Syllabus

Welcome to AP Psych! With Dr. Gould in Room 236 Please email me anytime: gould@bpsk12.org Note that test dates can change a bit as things come up.

__Participation:__ AP classes are offered to provide you the opportunity to work at a higher level while in high school. You have chosen this elective, in doing so you made a clear choice to work harder. Daily verbal participation is mandatory. You need to ask yourself at the end of the class as you are leaving, "what did I contribute out-loud today that was meaningful?" If you go a few days with a negative reply, you need to up your game.

__Learning and Behavior Expectations:__ Each of us will respect all members of our class. All work will be completed and submitted on time. Absences will be minimal. If any of these are not possible for you, honors or college prep psychology are available.

__Purpose__ According to the College Board: The AP Psychology course is designed to introduce you to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals. You will be exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within Psychology.

__Text:__ Myers [|__AP Psych text__]  This is an eText, once you download it within the app you can use it without being online. -Keep up with the reading assignments! Set a schedule for yourself and be disciplined enough to stick to it. -Please strive to 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 done, you have wasted your time. -Do not try to read the entire chapter at once. Each chapter is divided into several sections. The research says that cramming doesn't work. Don't add your grades to that body of data. -When you can condense a chapter to a few pages of good quality notes, it will be much easier to review later. More notes =/= better notes. The text has about a paragraph per page, which should = about a sentence of notes. Rephrase vocab definitions in your own words (just copying down from the book means that you can write -Mazel Tov!- but not good enough). Strive to come up with your own examples. Printing out wikinotes can help, but it is no substitute for doing it yourself.

__Assessments:__ Expect a test at the end of each unit. These are designed to prepare you for the 100 questions on the multiple choice section of the AP exam. Practice essays will take place within each section in order to prepare you for the specific organization and requirements of the AP exam. As we get closer to the exam, more frq (free response question) based exams will be administered. You are expected to sign up for the AP exam in the spring, information will be provided in a timely fashion to help you do this.

__Projects and Activities:__ Every unit has projects and activities associated with it. These vary in complexity and degree of difficulty. Projects will include debates, simulations, writing exercises, and other critical thinking activities. You can always expect that there will be a rubric explaining how you will be assessed. Please contact me with questions! Yes, you will be working with your peers on many of these projects. No, they might not be your besties, but I promise that you can tell me if they mortal foe and I'll do what I can. Hopefully Voldemort doesn't sign up this year! Do remember that part of life and society is learning to work with others...so get to it!

__TED Talk:__ You will be presenting a 100pt TED talk to your class, this is not a typical presentation. You watched many TED talks this summer, topics will be selected the first week of school. It is your responsibility to schedule your talk with me within its unit. The rubric will be collaboratively designed in class.

__Units:__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">I. History and Approaches (Chapters 1, 2 and summer reading __Opening Skinner’s Box__) 10-14% of the AP exam, 3.5 wks - Test will be 9/25 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">You will be able to: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assessment: Opening Skinner's Box quiz and project, Evaluation of an experiment project, History of Psychology speed dating activity, and your first 50 question MC (AP style) test.
 * Recognize how philosophical perspectives shaped the development of psychological thought
 * Describe and compare different theoretical approaches in explaining behavior:
 * Structuralism, functionalism, and behaviorism in the early years;
 * Gestalt, psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, and humanism emerging later;
 * Evolutionary, biological, and cognitive as more contemporary approaches.
 * Recognize the strengths and limitations of applying theories to explain behavior
 * Distinguish tenants of and between the different domains of psychology:
 * Biological, clinical, cognitive, counseling, developmental, educational, experimental, human factors, industrial-organizational, personality, psychometric, and social perspectives
 * Identify the major historical figures in psychology: Mary Whiton Calkins, Charles Darwin, Dorothea Dix, Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, William James, Ivan Pavlov, Jean Piaget, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner, Margaret Floy Washburn, John B. Watson, Wilhelm Wundt
 * Differentiate types of research: experiments, correlational studies, survey research, naturalistic observations, and case studies- all with regard to purpose, strengths, and weaknesses
 * Describe how research design drives the reasonable conclusions that can be drawn.
 * Identify independent, dependent, confounding, and control variables in experimental designs
 * Distinguish between random assignment of participants to conditions in experiments and random selection of participants, primarily in correlational studies and surveys
 * Predict the validity of behavioral explanations based on the quality of research design (confounding variables limit confidence in research conclusions)
 * Distinguish the purposes of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics
 * Apply basic descriptive statistical concepts, including interpreting and constructing graphs and calculating simple descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency, standard deviation)
 * Discuss the value of reliance on operational definitions and measurement in behavioral research
 * Identify how ethical issues inform and constrain research practices
 * Describe how ethical and legal guidelines (those provided by the American Psychological Association, federal regulations, local institutional review boards) protect research participants and promote sound ethical practice

