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Norcross High School
Social Studies Department
Course Syllabus
AP Psychology
INSTRUCTOR
Name:
E-mail:
Telephone:
Office hours:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The purpose of AP Psychology 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.
You should be commended for taking on the challenge of a college-level course. The path you
have chosen will be tough, but in all areas of life the more challenging the task, the more
rewarding the outcome. Each May, the AP Examinations are administered at our high school
and other participating schools around the world. The AP Psychology test is two hours in length
and in consists of one hundred multiple choice questions and two essays, called free response
questions.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The central question addressed in AP Psychology is: “how do psychologists think?”
Psychologist David Myers wrote that to think as a psychologist, one must learn to “restrain
intuition with critical thinking, judgmentalism with compassion, and illusion with
understanding.” (Sternberg, 1997). Whether students choose to pursue a career related to
psychology or one in some entirely different field, this habit of mind will be of great value.
The AP Psychology course is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific
study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings.
-Students learn about some of the explorations and discoveries made by psychologists over
the past century.
-Students assess some of the differing approaches adopted by psychologists, including the
biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, and sociocultural
perspectives.
-Most important, students come to an appreciation of how psychologists think (or at least
an appreciation of the kind of critical analysis that psychologists espouse and hope to
model in their words and actions).
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GRADING CRITERIA
Grades will be calculated using the following formula:
Classwork
Homework
Minor Assessment
Major Assessment
Midterm
Final Exam
15%
5%
15%
42%
3%
20%
An AP add-on of 10 points will be added to the overall grade for progress reports and report
cards. Please note: these points do count toward your average for the purposes of exam
exemption. Only honor graduates and/or seniors with an average of 90% can exempt the
second semester final exam. This is county mandated policy.
Objective chapter tests consisting of 50-80 more multiple-choice questions will be given on the
dates listed.
Free-response tests consisting of one essay question with a 25-minute time limit will be given
on the dates listed. The question may be directed specifically at the current chapter or require the
integration of concepts from chapter previously studied. Questions will be formatted and scored
in a manner consistent with the national exam.
Daily grades will be composed of items such as multiple-choice questions composed by the
students, practice free responses, and any other graded materials not included in other grade
categories.
The essay portion of the final exam will consist of answering one or two free-response type
questions similar to the national exam format.
The objective final exam will be approximately 100 questions using a multiple-choice format.
The national AP exam will consist of 100 objective questions (2/3 of the grade) and two freeresponse questions (1/3 of the grade). The national exam has no impact on your class grade or
the exemption of final exams, but passing it could earn you college credit with some institutions.
TEXTBOOK
Myers, D.G. (2007). Psychology (8th ed.) New York: Worth.
TIMELINE:
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Topic
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
Chapters
Introduction of Psychology
Research and Statistics
Neuroscience
Nature vs. Nurture
Stages of Human Development
Sensation and Perception
States of Consciousness
Learning
Memory
Thinking and Language
Intelligence and Testing
Motivation
Emotion
Stress
Personality
Psychological Disorders and Therapy (Abnormal Psych.)
Social Psychology
1
2
3
4
5-6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16-17
18
TOPIC OVERVIEW:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Introduction of Psychology
A. History of Psychology
B. Contemporary Psychology
C. The Seven Perspectives of Contemporary Psychology
Research and Statistics
A. Experimentation
B. Statistics in Psychology
1) Correlation
2) Central Tendency
3) Distribution of Scores, Central Tendency, and Scatterplots
Neuroscience
A. Neurons
1) Components and Functions
2) Neural Impulses (Action Potential and Neurotransmitters)
3) Types of Neurons and the Birth, Life, and Death of a Neuron
B. Nervous Systems (Central, Somatic, Autonomic, Enteric)
C. Endocrine System
D. Brain
1) Components and Functions
a) Lower Order Brain Functions
b) Higher Order Brain Functions
2) Sperry and Gazzangia’s Split Brain
E. Brain Watching Tools (MRI, fMRI, CAT, PET, and EEG)
Nature vs. Nurture
A. Evolutionary Psychology
1) Natural Selection (Charles Darwin)
2) Modern Research (i.e. Mate Selection)
B. Genetics
Days
(Approx.)
