Advanced Placement Psychology

Shawnee Mission West High School

Course Goal
Textbook
Recommended Supplies
Special Notes

To learn about the field of psychology through indepth study, discussion and hands-on activities.
Myers Psychology for AP; First Edition by Dr.
David Myers
Worth Publishers; New York, NY 2011
Lecture Notebook
Writing utensils
Note Cards 3 x 5
Recommended that the student take the AP Test at
the end of this year in May. Exam fee is around
$86.00

Course Objectives
Students will prepare to do acceptable work on the AP Psychology Examination.
Students will study the major core concepts and theories of psychology. They will be able to define key
terms and use them in their everyday vocabulary.
Students will understand some of the explorations and discoveries made by psychologists to move
psychology from a philosophy to more of a science.
Students will learn the basic skills of psychological research and be able to apply psychological concepts
to their own lives.
Students will develop critical thinking skills.
Instructors Resources
Membership into APA, especially TOPPS . Resources from on-line.
Myers Psychology for AP
Online resources provided by AP Collegeboard
Diagnostic & Statistical Manuel for Mental Disorders-5th Edition (DSM-V). APA, Washington, DC.
2013
Testing & Homework Expectations
Grading will completed on a point system. Your grade is divided into two categories, formative and summative.
Formative activities include: participation, notebook, vocabulary, Padlet assignment and blogging. Summative
activities include: unit tests, cumulative quarter tests and test corrections. We will follow the schools guidelines
for the grade by percentages. Items that can be part of the assessment process include:
Unit & Semester Exams
o Exams can include such testing items such as multiple choice questions, short answer and essay
Daily Reading Assignments
Classroom work
o This will include lecture notes as well as any in-class activity that requires follow up assignments
Projects (any type of possible research activity)
Quizzes and other forms of assessments
ASSESSMENT PRACTICES
All final assessments will be accomplished through a point system. For a letter grade the grading scale will be
as follows:

Letter
Grade
A
B
C
D
F

% of Total
Points
90% or above
80-89+%
70-79+%
60-69+%
Below 60%

Points will be awarded to each item.

Assessment of Testing
Unit Test
Unit test will be given 50 minutes to complete which consist of multiple choice, short answers and essay. This
will follow AP testing styles
Comprehensive Exams
Each quarter, students will be tested on material leading up to that quarter. They will have 90 minutes to
complete the test. The test will consist of multiple-choice questions, short answer questions and essay
questions.
Test Corrections
For each unit test, students can complete test corrections. They will be given a week from when tests handed
back to complete. Students will receive half credit for each correct answer.
Assessment of Classroom/Homework
Lecture Notebook
Each student will keep a lecture notebook, which will be graded periodically. Within the notebook, notes from
lectures, assigned vocabulary work, unit webs, assignments from enhancing videos and possible follow up
activities from classroom discussions will be in here. This will be able to be used to help the student study for
the AP Test in May.
Extra Points
There will be no extra credit
Assessment of Projects
There are small unit projects throughout the semester; they will be graded based on how well they meet the
requirements given. The point value of the project will depend on the requirements of the project.
There is also a yearlong video project associated with TED Ed Club. There will be some class time given to
work and develop but there will be work required outside class. This project will have benchmarks to meet
along the way to help keep you on track.
Course Outline
1st Semester
I
Historical, Scope & Methodology of Psychology
Historical Schools; Structuralism vs. Functionalism (CR1)
Modern Approaches (CR1)
o Pre World War II (Psychodynamics, Behaviorist)
o Post World War II (Cognitive, Humanistic, Gestalt, Evolutionary, Neuroscience)
Areas of Studies within Psychology
o Understand the different fields of studies according to the APA

