Download Advanced Placement Psychology

Advanced Placement Psychology
Full Year Course
(5 Credits)
I.
Course Description
Advanced Placement Psychology is a full year course designed for students
interested in taking a course taught at a college level and in preparing
students for the Advanced Placement examination in Psychology. This
course provides an in-depth understanding of the principles and theories of
psychology. Students also learn about the methods psychologists use to
explore the processes involved in normal and abnormal perceptions thoughts,
feelings and actions. The course covers an extremely broad range of topics
from the physiology of the brain to social behavior and interaction.
II.
Course Outline & Content
Unit One:
History and Approaches/Introduction
(1 week)
Concepts: Psychological Roots, Perspectives (neuroscience, socio-cultural,
cognitive, behavioral, evolutionary, and psychodynamic) and Subfields.
Essential Questions: How does Psychology relate to my community and
me?
Why study Psychology?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
Describe and compare the biological, behavioral,
cognitive, sociocultural, humanistic, and
psychodynamic perspectives.
List and explain the major subfields of psychology.
Identify ethical issues in psychological research.
Myers: Introduction/Chapter 1
Unit Two: Personality
(2 weeks)
Concepts: Freud and the Unconscious: psychosexual stages, defense
mechanisms, projective tests, dreams; Neo-Freudians: Adler and Birth
Order/Inferiority Complex, Jung, Horney; Trait Perspective: Myers-Brigg
Type Indicator, Eysenck, Big Five, MMPI-2, Person-Situation Controversy;
Humanist Perspective: Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, self-esteem and
concept, individualist vs. collectivist; Social-Cognitive: control, environment,
reciprocal-determinism, Bandura, Seligman, locus of control, learned
helplessness.
Essential Questions: How can I interpret my personality and those of people around me?
How has my personality been shaped? Which is better: peer reports or selfreports? Do I know anyone who is self-actualized? Am I the master of my
fate?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Define personality.
Explain the role of personality constructs as a
framework for organizing behavioral phenomenon.
Explain the characteristics of the major
approaches and theorists.
Distinguish and describe objective and projective
tests used in personality assessment.
Myers: Chapter 14
Video clips: “Biography Sigmund Freud: Analysis of a Mind”: A&E, 1995
“Dead Poet’s Society”: Touchstone, 1987
“Schindler’s List”: Universal, 1993
Unit Three: Research Methods & Statistics
(2 weeks)
Concepts: Scientific Attitude, Scientific Method and elements, Description
(case study, survey, and naturalistic observation), Observation and
Correlation, Experimentation and elements, Statistical elements (mean,
median, mode, z-score, normal curve, standard deviation).
Essential Questions:
Is human intuition remarkably accurate and free
from error? How are experiments “controlled”? How do researchers
draw accurate conclusions about behavior from their studies? Why
is statistics important to Psychology? Is it ethical to use humans as
“experimental animals”?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Describe the elements of an experiment.
Describe and compare quantitative and qualitative
research strategies.
Define descriptive statistics and explain how they
are used by behavioral scientists.
Explain and describe measures of central tendency
and variability.
Describe the concept of correlation and explain
how it is used in psychology.
recognize how inferential statistics are used in
research.
Myers: Chapter 1
Hockenbury: Appendix A (Statistics)
Debate: “Is it ethical to use humans as experimental animals?”
Unit Four: Biological Bases of Behavior
(2½ weeks)
Concepts: Neural communication/parts of the neuron, neurotransmitters,
Central Nervous System, Peripheral Nervous System, Imaging the Brain
(PET, CT, EEG, MRI), Brain structures, Divided Brain/Hemispheres/Injury –
Phineas Gage, Endocrine System.
Essential Questions:
Of all the activities you do during the day, which
ones are not related to operations in the brain? How does injury and
illness affect the brain and mind? How does the teenage brain
develop differently from an adult brain?
Objectives:
1. Students will understand the structure and
function of the neuron.
2. Describe how information is transmitted and
integrated in the nervous system.
3. Describe the organization of the structure and function
of the brain.
4. Technologies and clinical methods for studying the
brain.
5. Describe the structure and function of the endocrine
system.
Myers: Chapter 2
Video: “Awakenings”: Columbia, 1990.
Unit Five: Nature vs. Nurture
(2 weeks)
Concepts: Biological blueprint, evolutionary psychology, natural selection,
sexuality, behavior genetics, molecular genetics, twin studies, environmental
influence, peer influence, culture, gender.
Essential Questions:
Nature Vs. Nurture or Nature Via Nurture? Do
parents matter? Who has been the most important influence in your life?
Objectives:
1.
