Summer+Work

Your summer assignment is composed of four layers. The first part is required and there will be a quiz on the first real day of school, the second part is required but is building towards a later assignment, the third layer is required and just a platform to familiarize yourself with, and the fourth layer is optional but available for those who want to get ahead. This year long voyage into the human mind will be enjoyable and contain challenges. The more you prepare over the summer, the better prepared you will be for life and class. Please feel free to check out the Syllabus and the main page to learn more about what we will be exploring during the course.

I am so thrilled that you are joining us on this journey through the study of the mind. It will be incredible. We will all learn so much from each other. If you have immediate questions or any concerns, please email me at gould@bpsk12.org. Have a wonderful summer and please pace yourself! Best, Dr. Gould

You need to get a copy of 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology, link to a pdf. Here it is on Amazon: for sale. It is available as an epub with a tiny bit of googling. You can check it out from a library as well. If you aren't able to afford the book, please touch base with me or Mr. Whitten asap.
 * Part 1 (required, time consuming, pace yourself)**

You will need to take notes (not annotation) on the content of this text, particularly if you are only borrowing it from the library, as you will be doing group projects on the experiments within the book for the first project grade. Your first quiz (not open note) will be on the first real day of class and on is based entirely upon this text. It isn't a reason to get anxious, just be prepared and you will do just fine. There are vague summaries online, these aren't good enough. Important information includes why the myths existed, why they are false, and why myths persist. Marginal information includes minutia like dates, researcher's middle initials, etc. -these epherma in no way need to be committed to memory. Big ideas and how the scientific method was followed, does. Notes will be very useful for your first group project, which covers chapters 1 and 2 of your textbook; the history of psychology and research methodology. Here is an online version if you are [|curious.]

Please watch at least seven of the following TED Talks. We will be using TED Talks a great deal during the year, this assignment is to familiarize you with how they work and to get you curious about the wide variety of topics we will be exploring. While watching, please take mental note about what makes a TED talk a TED talk. You will need to understand this because you will be delivering your own TED talk within the context of the topics being studied throughout the year. You will get to pick from a list of topics generated by last year's students. You may suggest additions to the list (email me!) but I will only add topics that I feel will contribute to the goals of our studies as laid out by the syllabus. Topics will be assigned the second week of school, they are determined by the just graduated seniors based upon the AP test they just took. A TED talk is not like any presentation you have ever given before, you can have notecards, but you will be engaging the audience and NEVER reading from the ppt if you choose to have one. The instructions for the TED are to the right if you are on a computer. The topic list will change if you are reading this at the end of the school year based upon the senior's suggestions (next year your last project will be to create the following year's TED list!), but I left them up so you would have some ideas of what they are like.
 * Part 2 (required, not time consuming)**

Dan Ariely, [|Why we think it’s OK to cheat and steal (sometimes)] :

Diana Laufenberg, [|How to learn? From mistakes] :

James Randi, [|Homeopathy, quackery, and fraud] :

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, [|The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain] :

Daniel Pink, [|Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us] :

Beau Lotto, [|Optical Illusions Show How We See] :

Philip Zimbardo, [|The Lucifer Effect: The psychology of evil] : (this contains some graphic imagery, not appropriate for immature viewers)

Dan Gilbert, [|The surprising science of happiness] :

Joshua Foer, Amazing feats of memory anyone can do

Sir Ken Robinson, How schools kill creativity

Ramachandran, 3 Clues to understanding your brain, by [|Ramachandran] (he is an author on our booklist!)

Eleanor Longden, [|The voices in my head], a psychologist with schizophrenia.

Robert Sapolsky, [|The Biology of our best and worst selves] he is going to win the Pulitzer for the book that this talk is based on. His interviews on Colbert and The Daily Show are also worthwhile if you love neuroscience and the political brain.