II Human Development (Chapter 9) 7-9% of AP exam 2.5 weeks. Test will be Oct 14 You will be able to: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assesment: Application of Piaget’s learning task experiments write-up, life-stage observation activity, nature vs.nurture in-class debate.
 * Discuss the interaction of nature and nurture (including cultural variations) in the determination of behavior
 * Explain the process of conception and gestation, including factors that influence successful fetal development (nutrition, illness, substance abuse)
 * Discuss maturation of motor skills
 * Describe the influence of temperament and other social factors on attachment and appropriate socialization
 * Explain the maturation of cognitive abilities (Piaget’s stages, information processing)
 * Compare and contrast models of moral development (Kohlberg, Gilligan)
 * Discuss maturational challenges in adolescence, including related family conflicts
 * Characterize the development of decisions related to intimacy as people mature
 * Predict the physical and cognitive changes that emerge as people age, including steps that can be taken to maximize function
 * Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development
 * Identify key contributors in developmental psychology (Mary Ainsworth, Albert Bandura, Diana Baumrind, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, Carol Gilligan, Harry Harlow, Lawrence Kohlberg, Konrad Lorenz, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky)

III. Learning (Chapter 6) 7-9% 2.5 weeks Test will be Oct 28th You will be able to: Assessments: Animal training manual exercise, Train your friend or family member activity, debate about what BHS does right and what we could use help on.
 * Distinguish general differences between principles of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning (contingencies)
 * Describe basic classical conditioning phenomena, such as acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination, and higher-order learning
 * Predict the effects of operant conditioning (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, schedules of reinforcement)
 * Predict how practice, schedules of reinforcement, and motivation will influence quality of learning
 * Interpret graphs that exhibit the results of learning experiments
 * Provide examples of how biological constraints create learning predispositions
 * Describe the essential characteristics of insight learning, latent learning, and social learning
 * Apply learning principles to explain emotional learning, taste aversion, superstitious behavior, and learned helplessness
 * Suggest how behavior modification, biofeedback, coping strategies, and self-control can be used to address behavioral problems
 * Identify key contributors in the psychology of learning (Albert Bandura, John Garcia, Ivan Pavlov, Robert Rescorla, B.F. Skinner, Edward Thorndike, Edward Tolman, John B. Watson)

IV. Personality (Chapter 10) 5-7% of the exam 2 weeks Test will be Nov 13th You will be able to: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assessments: Character analysis using schools of thought in a contemporary show, movie, book, etc. Personality theorist debate, and personality box project.
 * Compare and contrast the major theories and approaches to explaining personality: psychoanalytic, humanist, cognitive, trait, social learning, and behavioral
 * Describe and compare research methods (case studies and surveys) that psychologists use to investigate personality
 * Identify frequently used assessment strategies (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory [MMPI], the Thematic Apperception Test [TAT], and evaluate relative test quality based on reliability and validity of the instruments
 * Speculate how cultural context can facilitate or constrain personality development, especially as it relates to self-concept (collectivistic versus individualistic cultures)
 * Identify key contributors to personality theory (Alfred Adler, Albert Bandura, Paul Costa and Robert McCrae, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers)
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chart and explain the various levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Describe the humanist view of personality
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Discuss concepts of external v. internal locus of control and learned helplessness
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Categorize your own personality from the trait perspective analysis online

