Talented and Gifted Magnet High School
AP Psychology Syllabus
Course Objectives
Advanced Placement Psychology follows the curriculum of the Advanced Placement
Board. It is designed to give the opportunity to students to engage in intellectual, critical,
and a creative process of thinking skills from in class discussion, individual projects, and
lab work. Advanced Placement Psychology requires extensive reading, research, and
writing responsibility from the student. The goal is for students to be prepared to take the
AP college level examination and to make the student interested and excited about
learning Psychology. Students learn psychological facts, principles and phenomena
associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. Students also learn about
the methods psychologists’ use in their science and practice.
STUDENT OUTCOMES

Students will be prepared to do acceptable work on the AP Psychology Exam.

Be well aquatinted with research gathering techniques and the importance of
ethical guidelines in Psychology.

Be able to identify the various approaches and history of psychology including
biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychoanalysis, and social cultural.

Be able to work together as a group using critical thinking and problem solving
skills related to the study of Psychology.

Understand different Psychological disorders and different theories of treatment

Use a variety of technological and informational resources to gather and
synthesize information for Psychology research.
Description of Course Activities
Besides traditional teaching strategies of lecture and discussion, additional teaching
methods such as demonstrations, laboratory investigations, group work, role-playing,
research projects, films and Internet research will be used. Students will participate in
class discussions, data collection, deductive reasoning, cause and effect, and making
classification to various psychological phenomenon’s including modern day problem
solving.
Enrichment Activities Include

Independent Research: using Internet, Current Periodicals, and Newspaper Articles
on various topics related to Psychology. Research investigation items will include
various disorders and their treatment, genetic breakthroughs, ethical research
practices, major illnesses, neurotransmitters, and the major theories of psychology.

Group Work using data collection and cause and effect: Students will dissect a sheep
brain and eye identifying major parts and how they work. Special emphasis on the
brain will include identifying all lobes, hypothalamus, thalamus, cerebellum, and
cerebral cortex. Special emphasis on the eye will include identifying rods and cones,
lens, retina, and the optic nerve.

Group Work using data collection and deductive reasoning on the senses: Students
will use a pen light to read eye pupil reactions on fellow classmates, perform taste test
to see who is the super taster, perform ear examination using an occipital scope to
identify a normal ear drum compared to an infected ear drum

Behaviorism- Human Observation Project: Emphasizing the importance of Ethical
Psychological Research, Students will be assigned a fellow student for observation to
see if a desired behavior can change. Students or the instructor will not know who is
watching who until report day. The two week experiment will decide if observation
can change undesired student behavior to positive student behavior

Field Trip to a particular government or non-profit group in charge of delivering care
involving various related psychological phenomenon- Examples of field trip may
include Salvation’s Army Women’s Shelter, Veterans Hospital, or a Prison.

Interdisciplinary Seminar: involving the math department with psychological statistic
research and the importance of ethics when involving human and animals in research
projects.
Textbooks
Wayne Weiten, Psychology Themes & Variations, Wadsworth. 2013, 9th ed.
Rita L. Atkinson, Hilgards’s Introduction to Psychology, Harcourth College Publishers,
2000, 13th ed.
Grading Policy - based on Dallas ISD school policy
Grading Scale for Six Weeks Average
Class work/Homework
40%
* Major Tests
25%
Projects/Products
20%
* Six Weeks Test Grade
15%
*Multiple choice exam questions and essays will be taken from released AP United
States Government and Politics exams from the Advanced Placement College Board.
If a Major Test is failed the student may retake and the higher score earned will be
recorded as the grade.
Late Homework assignments will receive a grade of 50 if turned in by the next two
school days after due date. After that date a grade of 0 will be recorded. Homework
assignment policy is determined by the TAG Social Studies Department.
Course Outline
1st Six Weeks
I.
History of Psychology and Psychological Approaches,
Research Methods

1999 AP Psychology Diagnostic Exam given

Historical Schools; Wilhelm Wundt, Introspection, Structuralism, William James and
Functionalism, Max Wertheimer and Gestalt.

Study of the Fields of Psychology: Biological, Behavioral, Cognitive, Humanistic,
Psychodynamic, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary.

Research Methods: observation, case studies, survey method, cross sectional,
longitudinal.

Experimental elements; independent and dependence variables, sampling, random
selection.

Statistics; interpret data and draw conclusions, correlation, central tendency, variance,
standard deviation.

