email or telephone, to schedule an alternative date to present.
Grading:
1.
2.
3.
4.
40%
30%
20%
10%
Class work and participation
Chapter tests
FRQs
Seminar
Make-up Work:
Students with excused absences have as many days as they were absent, plus one day, to
turn in missed assignments and still receive full credit. Students with an excused absence
on a test day must make arrangements with the teacher for a time to take the test outside
of class time, typically during lunch on the following Monday or Tuesday.
Classroom Policies:
- Professional behavior in class, as befits an AP student, is expected at all times.
There is one golden rule in AP Psychology: Expect to be respected; respect yourself and
others.
- Academic honesty is expected at all times and in all situations.
AP Psychology Examination:
Students who take the AP Psychology examination must pay a fee. Further information about
how and when to register for the examination will be disseminated as it becomes available.
Evidence of Curricular Requirements:
CR1: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in psychology’s
history and approaches.
CR2: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in psychological
research methods.
CR3: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in biological bases of
behavior.
CR4: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in sensation and
perception.
CR5: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in states of
consciousness.
CR6: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in learning.
CR7: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in cognition.
CR8: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in motivation and
emotion.
CR9: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in developmental
psychology.
CR10: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in personality.
CR11: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in testing and
individual differences.
Please note: This parent-signed syllabus is to remain in the student’s binder.
CR12: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in abnormal
psychology.
CR13: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in treatment of
psychological disorders.
CR14: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in social psychology
CR15: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: As relevant to each content area, the course provides
instruction in empirically supported psychological facts, research findings, terminology,
associated phenomena, major figures, perspectives, and psychological experiments.
CR16: Evidence of Curricular Requirement: The course provides instruction in ethics and
research methods used in psychological science and practice.
Course Outline:
Unit I: Scope, History, and Methodology [CR1] - - Three Weeks
Text : Prologue, Chapter 1
- Historical Schools: Functionalism vs. Structuralism
- Modern Approaches: Psychodynamic, Behaviorist, Cognitive, Humanistic, Evolutionary,
Neuroscience
- Nature of Scientific Inquiry: Sources of bias and error
- Research Methods: Introspection, observation, survey, psychological testing, controlled
experiments [CR2]
- Statistics: Central tendency, variance, significance, correlation
- Ethics in Research: Human participants, animal subjects [CR16]
Unit II: Neuroscience [CR3] - - Three Weeks
Text: Chapter 2
- 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
Unit III: Developmental Psychology [CR9] - - Three Weeks
Text: Chapters 3 and 4
- 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 [CR6]
- Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood
Unit IV: Sensation and Perception [CR4] - - Three Weeks
Text: Chapters 5 and 6
- 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
Please note: This parent-signed syllabus is to remain in the student’s binder.
Unit V: Behaviorism [CR15] - - Two Weeks
Text: Chapter 8
- 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
Unit VI: Consciousness and Memory [CR5] - - Three Weeks
Text: Chapters 7 and 9
- States of Consciousness: Waking, sleep and dreaming, hypnosis, altered states
- Memory: Information processing, storage, retrieval
- Accuracy of Memory: Loftus and Schacter
Unit VII: Cognition and Language [CR7] - - Two Weeks
Text: Chapter 10
- Cognition: Problem solving and heuristics
- Language: Skinner and Chomsky
Unit VIII: Intelligence and Psychological Testing [CR11] - - Two Weeks
Text: Chapter 11
- Psychological Testing: Methodology, norms, reliability, validity
- Intelligence: Defining intelligence, history of intelligence and aptitude testing, nature-nurture
issues
Unit IX: Motivation and Emotions [CR8] - - Two Weeks
Text: Chapters 12 and 13
- 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
Unit X: Stress and Health - - Two Weeks
Text: Chapter 14
- Stress as a Concept: Selye
- Stress and Health
- Adjustment
Unit XI: Personality [CR10] - - Two Weeks
Text: Chapter 15
- Psychodynamic Perspective: Freud, Jung, Adler
- Trait Perspective: Allport, factor analysis and the five-factor model, assessment (MyersBriggs, MMPI)
- Humanistic Perspective: Maslow and Rogers
- Social-Cognitive Perspective: Bandura and Seligman
Please note: This parent-signed syllabus is to remain in the student’s binder.
Unit XII: Abnormal Psychology and the Treatment of Disorders [CR12, CR13]
- - Three Weeks
Text: Chapters 16 and 17
- 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
Unit XIII: Social Psychology [CR14] - - Two Weeks
Text: Chapter 18
- 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
Please note: This parent-signed syllabus is to remain in the student’s binder
Student signature________________________________ Date ______
Parent signature _________________________________ Date ______
Please note: This parent-signed syllabus is to remain in the student’s binder.