V. Testing and Individual Differences (Chapter 11) 5-7% 1.5 weeks Nov 24th Assessments: Create an intelligence test, Bell Curve something! and
 * Define intelligence and list characteristics of how psychologists measure intelligence:
 * Abstract versus verbal measures;
 * Speed of processing
 * Discuss how culture influences the definition of intelligence
 * Compare and contrast historic and contemporary theories of intelligence (Charles Spearman, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg)
 * Explain how psychologists design tests, including standardization strategies and other techniques to establish reliability and validity
 * Interpret the meaning of scores in terms of the normal curve
 * Describe relevant labels related to intelligence testing (gifted, cognitively disabled)
 * Debate the appropriate testing practices, particularly in relation to culture-fair test uses
 * Identify key contributors in intelligence research and testing (Alfred Binet, Francis Galton, Howard Gardner, Charles Spearman, Robert Sternberg, Louis Terman, David Wechsler)

VI. Psychological Disorders and Therapy (Chapter 12 and 13) 12-16% 3.5 weeks Test Dec 18th You will be able to: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assessment: Movie project over break, diagnosis activity, case study treatment activity. Guest speaker reflection
 * Describe contemporary and historical conceptions of what constitutes psychological disorders
 * Discuss major diagnostic categories, including anxiety and somatoform disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia, organic disturbance, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders, and their corresponding symptoms
 * Evaluate the strengths and limitations of various approaches to explaining psychological disorders: medical model, psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, biological, and sociocultural
 * Identify the positive and negative consequences of diagnostic labels (the Rosenhan study)
 * Discuss the intersection between psychology and the legal system (confidentiality, insanity defense)
 * Describe the central characteristics of psychotherapeutic intervention
 * Describe major treatment orientations used in therapy (behavioral, cognitive, humanistic) and how those orientations influence therapeutic planning
 * Compare and contrast different treatment formats (individual, group)
 * Summarize effectiveness of specific treatments used to address specific problems
 * Discuss how cultural and ethnic context influence choice and success of treatment (factors that lead to premature termination of treatment)
 * Describe prevention strategies that build resilience and promote competence
 * Identify mjr. figures in psychological treatment: Beck, Ellis, Freud, Cover Jones, Rogers, Skinner, Wolpe

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">VII. Social Psychology (Chapter 14) 8-10% 2 weeks Test Jan 13th You will be able to: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assessment: design your own social psych experiment, debate (this one you write the topics)
 * Apply attribution theory to explain motives (fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias)
 * Describe the structure and function of different kinds of group behavior (deindividuation, group polarization)
 * Explain how individuals respond to expectations of others, including groupthink, conformity, and obedience to authority
 * Discuss attitudes and how they change (central route to persuasion)
 * Predict the impact of the presence of others on individual behavior (bystander effect, social facilitation)
 * Describe the processes that contribute to differential treatment of group members (in-group/out-group dynamics, ethnocentrism, prejudice)
 * Articulate the impact of social and cultural categories (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 (Solomon Asch, Leon Festinger, Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo)

Midyear Exam!!! Make MLK proud! (slightly smaller than actual AP exam)

VIII. Neuroscience and Individual Differences (Chapter 3 A,B,C) 8-10% 3 weeks Test Feb 12 FINALLY WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE BRAIN!!!! dissection week of Feb 8th You will be able to: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assessments: Brain dissection write-up, edible brain extra credit option.
 * Identify basic processes and systems in the biological bases of behavior: parts of the neuron, process of transmission of a signal between neurons
 * Discuss (no demos please) the influence of drugs on neurotransmitters (reuptake mechanisms)
 * Discuss the effect of the endocrine system on behavior
 * Describe the nervous system and its subdivisions and functions:
 * Central and peripheral nervous systems;
 * Major brain regions, lobes, and cortical areas;
 * Brain lateralization and hemispheric specialization
 * Recount historic and contemporary research strategies and technologies that support research (case studies, split-brain research, imaging techniques)
 * Discuss psychology’s interest in how heredity, environment, and evolution collab to shape behavior
 * Predict how traits and behavior can be selected for their adaptive value
 * Identify key contributors (Paul Broca, Charles Darwin, Michael Gazzaniga, Roger Sperry, Carl Wernicke)

