Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 1 9/24/2009
Psychology – AP Syllabus / Curriculum
This is a yearlong course in psychology that prepares students for the AP Psychology exam. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the study of behavior and mental processes of human beings and animals. Students are exposed to the psychological facts and principles associated with the major subfields of psychology.
Textbook Kalat, James W. Introduction to Psychology. Belement, CA: Wadsworth, 2005. (Includes a Study Guide and Try-It Yourself CD-ROM)
Required Student Reading Casey, Joan Frances. The Flock: the Autobiography of a Multiple Personality. New York, NY: Random House, 1991. Rapoport, Judith L. The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing. New York, NY: Signet, 1989. Sacks, Oliver. An Anthropologist on Mars. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1995. Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1985.
Teacher Resources Duffy, Karen. Annual Editions Psychology Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill. 2006. Friedburg, Karen. Annual Editions Human Development. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill. 2006. Reich, Jill. Close up on Psychology Supplemental Readings from the APA Monitor. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 1997. Slife, Brent. Taking Sides Clashing Views in Psychological Issues. Dubuque, IA. McGraw-Hill. 2006.
Media Resources “Baby Talk”. NOVA. WGBH Educational Foundation. 1985. “Learning”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection. 1989. “Motivation and Emotion”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection. 1989. “Psychotherapy”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection Vermont. 1989. “Remembering and Forgetting”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection Vermont. 1989. “Sensation and Perception”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection. Vermont 1989.
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 2 9/24/2009
“Understanding Research”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection. Vermont 1989. “The Behaving Brain”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection. 1989. “The Developing Child”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection. 1989. “The Mind Awake and Asleep”. Discovering Psychology. The Annenburg/CPB Collection. 1989.
Students Assessments Students will have been given a test each unit composed of 45 multiple-choice questions and one free response question. Quizzes are given, at least once a unit. Outside reading assignments will be given for books, articles and case studies related to the information presented in class. Other assignments include class presentations, group projects and papers.
Key to Curricular AP Requirements CR1-This course provides instruction in history and approaches. CR2-This course provides instruction in research methods in ethics used in psychological science and
practice. CR3-This course provides instruction in biological bases of behavior. CR4- This course provides instruction in sensation and perception. CR5- this course provides instruction in states of consciousness. Cr6- This course provides instruction in learning. CR7- this course provides instruction in cognition. CR8- This course provides instruction in motivation and emotion. CR9 -This course provides instruction in developmental psychology. CR10- This course provides instruction in personality. CR11-This course provides instruction in testing and individual differences. CR12-This course provides instruction in abnormal behavior. CR13-This course provides treatment of psychological disorders. CR14-This course provides instruction in social psychology. CR15- This course provides instruction in empirically supported psychological facts, research findings,
terminology, associated phenomena, major figures, perspectives, and psychological experiments
CR16- This course provides instruction in ethics and research methods used in psychological science and
practice.
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 3 9/24/2009
Unit I Psychology What is Psychology? –2 Weeks The Early Era Page pp (17-22)
Wilhelm Wundt and the 1st Psychological Laboratory [CR1]
Edward Titchener and Structuralism [CR1]
William James and Functionalism [CR1]
Darwin and the Study of Human intelligence [CR1] The Rise of Behaviorism (22-23)
John B. Watson and Baby Albert Experiment [CR1 & 15& 16] Was Watson’s experiment ethical?