II

III

Research Methodology (CR2)

o Methods (introspection, observation, survey, psychological testing, experimentation,
multi-method research)
o Statistical understanding
Ethical issues within Psychology and Research (CR16)
o Human subjects including bias issues and subject consent concepts
o Non Human (animal) subjects
Physiological/Biological & Health Psychology
Neuron: Neuronal and synaptic transmission, psychopharmacology and drug abuse
Brain: Research methodology, neuroanatomy, brain development and hemispheric specialization
o Including lobes, limbic system and other parts of the brain including general functions
o Ways to measure EEG, MRI, CAT Scans, PET Scans
Nervous System structural & functional organizations
o Central vs. Peripheral Nervous Systems
o Autonomic vs. Somatic Nervous Systems
o Sympathetic & Parasympathetic Divisions
Endocrine System Anatomy & immune system
Genetics and Heredity Issues
Health-Stress (CR6)
o Labeling Sources of stress
Change Holmes & Rahe (1967)
Hassles Lazara & DeLongis (1983)
Pressure Morris (1990)
Frustrations Morris (1990)
Conflicts Lewin (1934)
Self-imposed Ellis (1979)
o Individual Differences
Coping Mechanics
o Direct Coping Techniques
Confront, compromise & withdrawal (including biofeedback, self-control, taste aversion
& emotional learning)
o Defensive Coping Techniques
Denial, repression, projection, identification, regression, intellectualization, reaction
formation, displacement & sublimation
Health Psychology & Suicide Issues
o Background information Surgeon Generals Report 1999
o Warning Signs
Memory, Cognition and Language
Memory
o Sensory Registers
o Short-term Memory (STM) capacity, coding, retention & retrieval
Rehearsal rote & elaborative
o Long-term Memory (LTM) episodic memory, semantic memory, implicit & explicit memory
Storage & retrieval
Autobiographical Memory
o Special Types of Memories flashbulb memory, extraordinary memories (eidetic imagery,
mnemonics)
o Biological, cultural & cognitive bases of memory

IV

VI

VII

Sensation & Perception (CR4)

Psychophysics; absolute thresholds, noticeable difference, signal detection theory
Sensory Organs & Transduction (CR3)
o Vision Color Vision, Near & Far Sightedness, Ground vs. Figure & retinal imagery
o Sound Frequency & Place Theories & Ground vs. Figure
o Smell Olfactory Bulb
o Taste Taste Buds & Cross Adaptation (including gustatory)
o Touch
Kinesthetic Senses
Vestibular Senses
Perception
o Perceptional Organization Form Perception, Depth Perception, Motion Perception &
Perceptional Constancy
o Perception Interpretation (including the human factor) 3D images and perceptional illusions
o Extrasensory Perception
Developmental Psychology (CR9) (CR15)
Nature vs. Nurture (maturation vs. heredity)
Methodology of Research; longitudinal, cross-sectional and biological/retrospective studies
Critical Periods of Developmental Issues
Influential Theories with Stages
o Cognitive Developmental Stages-Piaget
o Social Developmental Stages-Erikson
o Moral Developmental Stages-Kohlberg & Gilligan
o Introduce Language Development-Chomsky & Vygotsky
o Adult Stages of Development-Levinson
Other concerns within each stage
o Infants (Temperament-Thomas & Chess)
o Childhood (Parenting Styles-Baumrind)
o Adolescents (Crisis Levels & Achievement-Hall/1904; Marcia/1980)
o Adult Issues (Levinson)
Death & Grieving
o Suicide Introduced
o 5 Stages of Grieving-Kuebler-Ross
Personality & Introduction to Associated Disorders (CR10)
Psychodynamics Perspective: Freud, Jung, Adler & other neo-Freudian individuals
Trait Perspective: Allport, factor analysis and the Big Five (five-factor analysis), assessment (MyersBriggs & MMPI), Consistency within traits (Mischel 1968)
Humanistic Approach: Rogers, Maslow & hierarchy of needs application
Social-Cognition Perspective: Bandura & Seligman
Introduce disorders according to DSM-IV related directly to personality issues (CR 12)
o Dissociative Disorders
o Personality Disorder
o Schizophrenia
Motivation & Emotions (CR8) (2 Units)
Motivational Concepts
o Instinct & drive
o Optimal arousal

o Maslows Hierarchy of Needs/Motivation

Primary Drives: hunger, thirst & sex
o Hunger & Eating Disorders
o Sexuality/Sexual Orientation
Secondary Drives social issues
Achievement Motivation: McCelland and the TAT, intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivators
Philosophy of Emotions Plutchiks Emotional areas (1980)
Theories of Emotions
o James-Lange Theory
o Cannon-Bard Theory
o Schacter-Singer Theory
Expressions of Emotions: Darwin & Ekman
nd
2 Semester
I

II

III

Behavior/Learning & Conditioning (CR6) (CR15)

