Course Syllabus
AP Psychology Syllabus
Mr. Coach Spencer
Weddington High School, Home of the Warriors
Course Goal: Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. AP Psychology is designed to provide high school students with a college level course for college credit with a passing grade on the AP exam. Students will learn about this field through in-depth study, discussion, and hands on activity. Be prepared to participate!
Course Objectives
- The student will begin to examine human behavior.
- The student will identify various methods and measuring tools used by psychologists.
- The student will trace the historical development of psychology.
- The student will explore major psychological theories and theorists.
- The student will compare and contrast significant therapeutic approaches.
- The student will examine a variety of topics common to the study of psychology, such as memory, perception, learning, motivation, personality theories and stress.
- The student will analyze the human brain and neurological physiology as it applies to behavior(normal and abnormal), learning addiction and emotions.
- The student will assess his or her own behavior patterns.
- The student will explore his or her own motivation, goals, fears, developmental patterns, and value structure.
Textbook: Psychology For the AP Course, David G. Myers, 3rd Edition
Required Supplies: Chromebook
Paper
Writing utensil
Textbook
Additional outside reading and or review books
Grading:
Tests 50%
Quizzes 20%
Daily Work 15%
Projects 15%
Make Up Work
You are required to complete all make up work in a timely manner and it is your responsibility to find out what that is and turn it in. This is high school… and actually a college level class so don’t expect a lot of “hand holding.” Be responsible.
AP Exam
Of course, being an AP class, there is an AP exam. The exam is in early May. You need at least a 3 to get college credit at most schools. Local exceptions are Wake Forest, Elon, Carolina & Duke, which require a 4 or 5. Because this class is 1st semester & the exam is in May, it will be critical that you study extensively before the test and come to the many review sessions. Last year, I had 6 leading up to the test. If you:
- Are an AP caliber student
- Pay attention & do what’s required, and
- Study for the exam
I don’t see why you would make worse than a 3. People fail when at least one of conditions is off.
AP Psychology Course Outline
Unit One: History, Approaches, and Research Methods
Objectives:
Comprehend, analyze and explain the historical roots of psychology and the seven approaches to the
field. Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of research methods, including experimental design,
elementary statistics and ethical concerns.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Name significant contributors to the field of psychology since its beginnings and discuss their
specific contributions.
- Discuss the way in which psychology developed from philosophy and conjecture into a
science.
- Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the founders, theories, methods, and practices
of each of the approaches to psychology: biological, behavioral, cognitive, psychodynamic,
sociocultural, humanistic, and evolutionary/sociobiological.
- Compare and contrast the way in which the seven approaches differ in their research
methods, practices, and theories.
- Discuss self-concept, self-esteem and personality assessment techniques.
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of various research practices, including
experiments, observations, case studies, surveys, standardized tests, and clinical trials.
- Define validity and reliability in the scientific method and critique given experiments based on
these principles.
- Demonstrate an understanding of correlational relationships versus cause and effect
relationships.
- Explain the different purposes and uses for descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
- Analyze given experiments with a working knowledge of terms such as: hypothesis,
independent variable, dependent variable, experimental condition, control condition, random
assignment, single-blind study, double-blind study, and participants.
- Design authentic experiments using the terminology above.
Unit Two: Personality
Objective:
Compare, analyze and explain theories of personality.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Define personality as a relatively stable pattern of thoughts, behaviors and motives.
- Explain the characteristics of the biological, learning, cultural, psychodynamic, and humanist
theories of personality.
- Identify important contributions to the understanding of personality.
Unit Three: Developmental Psychology
Objective:
Compare, analyze and explain theories of developmental psychology in terms of physical, cognitive, social
and moral development.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Discuss factors during pregnancy that can affect psychological development after birth.
- Explain important concepts from infancy including contact comfort, separation anxiety, and
insecure/secure attachment.
- Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the developmental theories of Sigmund Freud,
Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky, Eric Lenneberg, Lawrence Kohlberg, Erik Erikson, Carol Gilligan,
and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.
- Explain the biological and social factors that influence gender development.
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of various methods of parenting, including
induction and power assertion.
- Describe the ways in which physiological and environmental changes affect adolescent
development.
Unit Four: Cognition and Intelligence
Objective:
Discuss the nature of intelligence and the processes involved in cognition.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Discuss the elements of cognition, such as concept, prototype, proposition, schema, mental
image, and metacognition.
- Explain the problem solving strategies human beings use, such as algorithms, heuristics,
deduction, induction, dialectics, and critical thinking.
- Explain the various barriers to reasoning that sometimes lead human beings astray, such as
the availability heuristic, confirmation bias, hindsight bias, cognitive dissonance, biases due
to mental sets, and justification of effort.
- Explain the role of genetics and the environment in the formation of intelligence.
- Discuss and evaluate the methods that researchers use to study intelligence, including
psychometric measures (such as the IQ test) and alternative measures (such as Sternberg’s
triarchic theory and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory).
- Explain the differences between crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence.
- Explain cognitive ethology and what this field reveals about the nature of intelligence in
animals.
Unit Five: Learning
Objective:
Explain, analyze and compare the various ways by which human beings learn.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Describe and explain the process of classical conditioning using the following terminology:
unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response,
acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, higher-order conditioning, generalization,
discrimination, and counterconditioning.
- Describe and explain the process of operant conditioning using the following terminology:
reinforcement, punishment, primary reinforcer or punisher, secondary reinforcer or punisher,
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction, generalization, discrimination,
continuous schedule, intermittent schedule, shaping, successive approximations,
discriminative stimulus, and behavior modification.
