AP Psychology
Cerqueira Guide Unit 10: Personality, Psychological Disorders & Therapy
X. Personality (5–7%)
• Compare and contrast the major theories and approaches to explaining personality: (e.g.,
psychoanalytic, humanist, cognitive, trait, social cognition, behavioral)
• Speculate how cultural context can facilitate or constrain personality development, especially as it
relates to self-concept (e.g., collectivistic versus individualistic cultures).
• Identify frequently used assessment strategies (e.g., the MMPI, the TAT, and evaluate relative test
quality based on reliability/validity.
• Describe and compare research methods (e.g., case studies and surveys) that psychologists use to
investigate personality.
• Identify key contributors to personality theory (e.g., Alfred Adler, Albert Bandura, Paul Costa and
Robert McCrae, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers).
XII. Abnormal Behavior (7–9%)
• Describe contemporary and historical conceptions of what constitutes psychological disorders.
• Recognize the use of the DSM as the primary reference for making diagnostic judgments.
• Discuss the major diagnostic categories, including anxiety and somatoform disorders, mood disorders,
schizophrenia, organic disturbance, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders, and their
corresponding symptoms.
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of various approaches to explaining psychological disorders:
medical model, psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, biological, and sociocultural.
• Identify the positive and negative consequences of diagnostic labels (e.g., the Rosenhan study).
• Discuss the intersection between psychology and the legal system (e.g., confidentiality, insanity
defense).
XIII. Treatment of Abnormal Behavior (5–7%)
• Describe the central characteristics of psychotherapeutic intervention.
• Describe major treatment orientations used in therapy (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, humanistic) and how
those orientations influence therapeutic planning.
• Compare and contrast different treatment formats (e.g., individual, group).
• Summarize effectiveness of specific treatments used to address specific problems.
• Discuss how cultural and ethnic context influence choice and success of treatment (e.g., factors that lead
to premature termination of treatment).
• Describe prevention strategies that build resilience and promote competence.
• Identify major figures in psychological treatment (e.g., Aaron Beck, Albert Ellis, Sigmund Freud, Mary
Cover Jones, Carl Rogers, B. F. Skinner, Joseph Wolpe).
Date
Class info
T
4/15
W
4/16
Th
4/17
Reading
quiz 595600.
Read
tonight
595-600
600612
613-636
Topics to know/class activities
Personality definition. Psychoanalytic perspective: Freud, The
Interpretation of Dreams. Freud’s theory: the unconscious, free
association, psychoanalysis. Figure 15.1 – the iceberg! Dreams:
manifest v. latent content. Ego, id superego. Psychosexual stages –
know table 15.1. Defense mechanisms – know all!
Other psychoanalytic theorists: Adler, Horney and Jung (collective
unconscious, archetypes). Projective tests (TAT, Rorschach), +/-.
Evaluating Freud’s theory. Humanistic perspective: Maslow, selfactualization. Rogers and person-centered (GAE), unconditional
positive regard, self-concept. Evaluating the humanist perspective
(are people basically good?).
Trait perspective: Allport, traits, Myers-Briggs test. Factor analysis,
Eysencks’ dimensions. Kagan/temperament. Personality inventories
(temperament MMPI). Big Five Factors: CANOE. Traits –
situational? Social-cognitive perspective: Bandura, reciprocal
determinism (fig. 15.6). Internal v. external LOC. Seligman: learned
helplessness. Optimism vs. pessimism. (Review explanatory styles.)
Positive psychology. Situational assessment. The self: spotlight effect,
self-esteem. Self-serving bias.
There will be a content quiz on personality assigned over the break (4/18-4/20)
M
639-649 Psychological disorders: how to define, understand and classify?
4/21
WHAT IS ABNORMAL? (MAUD or DDD?) How deviance is
defined. ADHD (p.641). Ways of understanding: medical model,
biopsychosocial. DSM-IV: Axis I-V. The power of labeling:
Rosenhan’s experiment, stereotypes. Insanity and responsibility (p.
647).
Reading quiz 649-658 Anxiety disorders: GAD, panic disorder (panic attacks), phobias and
T
639-649.
OCD (checking and cleaning. PTSD (overdiagnosed/resiliency).
4/22
Explanations: learning, biological. Dissociative disorders:
dissociative identity disorder (MPD), fugue (ask Jones).
DSMW
658-669 Mood disorders: major depressive disorders (the “common cold”),
IV/Anxiety
4/23
dysthymic disorder, bipolar disorder (manic-depression, mania, link
disorders C
w/creativity). Explanations: biological, social-cognitive. Explanatory
quiz.
styles (p. 666 & fig 16.8: stable, global, internal). Vicious cycle (fig.
16.9)
Reading quiz 669-683 Schizophrenia: “split mind.” Delusions v. hallucinations,
Th
658-669.
inappropriate affect, disturbed thinking. Subtypes (especially
4/24
paranoid, disorganized and catatonic). Negative and positive
symptoms. Explanations: brain, womb, genetics, psychological
factors. Personality disorders: avoidant, schizoid, narcissistic,
borderline, antisocial. Rates of disorders. Risk and protective factors
(table 16.5).
Content quiz: 685-698 Therapies: psychological and biological. Eclectic approach.
F
mood &
Psychoanalysis: unconscious, repression, free association, resistance,
4/25
schizophrenia
interpretation, transference. +/- of psychoanalysis. Psychodynamic
disorders.
therapy. Humanistic therapy: Carl Rogers, client-centered therapy,
UPR, active listening. +/- of CCT. Behavior therapy: CC (exposure,
Mary Cover Jones/Peter, systematic desensitization (Wolpe),
aversive conditioning, flooding (ask Jones)) and OC (behavior
modification, token economy. +/- of behavior therapy). Cognitive
therapy: CT for depression (Aaron Beck), CBT. +/- of cognitive
therapy. Group (support groups) and family therapy. +/- of groups.
Content quiz: 700-10
M
700-710: focus on two questions: 1) Is psychotherapy effective (what
Therapies
is the evidence); 2) How are psychotherapies alike?
4/28
711-21
(nonBiomedical therapies: Antipsychotic drugs (Thorazine), tardive
biological).
dyskinesia, antianxiety drugs (Xanax). Antidepressants: SSRIs
(Prozac), placebo effect, suicide risk. Mood-stabilizers. Brain
stimulation: ECT, psychosurgery/lobotomy. Preventing disorders.
T
R quiz
----Review
4/29
711-21
W
Test, Unit 10. See the next Cerqueira guide for tonight’s reading.
4/30
NOTE: THIS TEST COUNTS AS 2 TEST GRADES!