__Questions to consider:__ How are these different from any presentation I have ever previously given? How can I be successful in doing this? How far in advance should I prepare? How can I get crowd participation and ensure enthusiasm? Here are the TED topics and guidelines from last year if you are reading at the end of the school year, for next year if you are reading at the end of the summer. Consider what topics interest you, how you will prepare, and how you will interactively present your very own TED talk. **This is the only 100pt assignment in AP psych** and deserves some time and thought.

Join pinterest and follow [|my psychology boards] I have created and curate a pinterest board for each chapter. You will be expected to be able to regularly visit this page and read articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts, understand memes, and find all kinds of nuggets of information that will expand your horizon by showing you how psychological principals exist in the world around you.
 * Part 3**
 * Pinterest (required, as time consuming as you want it to be)**


 * Part 4**
 * Optional Books:** These are awesome reads that can really add to your understanding of the topics we will be covering during this year. The more you read, the better you will do on the essays and on your TED. These are not required, they can however give you a real head start when you have already read the book you choose for your winter or April break assignment Book Project (non-readers don't freak, there are 2 or 3 other options):

Bronson, & Merryman. __Nurtureshock: The new thinking about children.__ link. Is a collection of current developmental psych research. I give this book to all new parents I encounter and like so that they can see how kids think. If you are a kid or know a kid, this might be great for you. You could also purchase it for your parents...

Burton, R. (2008). __On being certain. Believing you are right even when you’re not.__ NY: St. Martin’s Press. An examination of evidence from recent studies in neuroscience tat suggests that “being certain” of anything is more a “mental sensation” or neurological state than it is the product of careful reflection and reasoning. What we think we know is not always so.

Chabris, C. and D Simons. (2010). __The invisible gorilla: and other ways out intuitions deceive us.__ NY: Harmony. Combine the work of other researchers with the authors’ findings on attention, perception, memory, and reasoning to reveal how faulty intuitions often get us into trouble.

Cheever, S., J. Hoffman, S. Froemke and S. Nevins. (2007). __Addiction: why can’t they just stop?__ NY: Rodale Books. Companion book to an HBO documentary assesses our current understanding of addiction, combining expert opinions with personal narratives of impact of this epidemic on addicts, their friends and family, and our society. The HBO special is also great.

Gregory, R.L. (1990). __Eye and brain: The psychology of seeing__ (4th ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Readable account of how we see including lots of visual illusions. If you are color blind this is a must-read.

Hilts, P.J. (1995). __Memory's ghost: The strange tale of Mr. M. and the nature of memory.__ NY: Simon & Schuster. Henry M. underwent experimental brain surgery in 1953 and has since lived only in the present. He can talk and read and write, but has no memory for what has just happened -- every minute is a new experience for him. Like the movie Memento, but with no tattoos.

Hobson, J.A. (2002). __Dreaming An introduction to the science of sleep.__ NY: Oxford University Press. Recent work by one of the foremost experts on sleep and the emergence of dreams. Not an interpretive manual so some are disappointed to find, but really enlightening.

Jamison, K.R. (1995). __An unquiet mind__. NY: Knopf. A beautifully written account of manic bipolar disorder (manic depression) written by a professor of psychiatry who is a victim of the disorder. A central theme is her reluctance to take the drug lithium even though it will be beneficial because she is afraid to lose the creative energy that comes with the disorder.

Jourdan, R. (1997). __Music, the brain and ecstasy: how music captures our imagination.__ NY: William Morrow. What is music, how does it affect us, and what accounts for musical genius? Are there any musicians out there? This could be for you.

Kubler-Ross, E. (1969, 1978). __On death and dying.__ NY: MacMillan. Classic study of terminally ill patients and their adjustment, first elaborated “DABDA” stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This is the definitive/foundational text on stages of grief. If you are going to major in psych, you will read this at some point.

Lane, H. (1976). __The Wild Boy of Aveyron.__ Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Critical account of a boy whose early life was spent in the wild forests of Aveyron in southern France in the late 1700s. He was eventually captured, institutionalized, then sent to Paris for study and display.