From Freud to Modern Clinical Psychology (23)
Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis [CR1]
Mary Calkins [CR1]
Margaret Washburn [CR1]
Unit II Scientific Methods in Psychology –2 Weeks Steps for gathering and evaluating Evidence pp (32)
Hypothesis [CR2]
Method [CR2]
Results [CR2]
Interpretation [CR2]
Replicability (33)
Replicable results [CR2]
Criteria for evaluating scientific theories (34)
Parsimony [CR2]
Clever Hans, the Amazing Horse [CR1 & 15]
ESP and the Amazing Kreskin [CR 2]
Ganzfeld procedure [CR1, 2 & 15]
Try it Yourself: Psychic Phenomenon Experiment [CR1 & 15] General Principles of Psychological Research (40)
Operational definition [CR 2] Writing operational defintions
Population samples (random, representative, cross-cultural, convenience) [CR 2]
Demand characteristics [CR 2] Observational Research Design (44)
Natural observation [CR 2]
Case histories/studies [CR 2]
Surveys [CR 2]
Sampling [CR 2]
Surveyor biases [CR 2]
Correlational studies/ Correlation Coefficient [CR 2]
Illusory Correlations [CR 2]
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AP Psychology Page 4 9/24/2009
Correlation and Causation [CR 2] Experiments (49)
Independent variables [CR 2]
Dependent variables [CR 2]
Experimental group [CR 2]
Control group [CR 2]
Random assignment [CR 2] Ethical Consideration in research (52)
Informed consent [CR16]
APA ethical guidelines [CR 16]
Stanley Milgram’s experiment [CR 15 &16] Descriptive Statistics (56)
Mean [CR 2]
Normal distribution [CR 2]
Medium [CR 2]
Mode [CR 2]
Bimodal distribution [CR 2]
Range [CR 2]
Standard Deviation [CR 2] Evaluating Results: Inferential Statistics (59)
95% confidence interval [CR 2]
Inferential Statistics [CR 2]
Unit III Biological Psychology- 3 Weeks This course provides instruction in biological bases of behavior. Nervous System Cells [CR3]
Neurons
Glia
Cell body
Dendrites
Axon The Action potential (70) [CR3]
All-or-none law
Resting potential
Synapses (72) [CR3]
Terminal button
Neurotransmitter
Postsynaptic neuron
Neurotransmitters and Behavior (75)
Parkinson’s disease Dr. Sacks Case “Incontinent Nostalgia” pg.150 [CR3]
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 5 9/24/2009
Dopamine & Tourettes [CR 3, 12,13] Dr. Sacks Case “A Surgeons Life” & “Witty Ticcy Ray”pg.92
Attention deficit disorder [CR 3, 12,13] The major divisions of the nervous system [CR3}
Central nervous system
Peripheral nervous system
Somatic Nervous System The Forebrain [CR3]
Cerebral Cortex
Occipital lobe
Parietal lobe
Primary Somatosensory Cortex
Temporal Lobe Dr. Sacks Case Study “Reminiscence” & “A Passage to India” from The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat
Frontal Lobe Dr. Sacks Case Study “Yes, Father-Sister”& “The Last Hippie“ from The Man Who Mistook his
Wife for a Hat
Primary Motor Cortex
Prefrontal cortex How the Cerebral Cortex Communicates with the Body [CR3]
Thalamus
Medulla
Pons
Spinal cord
Reticular formation
Cerebellum
Measuring Brain Activity (83)
EEG
MEG
PET
FMRI The Corpus Callosum and the Spilt-Brain Phenomenon (87)
Epilepsy [CR3]
Unit IV Sensation and Perception – 3 Weeks This course provides instruction on sensation and perception The Detection of Light (97) [CR3]
Electromagnetic spectrum
Pupil
Retina
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 6 9/24/2009
Cornea
Lens
Fovea Common Disorders of Vision [CR3]
Presbyopia
Myopia
Glaucoma
Cataract The Visual Receptors [CR 3]
Cones
Rods
Light adaptation
Dark adaptation Visual Pathway [CR 3]
Ganglion cells
Optic Nerve
Blind Spot Try It Yourself “Filling in the Blindspot” Color Vision (104) [CR 3]
Trichromatic Theory/ Young-Helmholtz Theory (negative afterimages) [CR1, 3,4,15]
The Opponent –Process Theory [CR 1,3,4,15]
The Retinex Theory (color constancy) [CR 1,3,4,15]
Color Vision deficiency Dr. Sacks Case Study: “The Case of the Colorblind Painter” from Anthropologist on Mars (pg.3)
The Nonvisual Senses [CR3] Hearing (112)
Sound waves
Hertz
Pitch
Cochlea
Conduction deafness
Nerve deafness
Frequency principle CR
Volley principle
Place principle The Vestibular Sense (115) [CR3] The Cutaneous Sense (116) [CR3]
Gate control theory
Substance P.
