3
SOCIOLOGY SYLLABUS
Instructor: Mr. Luis Gonzalez
Class Location: Room 322
Conference Period: 1stth period – 8:25 – 10:00am
Textbook: Sociology: The Study of Human Relationships
The purpose of this Psychology class 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 psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology.
Course Objectives
1. Students will prepare to do acceptable work on Psychology Examinations.
2. 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.
3. Students will learn the basic skills of psychological research and be able to apply psychological concepts to their own lives.
4. Students will develop critical thinking skills.
Textbook (Primary)
Understanding Psychology – Holt
Homework Expectations
Ample notice will be given for any assignment, quiz, or exam. The amount of work depends on the unit being covered in class. There are assigned pages to read in the textbook every night.
Vocabulary terms are also given for each unit. Quizzes are administered frequently, at least once a unit. The quizzes range from using fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and/or multiple-choice questions. Exams will be given at the end of each unit and will consist of multiple-choice questions and one free-response question.
Other assignments given to students are class presentations, group projects and papers. These assignments vary with the unit being covered.
Psychology is not a Texas Core Curriculum class and thus has no guidelines from the Texas Department of Education. So this class will follow the American Psychology Association’s standards.
Course Outline
Unit I: History, Approaches and Research Methods
A. Logic, Philosophy, and History of Science
B. Approaches/Perspectives
C. Experimental, Correlation, and Clinical Research
D. Statistics
E. Research Methods and Ethics
Objectives
Students will:
• Define psychology and trace its historical development.
• Compare and contrast the psychological perspectives.
• Identify basic and applied research subfields of psychology.
• Identify basic elements of an experiment (variables, groups, sampling, population, etc.).
• Compare and contrast research methods (case, survey, naturalistic observation).
• Explain correlation studies.
• Describe the three measures of central tendency and measures of variation.
• Discuss the ethics of animal and human research.
Major Assignments:
1. Compare/Contrast Schools of Thought essay
2. Case Study: How to conduct an experiment
Essential Questions:
1. What is psychology and how did it grow?
2. Why don’t all psychologists explain behavior in the same way?
3. How does your cultural background influence your behavior?
4. How can critical thinking save you money?
5. What does it mean when scientists announce that a research finding is “significant”?
6. Do psychologists deceive people when they do research?
Key Terms/Vocabulary
behavioral approach experimenter bias
biased sample forensic psychologists
biological approach health psychologists
biological psychologists humanistic approach
case studies hypothesis
clinical and counseling psychologists independent variable
cognitive approach industrial psychologists
cognitive psychologists naturalistic observation
community psychologists operational definitions
confounding variable personality psychologists
consciousness placebo
control group psychodynamic approach
correlation psychology
critical thinking quantitative psychologists
culture random assignment
data random sample
dependent variable random variables
developmental psychologists reliability
double-blind design sampling
educational psychologists school psychologists
empiricism social psychologists
engineering psychologists sociocultural variables
environmental psychologists sport psychologists
evolutionary approach statistically significant
experiment surveys
experimental group theory
validity
variables
Unit II: Biological Basis of Behavior
A. Physiological Techniques (e.g., imagining, surgical)
B. Neuroanatomy
C. Functional Organization of Nervous System
D. Neural Transmission
E. Endocrine System
F. Genetics
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe the structure of a neuron and explain neural impulses.
• Describe neuron communication and discuss the impact of neurotransmitters.
• Classify and explain major divisions of the nervous system.
• Describe the functions of the brain structures (thalamus, cerebellum, limbic system, etc.).
• Identify the four lobes of the cerebral cortex and their functions.
• Discuss the association areas.
• Explain the split-brain studies.
• Describe the nature of the endocrine system and its interaction with the nervous system.
Major Assignments:
1. Psychologist Report-narrative essay over a random psychologist.
2. Draw a neuron and label parts
Essential Questions:
1. What are neurons, and what do they do?
2. How do biochemicals affect my mood?
3. How is my nervous system organized?
4. How is my brain “wired”?
5. How can my hormones help me in a crisis?
Key Terms/Vocabulary
Action potential medulla
Amygdale midbrain
Association cortex motor cortex
Autonomic nervous system nervous system
Axon neurons
Biological psychology neurotransmitter
Central nervous system nuclei
Cerebellum parasympathetic nervous system
Cerebral cortex peripheral nervous system
Corpus callosum plasticity
Dendrites reflexes
Endocrine system refractory period
Fiber tracts reticular formation
Fight-or-flight syndrome sensory cortex
Forebrain somatic nervous system
Glands spinal cord
Glial cells sympathetic nervous system
Hindbrain synapse
Hippocampus thalamus
Hormones
hypothalamus
Unit III: Developmental Psychology
A. Life-Span Approach
B. Research Methods
C. Heredity–Environment Issues
D. Developmental Theories
E. Dimensions of Development
F. Sex Roles, Sex Differences
Objectives
Students will:
• Discuss the course of prenatal development.
