AP Psychology
Course Overview
The purpose of the Advanced Placement course in Psychology is to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals. Students are exposed to the empirically-supported psychological facts, research findings, terminology, major figures, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. They learn about the methods psychologists use in their science and practice. The aim of this course is to provide the student with a learning experience equivalent to that obtained in most college introductory psychology courses.
AP Psychology is a highly structured, very demanding course. Students are required to thoroughly read the college-level text and prepare text-notes, which usually take an outline form, prior to attending the lecture on the assigned reading. One of the primary objectives of this course is to expose students to all areas of information covered on the AP Examination. This is accomplished through lecture, class discussion, video clips, select outside readings as appropriate, guest-lecturers, demonstrations and projects. These teaching methods are discussed throughout this syllabus. A daily schedule of study is required to meet the expectations of this course and will typically require 1-2 hours of preparation per class meeting.
Text: David Myers Exploring Psychology – Eighth Edition. Worth Publishers, 2007.
Supplemental Reading: Roger Hock Forty Studies That Changed Psychology. Prentice Hall, 2006.
Course Planner
These are the major content areas covered by the AP Psychology Examination, as well as the approximate percentages of the multiple choice section that are devoted to each area.
The attached class calendar details exactly when and how we will be covering each area.
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History & Approaches
Research Methods
Biological Bases of Behavior
Sensation & Perception
States of Consciousness
Learning
Cognition
Motivation & Emotion
Developmental Psychology
Personality
Testing & Individual Differences
Abnormal Psychology
Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Social Psychology
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First Quarter / Reading Assignments/"What's due?"
Unit 1: History & Approaches / Research Strategies
27/28-Aug / Welcome to AP Psych (Introductions, syllabus, books, What is psych?, Subfields of psychology, Psychology as a science-scientific method) / \
29/30-Aug / Practice AP exam (testing strategies & study tips), Intro & history / pp. 1-8
31-Aug04-Sep / Approaches (Biological, Behavioral, Cognitive, Humanistic, Psychodynamic, Sociocultural & Evolutionary/Sociobiological) / pp. 9-17
5/6-Sep / Research methods (Experimental, Correlational-observations & surveys- , Case studies, Naturalistic Observations & Clinical Research) / pp. 23-44
7/10-Sep / ESSAY WORKSHOP A / Distribute Qtr 1 Assignment (Design an Experiment) / Essay A
11/12-Sep / Ethics in Research (human and animal ethics, APA Guidelines for ethical experimentation) / pp. 44-51
13/14-Sep / TEST UNIT 1 / Unit 1 Vocabulary
Unit 2: Biological Bases of Behavior
17/18-Sep / Neuroanatomy (field trip to bathroom!) & Neural Transmission / pp. 52-61
19/20-Sep / Organization of the nervous system; Brain Imaging (scans, surgery, autopsies…) / pp. 61-70
21/24-Sep / Brain structures & functions / pp. 71-93
25/26-Sep / Brain "dissection" / pp. 95-114
27/28-Sep / Endocrine system; Genetics; ; Split-brain research / pp. 114-137
1/2-Oct / TEST UNIT 2 / ESSAY B / Unit 2 Vocabulary
Unit 3: Sensation & Perception
3/4-Oct / Intro to Sensation & Perception (thresholds, attention, sensory adaptation); Eye & vision (color vision) / pp. 197-214
5/8-Oct / Ear & hearing AND "other" senses (smell, taste, touch) / pp. 214-235
9/10-Oct / Perception - part 1 (perceptual illusions, perceptual constancies, depth perception, perceptual set, extra sensory perception) / pp. 237-254
11/12-Oct / Perception - part 2 Collect First quarter Project / pp. 255-269
15/16-Oct / TEST UNIT 3 / ESSAY WORKSHOP B / Unit 3 Vocabulary
Unit 4: Consciousness
17/18-Oct / Sleep & dreams (biorhythms, why we need sleep, sleep disorders, dream theories) / pp. 271-290
19/22-Oct / Hypnosis & psychoactive drugs / pp. 290-311
23/24-Oct / TEST UNIT 4 / ESSAY C / Unit 4 Vocabulary
Second Quarter / Reading Assignments/
"What's due?"