Endorphins
Capsaicin
Phantom limb Dr. Sacks The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat “Phantoms” (pg.66)
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 7 9/24/2009
The Chemical Senses (121) [CR3]
Taste buds Experiment on “Are you a Super Taster?”
Smell- olfaction, pheromones Case Study: Dr. Sacks “The Dog Beneath the Skin” ” from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (pg156)
Sensory Thresholds and Signal Detection (125) [CR3]
Absolute sensory threshold
Signal-detection-theory [Cr 1,3,15] Perception and Recognition of Patterns (128) [CR4]
Brightness Contrast Try It Yourself Online “Brightness Contrast”
Feature Detectors
Gestalt Psychology [CR1, 4,15] “Sensation and Perception” Discovering Psychology Video
Figure and ground
Reversible figures
Proximity
Similarity
Continuation
Closure
Common fate
Good figure Perception of Movement and Depth (136) [CR4]
Visual constancy
Induces movement
Stroboscopic movement
Phi effect
Retinal disparity
Binocular cues
Monocular cues
Motion parallax
Optical Illusions (140) [CR4]
Moon illusion
Try It Yourself Online Muller-Lyer Illusion [CR15]
Unit V States of consciousness- 2 weeks Our circadian Rhythms (153) [CR4]
Circadian rhythm
Jet lag
Suprachiasmatic nucleus Why we sleep (156) [CR4]
Repair and Restoration theory
Evolutionary or energy-conservation theory of sleep
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 8 9/24/2009
Stages of sleep (158) [CR4]
Rapid Eye Movement “The Mind Hidden and Asleep” Discovering Psychology Video
Abnormalities of Sleep (162) [CR4]
Insomnia
Sleep Apnea
Narcolepsy
Sleep Talking, Sleep walking, Nightmares, and Night Terrors
Periodic Limb movement disorder
Hypersomnia
The Content of Our dreams (164) [CR 1,4,15]
Manifest & Latent content
Activation-synthesis theory of dreams
Neurognitive theory Hypnosis (169) [CR4]
Posthypnotic Suggestion
Hallucinations
Uses and limitations (170) Assignment: Position Paper: Should hypnosis be used in therapy? Drugs and their effects (178) [CR4]
Stimulants
Depressants
Narcotics
Marijuana
Hallucinogens Dr. Sacks case on PCP use: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat “Murder” (pg 161)
Chronic Drug Effects
Drug Withdrawal
Drug Tolerance
Unit VI Learning-2 Weeks Behaviorism (191) [CR 1,6,15]
Methodological behaviorists
Radical behaviorists
Stimulus-response psychology
Determinism Video: “Learning” Discovering Psychology
Classical Conditioning (195) [CR 1,6,15]
Pavlov and classical conditioning
UCS, UCR, CS, CR
Acquisition
Extinction
Spontaneous recovery
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 9 9/24/2009
Stimulus generalization
Discrimination
Operant Conditioning (206) [CR 6]
Thorndike & Cat Puzzle box experiment [CR 1,6,15]
Law of Effect
Reinforcement
Visceral responses vs. Skeletal responses
Premack principle
Primary and Secondary reinforcers
Punishment
Positive reinforcement
Passive avoidance Learning
Negative reinforcement
Avoidance learning
Omission training
Stimulus discrimination
Stimulus control
Shaping
Chaining
Schedules of reinforcement (Fixed-ratio, variable ratio, variable-interval, variable-ratio)
Other Kinds of Learning (220)
Conditioned taste aversion,
Social learning-approach & Albert Bandura: Modeling Aggression [CR 1, 6,14,15]
Unit VII Memory – 1 Week Types of Memory (233)
Ebbinghaus’s Studies [CR1]
Retrieval Cue
Decay of Short Term memory Try It Yourself Online [CR15]
Working Memory Method of testing memory
Free recall
Cued Recall
Savings Method
Implicit/Explicit memory
Procedural/Declarative memory
Chunking
Semantic & episodic memory Long-term Memory Storage (245)
State-Dependant Memory
SPAR method
Mnemonic devices Retrieval and Interference (252)
Serial Order-effect
Hindsight bias [CR14]