• Illustrate development changes in physical, social, and cognitive areas.
• Discuss the effect of body contact, familiarity, and responsive parenting on attachments.
• Describe the benefits of a secure attachment and the impact of parental neglect and separation as well as day care on childhood development.
• Describe the theories of Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg.
• Describe the early development of a self-concept.
• Distinguish between longitudinal and cross-sectional studies.
Major Assignments:
1. Case Studies over Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development, Piaget’s Cognitive Stages of Development, Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development and Kohlberg’s Moral Stages of Development
2. Case Study: James Marcia’s Identity Achievement Chart
Essential Questions:
1. What does genetic influence mean?
2. Why should pregnant women stay away from tobacco and alcohol?
3. How do babies think?
4. How do infants become attached to their caregivers?
5. What threatens adolescents’ self-esteem?
6. What developmental changes occur in adulthood?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Accommodation gender roles
Assimilation generativity
Attachment genes
Authoritarian parents identity crisis
Authoritative parents information processing
Behavioral genetics maturation
Chromosomes midlife transition
Concrete operations object permanence
Conservation permissive parents
Conventional postconventional
Critical period preconventional
Deoxyribonucleic acid preoperational period
Developmental psychology puberty
Embryo reflexes
Ethnic identity schemas
Fetal alcohol syndrome sensorimotor period
Fetus socialization
Formal operational period temperament
Teratogens
Terminal drop
Unit IV: States of Consciousness
A. Sleep and Dreaming
B. Hypnosis
C. Psychoactive Drug Effects
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe the cyclical nature and possible functions of sleep.
• Identify the major sleep disorders.
• Discuss the content and possible functions of dreams.
• Discuss hypnosis, noting the behavior of hypnotized people and claims regarding its uses.
• Discuss the nature of drug dependence.
• Chart names and effects of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogenic drugs.
• Compare differences between NREM and REM.
• Describe the physiological and psychological effects of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
Major Assignments:
1. Critical Thinking exercise: Can subliminal messages change your behavior?
2. Case Study: Subliminal messages in rock music.
Essential Questions:
1. Can unconscious thoughts affect your behavior?
2. Does brain activity stop when you are asleep?
3. Can you be hypnotized against your will?
4. How do drugs affect the brain?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Addiction psychoactive drugs
Agonists psychological dependence
Altered state of consciousness psychopharmacology
Antagonists rapid eye movement sleep
Blood-brain barrier REM behavior disorder
Circadian rhythm role theory
Conscious level sleep apnea
Consciousness sleepwalking
Depressants slow-wave sleep
Dissociation theory state of consciousness
Hallucinogens state theory
Hypnosis stimulants
Hypnotic susceptibility subconscious
Insomnia substance abuse
Jet lag sudden infant death syndrome
Lucid dreaming tolerance
Narcolepsy unconscious
Night terrors withdrawal syndrome
Nonconscious level
Opiates
Preconscious level
Unit V: Sensation & Perception
A. Thresholds
B. Sensory Mechanisms
C. Sensory Adaptation
D. Attention
E. Perceptual Processes
Objectives
Students will:
• Contrast the processes of sensation and perception.
• Distinguish between absolute and difference thresholds.
• Label a diagram of the parts of the eye and ear.
• Describe the operation of the sensory systems (five senses).
• Explain the Young-Helmholtz and opponent-process theories of color vision.
• Explain the place and frequency theories of pitch perception.
• Discuss Gestalt psychology’s contribution to our understanding of perception.
• Discuss research on depth perception and cues.
Major Assignments:
1. Case Study: Attention and the Brain
Essential Questions:
1. What is the difference between sensation and perception?
2. How does information from my sensory organs to my brain?
3. How do sensations become perceptions?
4. What determines how I perceive my world?
5. Can you “run out” of attention?
Key Terms/Vocabulary
Absolute threshold olfactory bulb
Accessory structures opponent-process theory
Accommodation optic nerve
Adaptation papillae
Amplitude perception
Analgesia perceptual constancy
Attention pheromones
Auditory nerve photoreceptors
Basilar membrane pinna
Binocular disparity pitch
Blind spot place theory
Bottom-up processing proprioceptive
Brightness pupil
Cochlea receptors
Coding response criterion
Cones retina
Convergence rods
Cornea saturation
Dark adaptation schemas
Depth perception sensations
Eardrum sense
Feature detectors sense of smell
Figure sense of taste
Fovea sensitivity
Frequency signal-detection theory
Gate control theory somatic senses
Ground sound
Hue stroboscopic motion
Internal noise timbre
Iris top-down processing
Just-noticeable difference transduction
Kinesthesia trichromatic theory
Lens vestibular sense
Light intensity visible light
Light wavelength visible sense
Looming volley theory
Loudness wavelength
Weber’s Law
Unit VI: Learning
A. Classical Conditioning
B. Operant Conditioning
C. Cognitive Processes in Learning
D. Biological Factors
E. Social Learning (Observational Learning)
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe the process of classical conditioning (Pavlov’s experiments).