IX. Sensation and Perception (Chapter 4) 6-8% 2 weeks Test March 9th You will be able to: Assessment: Sensation song, sensation olympics, deprivation activity.
 * Discuss basic principles of sensory transduction, including absolute threshold, difference threshold, signal detection, and sensory adaptation
 * Describe the sensory processes (hearing, vision, touch, taste, smell, vestibular, kinesthesis, pain), including the specific nature of energy transduction, relevant structures, and pathways for each of the senses
 * Explain the common sensory disorders (visual and hearing impairments)
 * Describe general principles of organizing and integrating sensation to promote stable awareness of the external world (Gestalt principles, depth perception)
 * Discuss how experience and culture can influence perceptual processes (perceptual set, context effects)
 * Explain the role of top-down processing in producing vulnerability to illusion
 * Discuss the role of attention in behavior
 * Challenge common beliefs in parapsychological phenomena (briefly, more like a revisit of the scientific method)
 * Identify the major historical figures in sensation and perception (Gustav Fechner, David Hubel, Ernst Weber, Torsten Wiesel)

X. Cognition: Memory, Thinking, Language, etc. etc. (Chapter 7 A+B) 13-17% 2.5+ weeks. Test March 29th ish (MCAS schedule dependent You will be able to: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Assessment: Wild Children discussion, Memory Palace activity.
 * Compare and contrast various cognitive processes:
 * Effortful versus automatic processing;
 * Deep versus shallow processing;
 * Focused versus divided attention
 * Differentiate psychological and physiological systems of memory (short-term, procedural)
 * Outline the principles that underlie effective encoding, storage, and construction of memories.
 * Describe strategies for memory improvement.
 * Synthesize how biological, cognitive, and cultural factors converge to facilitate acquisition, development, and use of language.
 * 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 (Noam Chomsky, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Wolfgang Kohler, Elizabeth Loftus, George A. Miller)

XI. Motivation and Emotion (Chapter 8 A+B) 6-8% April 10 You will be able to: Assessment: Motivation theories playlist "mixtape" partner activity.
 * Identify and apply basic motivational concepts to understand the behavior of humans and other animals (instincts, incentives, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation)
 * Discuss the biological underpinnings of motivation, including needs, drives, and homeostasis
 * Compare and contrast motivational theories (drive reduction theory, arousal theory, general adaptation theory), including strengths and weaknesses of each
 * Describe classic research findings in specific motivation systems (eating, sex, social)
 * Discuss theories of stress and the effects of stress on psychological and physical well-being
 * Compare and contrast major 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 (William James, Alfred Kinsey, Abraham Maslow, Stanley Schachter, Hans Selye)

XII. States of Consciousness (Sleep), Stress and Health (Chapter 5) 2-4% (vacay plus 1 week) You will be able to:
 * Describe various states of consciousness and their impact on behavior
 * Discuss the aspects of sleep and dreaming:
 * Stages and characteristics of the sleep cycles
 * Theories of sleep and dreaming
 * Symptoms and treatments of sleep disorders
 * Describe the historic and contemporary uses of hypnosis (pain control, psychotherapy)
 * Explain hypnotic phenomena (suggestibility dissociation)
 * Identify the major psychoactive drug categories (depressants, stimulants) and classify specific drugs, including their psychological and physiological effects
 * Discuss drug dependence, addiction, tolerance, and withdrawal
 * Identify the major figures in consciousness research (William James, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hilgard)

AP Exam!!!! May 2nd at noon

The rest of the year will be much more relaxed.

Forensic psych project Diagnosing Celebrities Pun-offs Haiku olympics