6
6
14
7
6
13
6
8
6
8
7
9
7
5
6
15
10
4
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
1) DNA
2) Heritability vs. Environment
3) Twin Studies
C. Sir Francis Galton’s Eugenics
D. Behavioral Genetics
Stages of Human Development
A. Pre-natal, Infancy, Adolescence, and Adulthood Development
B. The Critical Periods
1) Prenatal Development: Conception to Two Weeks
2) Attachment: Birth to Two Months (e.g. Harlow’s Rhesus Monkeys and their Terry
Cloth Mothers)
3) Language: Three to 11 years (Preoperational Stage)
C. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development and Milestones
D. Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development and Issues
E. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development and the Heinz Dilemma
Sensation and Perception
A. The Five Senses
1) Components and Functions of the Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, and Skin
2) The Sense of Sight, Hearing, Balance, Taste, Smell, Pain and Pressure
3) Thresholds- Absolute Threshold, Difference Threshold/Just Noticeable Difference
(JND), and Weber’s Law
4) Sensory Adaptation and Selective Attention
5) Perceptual Organization (Principles and Illusions)
6) Perceptual Interpretation
7) Gustav Fechner and Psychophysics
B. Thresholds- Absolute Threshold, Difference Threshold/Just Noticeable Difference (JND), and
Weber’s Law
C. Sensory Adaptation and Selective Attention
D. Perceptual Organization (Principles and Illusions)
E. Perceptual Interpretation
F. Gustav Fechner and Psychophysics
States of Consciousness
A. Stages of Sleep and EEG
B. Dreams (Psychoanalysis vs. Hobson and McCarley)
C. REM and Dreaming (Aserinsky) and REM Rebound (Dement)
D. Sleep Disorders
E. Hypnosis (Spanos and Orne and Evans)
F. Drugs (Depressants, Stimulants, and Hallucinogens)
Learning
A. John Watson and Behaviorism
B. Ivan Pavlov and Classical Conditioning
C. B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning
D. Albert Bandura, Bobo, and the Social Learning Theory
Memory
A. Ebbinghaus
B. Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval
C. Memory Loss, Memory Feats, and Memory Devices
D. Elizabeth Loftus and Eye-witness Testimony
E. Déjà vu
Thinking and Language
A. Cognitive Psychology
B. Algorithm vs. Heuristics
C. Fallacies of Human Thought (Confirmation Bias, Functional Fixedness, Belief
Preservation, Belief Bias, Overconfidence, Mental Set, Fixation, Framing, etc)
D. Artificial Intelligence, Computer Neural Networks, and the Blue Brain Project
E. Grammar and Semantics
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XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
F. Language Development (Critical Period and Feral Children)
G. Benjamin Whorf and Linguistic Relativity
Intelligence
A. Nature vs. Nurture
B. What is Intelligence? (G or Multiple)
C. Assessing Intelligence (History/Binet and Current Practices)
Motivation
A. Drive Reduction Theory
B. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Motivation
C. Homeostasis
D. Hunger and Thirst Motivation (Eating Disorders)
E. Sexual Motivation (Masters and Johnson)
F. Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology
G. Addiction
Emotion
A. Theories (James-Lange, Cannon Bard, Schacter’s Two Factor, Lazarus’ Concept of
Appraisal, and Zajonc’s Shortcut to the Amygdala)
B. Arousal
C. Polygraphs and Modern Lie Detector Tests
D. Ekman and Friesen and Universal Facial Features
E. Subjective Well-being (Adaptation Level Syndrome, Relative Deprivation)
Stress
A. Cortisol
B. General Adaptation Syndrome
C. Dr. Friedman’s Type A and Type B Personalities and Coronary Heart Disease
Personality
A. Psychoanalysis
1) Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Karen Horney, Alfred Adler, and Carl Jung
2) Id, Ego, and Superego
3) Defense Mechanisms
4) Psychosexual Stages
5) Therapy Tools: Free Association, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Rorschach
Inkblot Test
B. Humanistic Perspective
1) Carl Rogers and Person-centered Therapy
2) Abraham Maslow and the Hierarchy of Needs
3) Individualism vs. Collectivism
C. Trait Perspective
1) Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
2) Introvert vs. Extrovert
3) Personality Tests (Myers-Briggs, The Big Five, MMPI,
Psychological Disorders and Therapy (Abnormal Psych.)
A. Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV
B. Diagnostic Labels (Rosenthal)
C. Anxiety Disorder (Phobia, OCD, Panic Disorders and Attacks, Generalized Anxiety Disorder
(GAD)
D. Mood Disorders (Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Depression)
E. Dissociative Disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder)
F. Schizophrenia
G. Personality Disorders
H. Antisocial Personality Disorder
I. Mental Institutions (Past, Present, and Future)
J. Therapies (Psychoanalysis, Cognitive-Behavioral, Systematic Desensitization, ClientCentered, Aversive Conditioning, Counter Conditioning, Token Economy, etc.)
K. Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatrists, and Counselors
L. Psychopharmacology, Electro-convulsive Therapy, Shock Therapy, and
Psychosurgery
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XVII.
Social Psychology
A. Social Roles and Norms (Stanford Prison Experiment)
B. Festinger and Cognitive Dissonance
C. Asch and Conformity
D. Attribution Theory and Fundamental Attribution Error
E. Milgram and Obedience to Authority
F. Social Thinking
G. Social Influence
H. Social Relations
TIPS FOR STUDENTS TAKING AN AP CLASS FOR THE FIRST TIME
1. Take complete class notes and date them. Put them in your own words. I recommend using the
Cornell Style. Don’t write something you don’t understand without asking about it. Leave some
blank space on each page to make additions and clarifications. It is very important to review you
class notes each day while they are fresh on your mind. Expand them, clarify them, and add
examples so that they will make sense when going back to study from later.
2. Learn to read more effectively. You can read more effectively by doing the following:
A. Read actively; don’t just look at the words. If you spend a half hour “reading”
but are unable to recall anything when you are alone, you have wasted your time.
B. Do not ignore pictures, diagrams, tables, and sidebars in your textbook. These
features serve to make the text more interesting and may include important
information.
C. Take notes as you read. If you can condense a 30 page chapter into a few pages
of good notes, it’s going to be much easier to review. Perhaps most important:
keep a list of questions about the reading.
3. 3/4ths of the battle is vocabulary! I suggest you make a set of vocabulary flash cards on 3x5
index cards for the terms at the end of the chapter. As you make the cards, you are already
beginning to learn the vocabulary. The flashcards provide an excellent means of review. Your
textbook publisher also has online flashcards that can be useful. Even though this resource is
available I still recommend creating them on your own so they are available whenever you want.
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NATIONAL EXAMINATION DATE: MONDAY, MAY 2 - 12:00 PM
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Parents/Guardians:
Please return this page indicating that you and your student have both looked over
this syllabus. In doing so, you are indicating your understanding/agreement. Please
note the opportunities to contact me as needed: 770-448-3674 or via email @
[email protected].
_______________________
Parent/Guardian Signature
Telephone:________________ Email:_____________________________
_____________________
Print Student Name
_____________________
Student Signature
*Progress reports are sent home every six weeks following NHS policy.
*Student class grades and attendance can be accessed by creating a Student/Parent
Portal account. For more information visit:
https://go2.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/parent/wps/portal