LeDoux, J. (2002). __Synaptic self: How our brains become who we are.__ NY: Penguins Books. Synthesis of (kinda) recent research in neuroscience to explain how the interactions between nerve cells in the brain creates what we experience as personality.

LeVay, S. (1996). __Queer science: the use and abuse__ __of research into homosexuality.__ Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Controversial review of various efforts over the past century to explain the causes of sexual orientation by a leader in recent biologically-based research. I really wish there was something more recent, but a fascinating history.

Levenkron, S. (2001). __Anatomy of anorexia.__ NY: W.W. Norton & Co. Balanced and readable survey of what is known about the causes and treatment of this disorder.

Livingstone, M.S. (2002). __Vision and art: the biology of seeing.__ NY: Harry N. Abrams. Explains how artists use elements like perspective, luminance, color mixing, shading and chiaroscuro produce certain effects. A Harvard neurobiologist, the author discusses da Vinci's use of contrast, the illusory three-dimensionality of Impressionist paintings and why Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie gives the impression of motion. If you are a visual artist or aspire to be one, this could be the read for you.

Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). __The how of happiness: a scientific approach to getting the life you want.__ NY: Penguin Press. Lyubomirsky argues that personal happiness is not entirely dependent on biological predispositions or life’s circumstances. Concepts from cognitive and motivational psychology suggest that “mindfulness” and “intentional activity” will allow us to identify “happiness strategies that she claims will give us the ability to achieve greater happiness.

Myers, D.G. (2004). __Intuition: its powers and perils.__ New Haven: Yale University Press. The book builds on discoveries in cognitive science to explore the concept of intuition, its general strength and weaknesses, and its relationship to investment, psychotherapy, and employment settings.

Pinker, S. (1997). __How the mind works.__ Well-known M.I.T. cognitive psychologist offers a wide ranging discussion of how we process information. Fascinating stuff! His TED talks are awesome as well (see above).

Sacks, O. (2008). __Musicophilia: Tales of music and the brain.__ NY: Vintage. Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. He shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments,” neurological conditions which affect a person’s experience of music and reveal something of the importance of music to human behavior.

Sacks, O. (2010). __The mind’s eye.__ NY: Alfred A. Knopf. Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the power of speech, the capacity to recognize faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight.

Sacks, O. (2012). __Hallucinations__. NY: Knopf. Sacks latest book weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture’s folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is a vital part of the human condition.

Schacter, D.L. (2001). __The seven sins of memory How the mind forgets and remembers.__ NY: Houghton Mifflin & Co. Excellent, highly readable discussion of the nature of human memory, where and how it fails us, and why it works so well nonetheless.

Segal, N.L. (1999). __Entwined lives: twins and what they tell us about human behavior.__ NY: Dutton. You will not find a more thorough presentation of what is known about twins and how they have contributed to our knowledge of psychology. If you are a twin, know a twin, or want to know a twin, this is for you.

Simmons, R. (2002) __Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression__ __in Girls__. NY: Harcourt. The author is a Rhodes scholar who has painstakingly researched female bullying and the psychology of girls, feels that girls’ aggressiveness is just as harmful as that of boys but is much harder to recognize. The secret world of girls’ aggression, restraints from society and relationships are analyzed throughout the book.

Zimbardo, P.G. (2007). __The Lucifer effect: understanding how good people turn evil.__ NY: Random House. What makes good people do bad things? How can moral people be seduced to act immorally? Who is in danger of crossing the line between good and evil? Zimbardo (Stanford Prison Experiment architect and TED talk above) explains how we are susceptible to the lure of “the dark side” and offers an explanation of a variety of phenomena, from corporate malfeasance to organized genocide to how once upstanding American soldiers came to abuse and torture Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib. I use this book some in Facing History and Ourselves when teaching about modern genocides.