Ethics in Research; American Psychological Association established guidelines in
animal and human research and its importance.
II.
Biological Bases of Behavior

Study of parts and functions of the Neuron; dendrites, cell body, axon, myelin sheath,
synapse, synaptic transmission and neurotransmitters

Study of Nervous System; brain, spinal cord, peripheral nervous system; somatic and
autonomic nervous system including sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous
system

Study of Brain Structure and Function; limbic system, thalamus, hypothalamus,
cerebral cortex, the four lobes, cerebellum; use of brain imagining such as CAT,
MRI, PET, and EEG scans

Study of the Endocrine System; biological processes of our body, connections with
our nervous system

Genetics; nature vs. nurture, genes and the human cell, heredity
III.
Sensation & Perception

Identify the function and structure of the sensory system; vision, hearing, touch, taste,
smell

Explain the opponent-process theories of color vision, place and frequency theory of
pitch, conduction and nerve deafness, gate control theory and message priority,

Psychological Thresholds; Identify differences in absolute thresholds, subliminal,
Weber’s law, just noticeable difference, signal detection,

Identify Gestalt and visual perception of proximity, similarity, continuity, and
closure.

Identify research on depth and cultural perception; Gibson and visual cliff, binocular
cues, liner perspective, Muller-Lyer illusion
IV.

State of Consciousness & Cognition
Compare NREM and REM Sleep
 Identify Sleep Disorders; insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea
 Identify Theories of Dreams
 Identify Theories of Hypnosis; role theory, state theory & pain control, dissociation
theory
 Identify and describe the Psychoactive Effect of Drugs; Stimulants, Depressants,
Hallucinogens, and Opiates
 Memory; Information processing model, sensory, short term, and long term memory
 Language; Noam Chomsky and Nativist theory, Benjamin Whorf and Linguistic
Relativity Hypothesis.
 Problem Solving; Identify algorithms, heuristics, convergent and divergent thinking.
2nd Six Weeks
V.
Behaviorism

Classical Conditioning; Ivan Pavlov and salivation, John Watson and Baby Albert

Identify acquisition, delayed conditioning, extinction, generalization, adverse
conditioning.

Operant Conditioning; B. F. Skinner and the Skinner Box, Edward Thorndike and
Law of Effect, positive & negative reinforcement, punishment,

Identify shaping, chaining, escape learning, avoidance learning, instinctive drift

Social Learning; Albert Bandura and social learning theory,

Identify and discuss Edward Tolman and latent learning, Wolfgang Kohler and
Insight Learning, Abstract Learning
VI.
Motivation and Emotion

Identify theories of Motivation; drive reduction, arousal theory, incentive theory,
achievement, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

Identify Hunger Motivation; biological, set point, hypothalamus, Garcia effect,
cultural background, eating disorders

Sexual Motivation by biological and psychological factors, Willam Masters and
Virginia Johnson

Identify Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Identify three theories of Emotion; James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter-Singer

Identify Stress and Measurement of; Hans Seyles and General Adaptation Syndrome,
Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe and social readjustment rating scale.
VII. Developmental Psychology

Identify Differences of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies

Describe and Identify theories of: Piaget and cognitive development, Kohlberg and
moral development and critics such as Carol Gilligan and gender, Erikson and stage
theory, Freud and psychosocial development.

Describe development of prenatal and newborns, childhood, adolescence, and
adulthood

Describe Nature vs. Nurture; discuss identical and fraternal twins with the study of
development between environment and genetics.
VIII. Personality

Identify Sigmund Freud and the interactions of the id, ego, and superego.

Identify and describe the contributions of neo-Freudians of Jung, Adler, and Erickson

Identify the humanist perspective of personality of Carl Rogers and client-centered
therapy, Abraham Maslow and self –actualization

Identify the Social – Cognitive Perspective and Albert Bandura
IX.
Testing and Individual Differences

Identify and Describe Psychological Testing; Standardized test, reliability, validity.

Identify types of test; achievement, aptitude, speed, power, group, individual.

Intelligence Testing and History; Stanford – Binet, David Weschler.

Identify genetic and environmental influences on intelligence.
3rd Six Weeks
X.
Abnormal Psychology

Identify and Describe Major Psychological Disorders and Symptoms: Anxiety
disorders, dissociate disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders,
somatoform disorders, phobias.

Identify the DSM-IV-TR and the classifying of psychological disorders.

Identify possible causes of schizophrenia, mood disorders and Aaron Beck,
posttraumatic stress disorders.

Identify Characteristics of abnormality, historical approaches, and perspective causes.
XI.
Treatment of Psychology Disorders

Discuss the early history of treatment in psychological disorders including Dorthea
Dix and asylums, and Deinstitutionalization of the 1950’s.

Identify and Describe major approaches of therapy using psychological approaches;
behavioral approaches, cognitive approaches, biological approaches, psychodynamic
and humanistic approaches.
 Identify Modes of therapy including individual, group, and family therapy
XII. Social Psychology

Identify and Discuss: stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, and contact theory

Discuss Attitudes and Behaviors; mere exposure effect, cognitive dissonance theory,
compliance strategies, attribution theory, attribution biases

Identify group influence; Stanley Milgram experiments on obedience and ethical
concerns, conformity, social facilitation and impairment, group dynamics; social
loafing, group polarization, individuation, and group think.

Discuss instrumental and hostile aggression, frustration, diffusion of responsibility
 REVIEW FOR THE AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAM