Long Branch High School
Social Studies Department

AP Psychology-Ms. Miller
Summer Reading and Pre-Course Assignment Summer 2012

Contact: with any questions
Welcome to AP Psychology. I look forward to another challenging year that will prove to be both rigorous and fun. We will be covering the entire College Board curriculum so we will move quickly and self-motivation is a necessity. You have two assignments to complete over the summer and they are due on the first day we return from summer break. No late work will be accepted…You have all summer to do this so no excuses will be accepted.

This is a reading and writing intensive course and you will be required to write 2 research papers in the year. You will also be required to read journal articles of a scientific nature in a publication called The Mind and you will be responsible to critically analyze 2 articles a month.

We will be reviewing studies in the book “The 40 Studies That Changed Psychology” by Roger R. Hock 6th edition. I strongly recommend that you get this book in advance as it will be a course requirement.
Assignment Summer Reading: All of psychology is based on research, thus its classification as a social science. Your first assignment is to read twobooks of the choices listed below and write a critical analysis paper on each that includes serious reflection.

Student instructions:

Write an original paper of no more then four-seven pages. The paper should be double spaced, Times New Roman Font, and have “1 margin on all sides. It should also include answers to the following questions based on both books. ( You may want to separate their analysis)

  1. What was the book about and who wrote it?
  2. What did you learn that you did not previously know?
  3. Why were you interested in reading this particular book?
  4. How does the book you read relate to psychology? Please explain
  5. Do you agree of disagree with the authors conclusions? Please present evidence to support your answer.
  6. After reading the book is there a topic you would like to learn more about? What questions specifically?
  7. Analysis of the psychological issues presented.
  8. All sources must be cited to receive a grade in APA (American Psychological Association) format

Step 1: Choose 2 books from the options below: There will a test the first few days of school to include all of the books, you will be responsible for only answering the questions of the books you actually chose to read.

Book Choices:

  1. A Fractured Mind: My Life With Multiple Personality Disorder by Robert B. Oxnam
  1. Genie: A Scientific Tragedy by Russ Rymer
  1. Head Cases Stories of Brain Injury and It’s Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason
  1. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil; by Philip Zambardo
  1. Opening Skinner’s Box: Great psychological experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater-(Highly recommended for this course)

Criteria for Book Analysis Paper

Summary ------40 points – A concise yet comprehensive summary of the subject of the books and the critical points presented. This summary should also demonstrate an understanding of the psychological principles presented.

Questions raised ------15 points – While reading books dealing with psychological themes the introductory student of psychology will naturally have questions. List three of these questions for each book that demonstrate intellectual curiosity regarding the subjects presented.

StyleOrganization- 10 points – the writing style and organization of the topic are interesting and logical to the reader.

Mechanics ------10 points – Spelling, grammar, etc. are correct. References are made to the book and its authors.

Perspective ---- 25 points - The paper should reflect the reader’s reaction to the general topic. Psychology is the scientific study of human and animal behavior, including physical, cognitive, and emotional abilities. Include in your paper a well constructed opinion of how this book is relevant to the course and what you learned from it.

Assignment #2: You are to define all of the vocabulary words listed in your handwriting no typed vocabulary. The words are located at the bottom of the page.

  • These are considered by most psychologists to be essential words that students should know. These are to be handwritten and kept in your binder.
    For the first day of class you need:
    1. Summer Reading Book Assignment
    2. Vocabulary assignment handwritten only

3. Ethics pledge below signed by both parent and student

4. A Three ring binder

5. Your vocabulary handwritten for a first week of school quiz on the terms

AP Psychology Neuroscience/ Introduction Vocabulary

  1. Activating System (RAS)
  2. Amygdala
  3. Broca’s Area
  4. Cerebellum
  5. Cerebral Cortex
  6. Corpus Callosum
  7. Hindbrain
  8. Thalamus
  9. Frontal Lobes
  10. Hippocampus
  11. Hypothalamus
  12. Parietal Lobes
  13. Forebrain
  14. Limbic System
  15. Medulla
  16. Motor Cortex
  17. Occipital Lobes
  18. Pons
  19. Soma
  20. Axon
  21. Dendrite
  22. Myelin Sheath
  23. Synaptic Terminals
  24. Resting Potential
  25. Action Potential
  26. Absolute Threshold
  27. Refractory Period
  28. Reticular
  29. Sensory Cortex
  30. Temporal Lobes
  31. EEG
  32. CAT Scan
  33. PET Scan
  34. MRI
  35. Wernicke’s area
  36. Split Brain Operation
  37. Phineas Gage
  38. Roger Sperry
  39. Confirmation Bias
  40. Case Study
  41. Survey
  42. Random Sample
  43. Naturalistic Observation
  44. Experimental Method
  45. Independent Variable
  46. Dependant Variable
  47. Control group
  48. Placebo
  49. Correlation
  50. Social Psychology

AP Psychology
Summer Reading 2012
Ethics Pledge
By signing below, I, ______, hereby certify that:
1. I have read each study completely that is reported on in this assignment.
2. The whole summer reading assignment is in my own words.
3. None of the attached summer reading assignment has been copied, in whole or in part, from any other source, including other students currently in this course.
4. I understand that dividing the studies between students to complete is not acceptable under any circumstances.
5. None of this work has been plagiarized and I understand the definition of plagiarism.
6. I understand my summer reading assignments are due on the 1st day of class when the bell rings and no later that day. Each day received after will be a deduction of 10 pts and not graded after the 3rd day.
7. I understand that if plagiarism is found of any kind the students will receive a zero for the assignment and a parent conference.
Student Signature Parent Signature

______

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