• Explain the processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.
• Describe the process of operant conditioning, including the procedure of shaping, as demonstrated by Skinner’s experiments.
• Identify the different types of reinforcers and describe the schedules of reinforcement.
• Discuss the importance of cognitive processes and biological predispositions in conditioning.
• Discuss the effects of punishment on behavior.
• Describe the process of observational learning (Bandura’s experiments).
Major Assignments:
1. Linking exercise: Learning and Consciousness
2. Case Study: The “I can’t do it” attitude
3. Critical Thinking exercise: Does watching violence on television make people more violent?
Essential Questions:
1. How did Pavlov’s experiments help teach psychologists about learning?
2. How do reward and punishment work?
3. Can people learn to be helpless?
4. What should teachers learn about learning?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Avoidance conditioning partial reinforcement extinction effect
Classical conditioning positive reinforcers
Cognitive map primary reinforcers
Conditioned response punishment
Conditioned stimulus reconditioning
Discriminative stimuli reinforcer
Escape conditioning second-order conditioning
Extinction secondary reinforcers
Habituation shaping
Insight spontaneous recovery
Latent learning stimulus discrimination
Law of effect stimulus generalization
Learned helplessness unconditioned response
Learning unconditioned stimulus
Negative reinforcers vicarious conditioning
Observational learning
Operant
Operant conditioning
Unit VII: Memory
A. Memory
Objectives
Students will:
• Describe memory in terms of information processing, and distinguish among sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
• Distinguish between automatic and effortful processing.
• Explain the encoding process (including imagery, organization, etc.).
• Describe the capacity and duration of long-term memory.
• Distinguish between implicit and explicit memory.
• Describe the importance of retrieval cues.
Discuss the effects of interference and motivated forgetting on retrieval.
• Describe the evidence for the constructive nature of memory.
Major assignments:
1. Critical thinking exercise: Can traumatic memories be repressed, then recovered?
2. Linking exercise: Memory in the courtroom
Essential Questions:
1. How does information turn into memories?
2. What is one most likely to remember?
3. How do we retrieve stored memories?
4. How accurate are memories?
5. What causes us to forget things?
6. How does the brain change when it stores a memory?
7. How much can the brain remember?
Key Terms/vocabulary
Acoustic codes parallel distributed processing
Anterograde amnesia primacy effect
Brown-Peterson procedure proactive interference
Chunks procedural memory
Context-dependent memories recency effect
Decay retrieval
Elaborative rehearsal retrieval cues
Encoding retroactive interference
Encoding specificity principle retrograde amnesia
Episodic memory schemas
Explicit memory selective attention
Immediate memory span semantic codes
Implicit memory semantic memory
Information-processing model sensory registers
Interference short-term memory
Levels-of-processing model spreading activation
Long-term memory state-dependent memory
Maintenance rehearsal storage
Method of savings transfer-appropriate processing model
Mnemonics visual codes
Working memory
Classtime:
1. It is very important for a student to report to class on time. During the first few minutes of class almost all explanations are given and pertinent information about that day's class is presented. If you are late, you will miss important information. Students may be given 2 (two) or more trivia questions per day to answer. If they are absent from school; they must stay after school (minimum of 1 hour) and complete an alternative assignment to make up the points; or they can choose to fore go the assignment and lose the points.
2. Students are expected to be in their assigned seats before the last bell rings. Being in the room but not in your seat is considered being tardy. Tardiness will result in after school detentions (see handbook).
3. Students are expected to bring to class daily:
A. Assignments
B. Sociology Notebook
C. Supplies-- pen (blue or black ink only), pencil, and notebook paper .
D. Textbook
CLASSTIME- Class time is valuable and important and there should be no reason to leave class after the bell rings.
DISMISSAL FROM CLASS- Students will be dismissed from class by me not by the bell.
CLASSWORK-Classwork will be regularly assigned. If you work in class-you will not have as much homework. Since I consider my class and the subject I teach as very important you will work hard and I will expect you to do your best at everything you do. Your classwork is very important so avoid absenteeism unless absolutely necessary. It is the student’s responsibility to find out any work they missed due to absence and make it up If a student fails to complete the work in a limited time (depending on the length and reason for the absence), it will be entered in the gradebook as a “0” and averaged as such. If you are absent on the day a test is given, you must plan to stay after school on the day you return to make up the test; or you will be given a zero (0) for the test score. Tests cannot be made up during the school day- if you absolutely cannot stay after school, you can talk to me about taking the test during lunch- only if the test is short enough that you can complete it during the lunch time alloted. Make-up tests will not be the same as the one given in class; also information provided in class such as word banks, open book/ open note may not be provided on make-up tests. (If you are absent more than one day, you have the same number of days you were absent to make up the test after school.)