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AP Psychology Page 10 9/24/2009
Recovered memories, repression and dissociation [CR 1,13] Amnesia [CR 3, Anterograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
Korsakoff’s syndrome Dr. Sacks The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat “The Lost Mariner” (pg23)
Alzheimer’s disease
Infant amnesia
Unit VIII Cognition and Language- 2 weeks Categorization and Attention (273) [CR7]
Prototypes
Spreading activation
Preattentive process
Attentive process
The Stroop Effect
Change Blindness
Attentional Blink Problem Solving, Expertise and Error (285) [CR7]
Representative Heuristics
Base-rate information
Availability Heuristic
Confirmation bias
Functional fixedness
Sunk Cost Effect Human specializations for Learning Language (304)
Williams syndrome [CR 3,7,9]
Noam Chomsky’s Language acquisition device [CR1, 6,7,9] Video “Baby Talk” by NOVA
Broca’s aphasia [CR1 3, 6,7,9]
Wernicke’s aphasia [CR1 3, 6,7,9] Reading (312)
Phoneme/Morphemes
Fixations
Saccades
Unit IX Intelligence- 2 weeks Intelligence and Intelligence Tests
Stanford-Binet test [CR 1,11,15]
Wechsler [CR1, 11,15]
Progressive matrices
Spearman’s psychometric Approach and the g factor [CR 1, 11, 15]
Cattell’s Fluid & crystallized intelligence [CR1, 11, 15]
Howard Gardeners theory of Multiple Intelligences [CR 1,11,15]
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 11 9/24/2009
Sternburg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence [CR 1,11,15] Guest Speaker: School psychologist to talk on IQ testing in Education Standardization of IQ tests [CR 2,11]
Norms
Flynn Effect
Reliability
Content, construct and predictive ability
Unit X Human Development- 2 Weeks From Genetics through Infancy (353) [CR 3, 9]
Genes
Chromosomes
Zygote
Fetus
PKU
Fetal alcohol syndrome Jean Piaget’s View of Development (366) [CR 1, 9,15]
Schema
Assimilation
Accommodation
Equilibration
Sensorimotor Stage
Preoperational Stage, egocentrism
Concrete Operations Stage
Formal Operations Stage “The Developing Child” Discovering Psychology Video
The Development of Moral Reasoning (377) [CR 1, 9, 14,15]
Kohlberg’s Stages Erickson’s Description of Human Development [CR 1, 9,15]
Identity Crisis
Identity Diffusion
Identity Moratorium
Identity Foreclosure
Identity Achievement
Unit XI Motivation – 1week Hunger Motivation (412) [CR 3,8]
The physiology of hunger and satiety
Social and Cultural influences on Eating Sexual Motivation (426) [CR 3,8,14]
Sexual Anatomy and Identity
Sexual Orientation
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 12 9/24/2009
Work Motivation (438) [CR 3,8,14]
Goals and Deadlines
Job design and Satisfaction
Leadership
Unit XII Emotion, Stress, and Health- 1 week Measuring emotion
James-Lange Theory of Emotions [CR 1,8,15]
Schachter and Singer’s Theory of Emotions
Emotional Intelligence Decisions by People with Impaired Emotions
Phineas Gage [CR 1,3,15] A Survey of Emotions (465)
Positive psychology
Frustration-aggression hypothesis Stress, coping and Health (476)
Health psychology
Selye’s concept of stress (alarm, resistance) {CR 2, 15]
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder [CR 12,13]
Problem-based Coping & Emotion Based Coping
Psychosomatic Illness [CR 12,13]
Type A& B personalities [CR 10]
Unit XIII Personality- 2 Weeks Freud and the Psychodynamic Theory (491) [CR 2, 10,15]
Unconscious
Oedipus Complex
Psychosexual pleasure
Libido
Oral stage
Anal stage
Phallic stage
The Latent period
Genital Stage
Superego
Defense mechanisms (repression, denial, rationalization, displacement, regression, projection, reaction formation, sublimation)
Carl Jung and the Collective Unconscious [CR 2, 10,15]
Archetypes Alfred Adler and Individual Psychology [CR 2, 10,15]
Individual psychology
Inferiority complex