Recognize how biological and cultural notions of
gender shape the experiences of men and women.
2.
Describe and explain twin studies and adoption
studies.
3.
Myers: Chapter 3
Hock: “Are You a Natural?”
Unit Six:
Developmental Psychology
(2½ weeks)
Concepts: Prenatal development, infancy development, attachment,
adolescent development, adulthood and aging, death and dying, Cognitive
development (Jean Piaget), Social development (Harlow, Erickson, and
Ainsworth), Moral development (Kohlberg).
Essential Questions:
When does development begin and end? What is
Love? What kind of parenting have you received? Would you want
to live to be 100 years old? Why or why not? Should adolescents be
able to make adult-like decisions without a parent’s consent or help?
Objectives:
1.
Describe physical, social, and cognitive changes
from the prenatal period throughout the life span.
2.
Examine the nature of change over the life span.
3.
Apply life span principles to personal experience.
4.
Explain various developmental models (Piaget,
Erickson, Kohlberg)
5.
Myers: Chapter 4
Hock: “Discovering Love”
“In Control and Glad of It!”
Debate: “Should adolescents be required to have adult approval to be able to
have an abortion of should they be legally allowed to make this
decision on their own?”
Unit Seven:Sensation and Perception
(3 weeks)
Concepts: Thresholds, Sensory Adaptation, Vision, Hearing, physical
construction of the eye and ear, Color vision, Sound waves, Information
processing, Hearing Loss, Touch, Pain, Taste, Smell, Body
Position/Movement, Sensory Restriction, Perceptual Illusions, Form & Depth
Perception, Cues, Motion perception, Sensory deprivation, Adaptation, ESP.
Essential Questions:
How do we hear, see, and feel what is around us?
Would you like to have a life without pain? Why or why not? How do we
“perceive” the world around us, as well as the people in it? What is the
difference between sensation and perception?
Objectives:
1.
Explain the concepts of threshold, adaptation, and
constancy.
2.
Describe the operation of sensory systems.
3.
4.
5.
Explain Gestalt concepts and principles, such as
figure-ground, continuity, similarity, proximity,
closure, etc…
Describe binocular and monocular depth cues.
Describe the influence on perception of
environmental variables, motivation, past
experiences, culture, and expectations.
Myers: Chapters 5 & 6
Hock: “Watch Out For the Visual Cliff!”
Unit Eight: States of Consciousness
(1½ weeks)
Concepts: Biological Rhythms, Sleep Stages, Sleep Disorders, Dreams,
Hypnosis, Drugs & Consciousness, Addiction, Depressants, Stimulants, and
Hallucinogens.
Essential Questions:
How do illicit drugs as well as medications affect
behavior? Why is sleep so important? What happens during sleep?
What is consciousness?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Define/Describe states and levels of consciousness.
Describe the sleep cycle.
Assess types of sleep disorders.
Compare different theories about the use and
meaning of dreams.
Describe several hypnotic phenomena and the uses
of hypnosis.
Characterize the major categories of psychoactive
drugs and their effects.
Evaluate the effects of narcotic, depressant,
stimulant, and hallucinogenic drugs.
Myers: Chapter 7
Unit Nine: Learning
(2 weeks)
Concepts: Classical Conditioning (Pavlov), UCS/UCR/CS/CR, Operant
Conditioning (Skinner), Reinforcement, Rewards, Punishment, Shaping,
reinforcement schedules, Observational Learning (Bandura), modeling.
Essential Questions:
Why is learning important to Psychology? What
do we “learn”? In what ways do we learn? How are the main
theories of learning similar or dissimilar?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Discuss learning from a psychological viewpoint.
Describe classical conditioning elements (Pavlov).
Describe operant conditioning elements (Skinner).
Explain how observational learning works.
Explore how culture and biology contribute to
learning.
Myers: Chapter 8
Hock: “See Aggression… Do Aggression!”
Video: “Mean Girls”: Paramount, 2004.
Unit Ten:
Memory
(2 weeks)
Concepts: Information Processing (encoding, storage, retrieval), Encoding:
effortful processing, automatic processing, meaning, imagery, organizing
information; Storage: sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term
memory, 7+/- 2; Retrieval: moods, context, forgetting, decay, retrieval failure,
interference, misinformation (Loftus), amnesia, eyewitness recall; Brain:
hormones & synaptic changes (LTP), hippocampus.
Essential Questions:
Does memory fade or change? Explain. How are
schemas involved in creating or altering memory? How do we get
information into memory? How do we get it out? How/when does
memory fail?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Describe the encoding, or getting information into
memory.