Historical Background around Behaviorist
o Thorndike Law of Effect Instrumental Learning
o Watson Father of Behaviorist
Classical Conditioning
o Pavlov Pavlovs Dog Experiment
o Higher Order Conditioning
o Biological Critique & Cognitivist Challenge
Operant Conditioning
o Skinner Skinner Box
o Primary & Secondary Reinforcers
o Biological Critique & Cognitivist Challenge
Other Forms of Learning
o Cognitive Learning
Latent Learning
Cognitive Maps
Insight
Learning Sets
o Social Learning
Vicarious Learning (including vicarious punishment & reinforcement)
Modeling
Memory, Cognition and Language
Cognition (CR7)
o Images & Concepts input of information, prototypes
o Problem Solving trial & error, information retrieval, algorithm, heuristics
o Obstacles set & functional fixedness
o Problem solving improvement techniques
Language
o Language Structure phonemes, grammar, morphemes, semantics & syntax
o Development babbling, one-word (holophrases), telegraphic speech, complete sentences
o Chomsky & Skinner
Intelligence, Mental Abilities & Testing (CR11)
Psychological Testing: Methodology, norms, reliability & validity

VI

Intelligence: Defining intelligence, historical background in understanding & aptitude testing,

nature vs. nurture issues
Concerns of Testing including race/cultural differences, bias in testing and interpretation
Levels of Intelligence mental retardation, giftedness IQ concepts
Abnormal Psychology & Therapies
Abnormal Psychology Historical background (CR12)
o Societies perspective
o DSM development categories & dimensions
Nature, causes & treatment background
o Biological model, psychoanalytic model, cognitive-behavioral model, diathesis-stress model
& systems theory
Classifying Abnormal & General Description of Each Area
o Schizophrenia & other psychotic disorders
o Substance related & other organic disorders
o Mood Disorders
o Anxiety Disorders
o Somatoform Disorders
o Factitious Disorders
o Dissociative Disorders
o Sexual & Gender Identity Disorders
o Sleep Disorders
o Impulsive-Control Disorders
o Personality Disorders
o Childhood Disorders
Differences with Genders concerning abnormalities
Therapies-Types (CR13)
o Insight Therapies Psychoanalysis, Client-centered/Humanistic, Gestalt
o Behavior Therapy
o Classical Conditioning Therapy including modeling
o Cognitive Therapies Stress-inoculation, Rational-Emotive & Becks Cognitive
o Group Therapies Family, Marital & self driven
Effectiveness of Psychotherapy
Biological Treatments
o Drug Therapies, Electroconvulsive Therapy & Psychosurgery
Institutionalization & Alternatives
o Institutions
o Deinstitutionalization & Alternative Forms including outpatient
Differences & Concerns
o Gender
o Cultural
o Economics & Insurance
Social Psychology (CR14)
Social Cognition
o Impression Formation Schemas, primary effect, self-fulfilling prophecy, stereotypes
o Attribution Attribution theory
Bias concerns Fundamental Attribution Theory, Defensive Attribution & Just-World
Theory

VI

o Interpersonal Attraction proximity, physical attraction, similarity, exchange & intimacy

Social Attitudes
o Tendencies directed toward something or someone:
Beliefs facts, opinions and our general knowledge application
Feelings emotions and sentiments from individual
Behavior tendencies ways individual may act/action
o Prejudice & scapegoating
Social Influence
o Cultural Influence Aronson (1992)
o Cultural Assimilators Baron & Graziano (1991)
o Conformity Asch Study (1951)
o Compliance foot-in-door effect, low ball procedure
o Obedience Milgram Study (1963)
Social Action
o Deindividuation Zimbardo (1970)
o Helping Behaviors/Altruism Bystander Effect (Darley & Latane 1968)
o Group Decision Making polarization, Steiner study, leadership effects & Fiedlers Study
o Organizational Behavior Productivity & Communication Concepts
Hawthorne Effect
State of Consciousness (CR5)
Sleep & Wake Cycles
o Circadian Cycles
o REM & NREM Sleep
o Problems & Disorders (CR12)
Sleep Deprivation
Disorders Insomnia, Apnea, Narcolepsy
Dreams
o Day Dreams
o Fantasy
Hypnosis & Meditation
Altered States
o Terminology
o Narcotics
o Depressants
o Stimulants
o Hallucinogens & Marijuana