Unit 5: Learning
11/13&14 / Classical conditioning (Pavlov) / pp. 313-325
11/15&16 / Operant conditioning (Watson, Thorndike, Skinner) / pp. 326-340
11/19&20 / Operant conditioning continued (reinforcement schedules, experiments) Projects due / Case Study: Pavlov
11/26&27 / Social Learning / Modeling (Bandura); Biological factors Introduce Second Quarter Project: Motivation and Emotion / pp. 341-347
11/28&29 / TEST UNIT 5 / ESSAY / Unit 5 Vocabulary
Unit 6: Cognition
11/30&12/3 / Memory (encoding – storage – retrieval) / pp. 349-375
12/4&5 / Forgetting (memory reconstruction vs. construction – Loftus; Alzheimers) / pp. 375-393
12/6&7 / Language (language structure and development, theories (Chomsky, Whorf), animals and language) / pp. 410-429
12/10&11 / Language continued (critical period -- Genie) / Case Study: What You Expect…
12/12&13 / Thinking (Concepts and prototypes), Problem Solving (heuristics and algorithms) & Creativity / pp. 395-410
12/14&17 / TEST UNIT 6 / ESSAY D / Unit 6 Vocabulary
Unit 7: Motivation & Emotion
12/18&19 / Theories of Motivation (drive-reduction, Maslow, social, achievement & sex) / pp. 469-473; pp. 481-511
12/20&1/2 / Theories of Motivation (hunger, thirst & pain) / pp. 473-480
01/3&4 / Theories of Emotion (James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter); facial expressions as cultural universsals / pp. 513-547
01/7&8 / TEST UNIT 7 / ESSAY WORKSHOP D / Unit 7 Vocabulary
01/9&10 / Stress / pp. 549-591
Unit 8: Stats
01/11&14 / Psychologist's Guide to Descriptive & Inferential Statistics/Measures of Central Tendency/ Writing about Stats -- ESSAY WORKSHOP E / enjoy your Winter Break!
Unit 9: Testing & Individual Differences
01/11&14 / Intelligence theories (Influence of heredity & environment; Guilford, Gardner, Thurstone, Spearman, Sternberg) / pp. 431-442
01/15&16 / Psychological Testing (Standardization & norms, reliability & validity, ethics; Intelligence testing - Binet) / pp. 430-467
01/17&18 / Psychological Testing: Objective (MMPI)- vs. Projective (Rorschach) Collect Second Quarter Project *Couch’s Bday / pp. 602-603; pp. 616-618
01/23&24 / Midterm / Unit 9 Vocabulary
Unit 10: Personality
11/14-Jan / Personality according to Freud / pp. 595-600
15/16-Jan / Neo-Freudians (Jung, Adler, Horney) / pp. 601-608
17/18-Jan / - On-line personality tests / \
Third Quarter / Reading Assignments/
"What's due?"
Unit 10: Personality (continued)
23/24-Jan / Locus of Control / pp. 625-637
25/28-Jan / Trait theory, Social-cognitive, Behaviorist (Skinner) & Humanistic theories (Maslow & Rogers) Introduce Third Quarter Project: Serial Killer / pp. 609-625
29/30-Jan / TEST UNIT 10 / ESSAY Workshop F / Unit 10 Vocabulary
Unit 11: Developmental Psychology
31-Jan
01-Feb / Physical development– prenatal development (heredity-environment issues) & the newborn AND parenting / pp.139-146
4/5-Feb / lifespan psychology (longitudinal & cross sectional studies): Kubler-Ross, adolescence, sex roles & differences & aging / pp.164-167; 173-194
6/7-Feb / Piaget - cognitive development &Vygotsky / pp. 147-154
8/11-Feb / Harlow - attachment studies; Erikson - social development / pp. 154-164; pp. 170-172
12/13-Feb / Kohlberg & Gilligan - moral development / pp. 167-170
14/15-Feb / TEST UNIT 11 / ESSAY G / Unit 11 Vocabulary
Unit 12: Social Psychology
19/20-Feb / Conformity studies (Milgram, Zimbardo, Rosenhan, Asch) & attribution / pp. 723-737
21/22-Feb / Group/organizational behavior (norms, roles, groupthink) attitudes & prejudice / pp. 737-748
25/26-Feb / Aggression, attraction & altruism (Kitty Genovese case) / pp. 749-772
27/28-Feb / TEST UNIT 12 / ESSAY H / Unit 12 Vocabulary
Unit 13: Abnormal Psychology
1/4-Mar / Quarter 3 Project Workday / \
5/6-Mar / Defining abnormality (DSM-IV, how different perspectives explain disorders) / pp. 639-649
7/8-Mar / Anxiety, somatoform, dissociative & personality disorders / pp. 649-658
11/12-Mar / Mood disorders, organic disorders AND "others" -- ADHD, autism… / pp. 658-669
13/14-Mar / Schizophrenias / pp. 669-683
15/18-Mar / Diagnosing Psychopathology: Case study lab / QUARTER 3 PROJECT DUE
19/20-Mar / speaker / \
21/22-Mar / TEST UNIT 13 / ESSAY I / Unit 13 Vocabulary
Fourth Quarter / Reading Assignments/"What's due?"
Unit 14: Treatment of Psychological Disorders
25/26-Mar / Psychotherapy (Psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral & cognitive approaches to treating disorders) / pp. 685-699
27/28-Mar / How affective is therapy? Modes of therapy (individual, group, family…). Community & Preventative Approaches / pp.700-710-
8/9-Apr / Biomedical therapies (psychopharmacology / psychosurgery) / pp. 711-721
10/11-Apr / TEST UNIT 14 / ESSAY J / Unit 14 Vocabulary
Review for the AP Exam
12/15-Apr / Practice exam (multiple choice only) / Key names due
16/17-Apr / Units 1-3 Review / Enjoy Your Spring Break!