Striving for superiority
Style of life
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 13 9/24/2009
Social interest The Learning Approach
Gender role
Humanistic Psychology Carl Rogers [CR 2, 10,15]
Self-actualization
Self-concept
Ideal self
Unconscious positive regard Abraham Maslow [CR 2, 10,15]
Self-actualization Personality Traits and States (506) [CR10]
Nomothetic approach
Idiographic approach
State vs. trait
Internal Vs. External locus of control
The Big Five Model of Personality [CR10]
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to experience
The Origins of Personality [CR10] Personality Assessment [CR10]
Standardized tests
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Projective Techniques [CR 2,10, 15]
Rorschach Inkblots
Thematic Apperception Test
Handwriting
Emotional Stoop test
Implicit Association Test Test your own response to the test at http:/implicit.Harvard.edu/implicit/demo
Unit XIV Social Psychology- 2 Weeks This course provides instruction in social psychology Social Perception and Cognition (533) [CR14]
Primacy effect
Stereotype
Prejudice and discrimination
Aversive racism
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 14 9/24/2009
Ambivalent sexism
Bona fide pipeline
Internal attributions & External attribution
Fundamental attribution Error
Actor-observer effect
Self-servings
Self-handicapping strategies
Attitudes and persuasion (543) [CR14]
Central route & peripheral to persuasion
The sleeper effect
Forewarning effect
Inoculation effect
Foot-in-the-door, door-in-the face, bait and switch technique
Cognitive dissonance Interpersonal Attraction (552) [CR14]
Proximity
Mere exposure effect
Exchange or equity theories The Power of Social Situation (566)
The Prisoner’s Dilemma [CR 2,14] Play Prison’s dilemma game at Serendip.brymawr.edu/bb/pd.html
The Commons Dilemma Unit XV Abnormality, Therapy and Social Issues- 2 Weeks Cultural Influences on Abnormality [CR1,12,13]
Dissociative Identity Disorder and Multiple Personality Disorder
Video: Three Faces of Eve followed by 20/20 special “Lost in the Mirror” interview with the real “Eve” Reading Assignment: The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality
Classifying Psychological Disorders [CR12]
DSM-IV classifications
Axis I Disorders ex: ADD, ADHD
Axis II ex: personality disorders Historical Trends in Psychotherapy [CR1, 12,13]
Psychoanalysis
Free Association
Transference
Eclectic therapy
Brief therapy
Group therapy
Self-help groups
Harbor Creek School District
AP Psychology Page 15 9/24/2009
Behavior Therapy [CR13] Cognitive Therapy [CR13]
Rational-emotive therapy
Ellis [CR 2, 13, 15]
Humanistic Therapy [CR13]
Incongruence
Person-centered-therapy
Family Systems therapy [CR13] Social and Legal Aspects of Treatment [CR13] Landmark case in Forensic Psychiatry at bama.ua.edu/`jhooper/tableofc.html
Unit XVI Specific Disorders and Treatments- 2 Weeks Anxiety and Avoidance Disorders & Treatments [CR 12,13]
Generalized anxiety disorder
Panic Disorder
Phobias social phobias, agoraphobia, systematic desensitization & flooding
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder & exposure therapy Outside required reading The Boy who Couldn’t Stop Washing
Substance-related Disorders & Treatments [CR 12,13]
Nicotine
Alcoholism Type I & II Treatment with Antabuse
Opiate & treatment with methadone Mood Disorders & Treatments [CR 12,13]
Depression & SAD
Antidepressant medications (Tricyclic, SSRIs, MAOIs) & Electroconvulsive therapy
Bipolar Disorder I & II mania
Schizophrenia (hallucinations/delusions, catatonic, paranoid, undifferentiated, residual, tardive dyskinesia) Case Study: John Nash & A Beautiful Mind The controversy over treatments and medication The experience of Schizophrenia http;/www.chovil.com