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of systems of punishment and systems of
reinforcement, including the roles of intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement.
- Discuss the contributions of the major scientists in the field of behaviorism, including Ivan
Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner.
- Explain social-cognitive theories and discuss the ways in which they differ from behavioral
theories.
- Describe the processes of observational learning and latent learning.
Unit Six: Abnormal Psychology: Disorders and Treatment
Objective:
Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the causes, symptoms, treatments, and effects of the
psychological disorders covered in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychological
Association.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Distinguish common definitions and characteristics of abnormal behavior and discuss the role
of society in forming these.
- Explain the purpose of the various methods used to explore abnormal behavior, including
subjective diagnosis, the Rorschach test, the MMPI, and the role of the DSM.
- Discuss the symptoms of various disorders form the thirteen major categories outlined in the
DSM.
- Evaluate the history of treatment of the mentally ill and discuss current stigmas today.
- Describe the appropriateness of various treatments for individuals with psychological
disorders, including drug therapy, psychotherapy, hospitalization, and crisis intervention.
- Write case studies of given patients identifying the patient’s symptoms, the type of therapy
recommended, the psychological approach underpinning that recommendation, and the
probable outcome for the long term.
Unit Seven: Biological Bases of Behavior
Objective:
Describe and explain the biological bases of behavior through an understanding of neuropsychology.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Name and describe the anatomical and functional relationships between the various parts of
the central and peripheral nervous systems.
- Demonstrate an understanding of brain function at the cellular level by explaining the
structure and function of neurons, neurotransmitters, and electrical impulses.
- Identify the structure and function of the major regions of the brain.
- Explain the operations of the various lobes of the brain and the functions of the right and left
hemispheres.
- Explain the role of genetics as it pertains to human behavior and brain function.
- Describe the techniques scientists have used to study the brain, including ablation, direct
stimulation and dissection, as well as modern technologies such as EEG, PET, MRI, fMRI, and
CAT scans.
- Explain the various states of consciousness human beings experience, including REM and
non-REM sleep, hypnosis, meditation, dreaming, daydreaming, and drug-induced changes in
consciousness.
Unit Eight: Sensation
Objective:
Analyze and discuss the processes of sensation using scientific vocabulary and appropriate terminology.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Explain top-down and bottom-up processing and the key differences between them.
- Describe the operations of each of the sensory systems using the correct anatomical terms.
- Define and use the following terminology in discussing the processes of sensation and
perception: absolute threshold, difference threshold, sensory adaptation, sense receptors,
sensory deprivation, and selective attention.
- Explain the causes of various sensory disorders including deafness and color blindness.
Unit Nine: Perception
Objective:
Analyze and discuss the process of perception using scientific vocabulary and appropriate terminology.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Explain the Gestalt principles, perceptual constancy, binocular cues, monocular cues,
trichromatic theory, and opponent-process theory.
- Explain why perceptual illusions happen.
- Discuss perceptual influences gained from culture and experience, including the perceptual
set and inborn abilities.
Unit Ten: States of Consciousness
Objective:
Define states of consciousness and discuss sleep, hypnosis, and drug-induced changes in consciousness.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Explain the sleep cycle and discuss theories that explain why we sleep.
- Recognize and explain types of sleep disorders.
- Compare different theories about the use and meaning of dreams.
- Describe theories of hypnosis including dissociation theory and hidden observer.
- Characterize the major categories of psychoactive drugs and their effects.
- Evaluate the effects of narcotic, depressant, stimulant, and hallucinogenic drugs.
Unit Eleven: Memory
Objective:
Discuss the process of memory from psychological and biological perspectives.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Explain the process of encoding information into memory using terminology such as
explicit/implicit memory, priming, recall, recognition, the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model, and
retrieval cues.
- Describe the operation of short-term memory.
- Describe the process of long-term memory.
- Analyze and discuss what happens when memory fails people.
- Identify brain structures crucial to memory.
- Describe strategies for improving memory.
Unit Twelve: Motivation and Emotion
Objective:
Demonstrate an understanding of human motivation and emotion.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Explain the biological and environmental cues that motivate human beings.
- Discuss and evaluate the major theories of motivation, including Maslow’s hierarchy,
intrinsic/extrinsic motivation theory, expectancy-value theory, and instinctual/biological
theories.
- Discuss the physiological, affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of emotions.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter-Singer
theories of emotion.
- Describe the effects of motivation and emotion on perception, cognition and behavior.
Unit Thirteen: Stress and Health
Objective:
Discuss and analyze issues in social psychology, including group dynamics, social expectations, and
organizational behavior.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Identify and explain major sources of stress
- Explain the psychological and physiological impact of stress.
- Identify cognitive-behavioral strategies for dealing with stress.
Unit Fourteen: Social Psychology
Objective:
Discuss and analyze issues in social psychology, including group dynamics, social expectations, and
organizational behavior.
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered:
Students will be able to . . .
- Explain the structure and function of a given group using such terms as norms, roles, group
polarization, deindividuation, bystander apathy, bias, and discrimination.
- Discuss the process by which we form judgments in terms of attribution theory and attitude
formation.
- Discuss the research that has been conducted regarding conformity, obedience, altruism and
aggression (specifically the work of Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, and the story of Kitty
Genovese), and the various theories formed from these studies.
- Explain the negative impact group identity can have on society (including stereotypes,
prejudice, and ethnocentrism), and the means by which these effects can be reduced.
Course Summary:
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