18/19-Apr / Units 4-6 Review / prepare for AP Exam
22/23-Apr / Units 7-9 / prepare for AP Exam
24/25-Apr / Units 10-14 Review / prepare for AP Exam
26/29-Apr / AP Psych Exam / prepare for AP Exam
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Assessments
Grading Policy
I will use the standard CMS grading scale (93-100 = A; 85-92 = B; 77-84 = C; 70-76 = D; below 70 = F). Your quarter grade will be based on a weighted score with unit exam counting 70% of your grade. Reading quizzes and case study questions (assignments) equal to 15% of your grade, and vocabulary and projects equal to 15% of your grade. The approximate point value for each assignment is listed below:
Unit Vocabulary: 25 points each
Unit Tests: 100 points each
Quarter Projects/Papers: 100 points each
Homework: 5 points each
Essay Workshops / Essays: 25 points each
Your final grade for the course will be weighted the following way:
37.5% 1st semester grade
37.5% 2nd semester grade
25% final exam
Students are assessed daily on the reading by means of a quiz, homework check or text-notes check. Students are assessed daily in class by means of verbal questioning and interactions during the lecture. Students are assessed after each unit with a 100-question multiple-choice test and an essay. Two-three projects/papers may also be assigned during the course. See Course Planner and Teaching Strategies sections for detail on student evaluation.
Typically a 100-point test will be supported with 5-point quizzes or homework checks, 25-point Essay Workshops, 25-point vocabulary card homework, etc. Major projects are approximately 100 points depending on the quarter.
All TESTS are 100-question, multiple-choice exams given in a timed 60- 70 minute session. Test questions are grouped by topic to allow for item and test analysis after each test. For example, on the Prologue and Chap 1 TEST (History, Approaches, Research Methods and Ethics), Questions 1-10 may deal with the key names in the field, questions 11-20 deal with the main approaches to psychology, questions 21-30 cover the subfields or professions in the field, questions 31-50 cover the experiment, etc. Tests are returned to students the day following the administration and time is scheduled in class for each student to review their exam, analyze their performance in each of the categories or on each of the topics, and prepare a study guide on the material they need to review.
Each subsequent test in the course is cumulative. For example, the Unit 12 TEST (Social Psychology) may include 50-60 questions on the current material and any combination of material from previous chapters. Typically the review material from previous chapters assesses the topics that proved most troublesome in earlier tests.
There is one midterm exam.
Quarter Projects are an opportunity for students to practice psychological methods of inquiry and apply psychological concepts to the world around them. Students address topics such as research design, evaluation of psychological research and application of research and theories.
The final examination is typically scheduled near the actual AP examination.
During the first semester, the “learning semester”, essays are given during every other testing block. One released AP Psychology essay is given in a 25-minute time period following the multiple choice exam. The essays are collected and held until the next test date. On that date, the essays are returned to the students and in a workshop-format, sample essays and rubrics are reviewed and students assess their own work on the essay. Course credit is given to the students for participating in this process. Essays are not graded by the instructor for course credit during the first semester.
During the second semester, the “proving semester”, essays are given during every testing block. One released AP Psychology essay is given in a 25-minute time period following the multiple choice exam. Each essay is graded according to the released rubric and the grade is entered in the grade book for course credit.
UNIT VOCABULARY : At the end of each module, there is a section titled: "Terms and Concepts to Remember". Each of these terms should be written in a composition book with their definition written on the back. Or, if you prefer, you may write each term and definition on a notecard. Vocabulary will be checked the day of each unit test. You should keep all of your vocabulary for the entire year.
Teaching Strategies
Daily Accountability: reading quizzes, test-notes check, and homework checks (vocabulary cards, study questions, etc) are given at random each day. A variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement is utilized to encourage students to perform all the study behaviors essential to success in the course. Students are verbally quizzed throughout the lecture. Open-ended questions are utilized frequently during a class-meeting to allow students to “fill-in-the-blank” and demonstrate their preparation for class. Class participation points could be given here, although I do not.
Modeling the Testing Environment on the AP exam: all tests are 100-question multiple choice in a timed 60-minute session in order to mirror the length and timing of the actual exam in May. The extra 15 minutes they receive in the actual exam will seem excessive after the year of training. All essays given in class are actual released AP Free Response Essays and given in a 25-minute timed session in order to mirror the time allotted for the essays on the actual AP exam.
Cumulative Chapter Tests: tests are cumulative to negate the serial position effect. “Old” information retains the freshness and accessibility of “new” information through this strategy and retrieval of the entire course information on the May AP Exam is more effective. Cumulative testing eliminates the need for intensive review sessions in April and allows more course time to explore and learn new information.
Video Clips: short 5-20 minute clips covering specific topics (split brain, Broca’s area, Dissociative Identity Disorder, etc.) are embedded within the lecture either introducing or summarizing points made in the lecture. A lecture/discussion may incorporate several starts and stops to interject an appropriate and useful clip. See Teacher Resources section below for specific titles.
Hollywood feature films, ripe with artistic and sensational alterations of psychological processes, are not used in the course.
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