Describe the operation of sensory memory.
Describe the operation of short-term memory and
working memory.
Describe the operation of long-term memory.
Describe the retrieval, or getting information out of
memory.
Analyze and explain the role and importance of
retrieval cues and interference.
Relate difficulties created by reconstructive
memory processes.
Identify the brain structures most important
memory.
Describe the processes that lead to inaccuracies in
memory and factors that interfere with memory.
Myers: Chapter 9
Hock: “Thanks For the Memories!”
Unit Eleven:
Language and Thinking
(3 weeks)
Concepts: Language structure and components: grammar, syntax,
semantics, phonemes, morphemes; Language development and stages;
Animals and Language: the honeybee dance and Washoe the ape; Problem
solving: algorithms, heuristics, insight, fixation, confirmation bias, mental
set, overconfidence, framing, belief bias/perseverance; Bilingual advantage,
B.L. Whorf, Nature vs. Nurture (Skinner and Chomsky), Artificial
intelligence and processing.
Essential Questions:
How do our beliefs and past experiences distort
logical reasoning? What are some limits to human intuition? How
is the Nature/Nurture debate illustrated in the theories of language
development?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Describe the basic elements the comprise thought.
Strategies and obstacles involved in problem
solving and decision-making.
Structural features of language.
Theories and developmental stages of language
acquisition.
Links between thinking and language.
Examine the influence of language on thought and
behavior
Speculate on whether animals acquire and use
language.
Myers: Chapter 10
Video: “Secrets of a Wild Child”: NOVA, 1994
Unit Twelve: Intelligence and Testing
(2 weeks)
Concepts: Alfred Binet (Stanford-Binet), Lewis Terman, mental age, IQ,
savant syndrome, mental retardation, General intelligence (Spearman),
Multiple intelligences (Gardner), Successful intelligence (Sternberg),
Emotional intelligence, Wisdom, Aptitude/Achievement tests, WAIS, WISC,
Test construction (reliability, validity, and bias) Genetic and Environmental
influences on intelligence.
Essential Questions:
Should intelligence be considered a general mental
ability or many specific abilities? Why? What is the difference between
intelligence and wisdom? Can you teach intelligence?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Define and understand the nature if test
constructs, such as intelligence, personality, and
creativity.
Describe basic statistical concepts in testing.
Explain how intelligence and personality may be
influenced by heredity and environment.
Link intelligence to the use of cognitive skills and
strategies.
Describe the theories of intelligence.
Explain why intelligence tests predict
achievement.
Explain issues of using conventional intelligence
tests and possible biases.
Myers: Chapter 11
Hock: “Just How Are You Intelligent?”
Unit Thirteen: Motivation and Emotion
(3 weeks)
Concepts: Instincts, Drive reduction, Incentives, Arousal, Sensation
seeking, Maslow’s Hierarchy of motives, Intrinsic/Extrinsic motivation,
leadership styles/Theory X & Y, Hunger motivation: Brain, Set point, Basal
metabolic rate, Eating disorders; Sexual motivation: Kinsey, Sexual response
cycle, Masters and Johnson, Sexual disorders, Stimuli, Teens and sex, Sexual
orientation, Theories of emotion: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter’s
Two-Factor Theory, Lazarus; Nonverbal behavior, Facial expression, Fear,
Anger, and Happiness.
Essential Questions:
What motivates people to action? What image
comes to mind when I ask you where you see yourself in 15 years?
How far would you go to satiate your hunger? How strong do you
think this motivation is internally? Explain. If sex isn’t a necessity,
what motivates people to engage in sexual intercourse? Explain the
significance of environmental and biological factors in emotion.
Would you like to never be sad again? Explain why or why not.
Why do we need to vent our emotions as human beings?
Objectives:
1. Apply motivational concepts to the behavior of
humans and other animals.
2. Describe the interaction of internal cues and learning
on basic drives.
3. Describe the situational cues giving rise to fear, anger,
curiosity, and anxiety.
4. Describe one or more theories of motivation, such as
expectancy value, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and
drive reduction.
5. Explain how common motives and emotions develop.
6. Describe theories of emotion such as James-Lange,
Cannon-Bard, Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory, and
Cognitive-Mediational theory.
7. Explain how emotions and behaviors are related (nonverbal communication).
8. Explain how learning, memory, problem-solving, and
decision-making strategies are influenced by
motivation and emotion.
Myers: Chapter 12 & 13
Video: “Alive”: Touchstone, 1990.
Unit Fourteen: Abnormal Psychology and Treatment
(4 weeks)
Concepts: Medical model, Bio-psycho-social model, Classification, DSM IVTR, Labeling (Rosenhan), Disorders: Anxiety, Mood, Dissociative,
Schizophrenia, Personality, Psychoanalysis (Freud), Humanistic Therapy
(Rogers), Cognitive Therapy (Beck), Group/Family Therapy, Behavior
Therapy (Aversive, Token Economy, Systematic Desensitization), Types of
Therapists, Psychopharmacology: Anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, antipsychotics, ECT, Psychosurgery, Stress-response system (Selye), Heart
Disease.
Essential Questions:
What is “normal”? What does it feel like to be
labeled? Why is it natural to have anxiety and phobias? How much
is too much? Why do you think someone would want to be ill?
Provide a reason why someone would ingest a drug or toxin to
induce physical symptoms? In what ways does clinical depression
differ from the “blues”? What is the difference between sexual
dysfunction and sexual deviance? What makes someone a killer?
What are some differences between crimes of passion and someone
who is a serial killer? What is “the best” therapy?
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Distinguish the common characteristics of
abnormal behavior and cite examples of abnormal
behavior.
Describe major explanations for the origins of
abnormality.
Discuss the major categories of abnormal behavior.
Explore the challenges associated with accurate
diagnosis.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Discuss the stigma associated with abnormal
behavior.
Speculate about means for promoting greater
understanding of abnormal behavior.
Describe availability and appropriateness of
various modes of treatment for individuals with
disorders.
Describe characteristics of effective treatment and
prevention.
Identify therapists according to training.
Describe the intersection between mental health
and law.
Examine the influence of ethics and professional
practice.
Identify and explain major sources of stress.
List and explain possible
psychological/physiological reactions to stress
Myers: Chapter 15, 16 & 17
Hock: “Who’s Crazy Here, Anyway?”
Videos: “Girl, Interrupted”: Columbia, 2004.
“As Good As It Gets”: Columbia, 1998.
“A Beautiful Mind”: Universal, 2002.
“Frontline: The New Asylums”: PBS, 2005.
Debate: “Do diagnostic labels hinder treatment of the mentally ill?”
Unit Fifteen: Social Psychology
(3 weeks)
Concepts: Attribution, Attitudes and actions, Cognitive Dissonance,
Conformity/Obedience (Asch & Milgram), Social/group Influence (Darley &
Latane), Social loafing, social facilitation, deindividuation, groupthink, group
polarization, prejudices and stereotypes, Us vs. them, in-groups and outgroups, Just-World Phenomenon, Aggression, Attraction, and Love, Altruism,
Bystander Intervention, Social Exchange Theory.
Essential Questions:
How do we use 1st impressions to interpret the
behavior of others? How does anonymity change the behavior of
people? How do people conform and why? Why do people obey?
How many people do you want around you if you desperately need
help? Does our culture permit us to stereotype others?
Objectives:
1.
2.
Explain person perception and how attribution
affects our explanation of behaviors.
Identify sources of attitude formation. Assess
methods used to change attitudes.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Discuss how social and cultural categories affect
behavior.
Describe effects of the presence of others on
individual behavior and how social structure can
effect intergroup relations (prejudices and
stereotypes).
Explore the nature and effects of bias and
discrimination.
Describe circumstances under which conformity
and obedience are likely to occur.
Discuss the nature of altruism in society.
Discuss the significance of aggression.
Discuss factors influencing attraction.
Myers: Chapter 18
Hock: “The Power of Conformity”
“To Help or Not to Help”
“Obey at Any Cost?”
Video: “Frontline: A Class Divided”: PBS, 1980.
Debates: “Should a sex offender’s name and address be made
available to the public?”
“Should onlookers be held responsible for ignoring a crime?”
Textbook:
Myers, David G. (2001). Psychology (6th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
Additional Readings:
Rubinstein, J. & Slife, B. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial
Issues in Psychology 4th ed. CT: Dushkin Publishing Group, 1986. (selected
readings)
Hock, Roger R. Forty Studies that Changed Psychology: Explorations into the
History of Psychological Research. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 2005. (selected readings)
Hockenbury, D.H., & Hockenbury, S.E. (2003). Psychology (3rd ed.). New
York: Worth Publishers. (selected reading: Appendix A)
Sacks, Oliver. An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales. New
York: Knopf, 1995. (selected readings)
Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical
Tales. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. (selected readings)
Multimedia Resources:
The Mind: Teaching Modules series. Produced by Colorado State University,
Boston: Annenberg/CPB, 1999.
Discovering Psychology. Updated ed. Produced by WGBH Boston with the
American Psychological Association. Boston: WGBH, 2001.