AP Psychology
Cerqueira Guide Unit 9: 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
M
4/13
T
4/14
W
4/15
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 –
Th
4/16
651-59
F
4/17
661-669
M
4/20
671-682
T
4/21
Reading
quiz
671-682
684-691
SKIM
THESE
PAGES
as you
take
notes:
693-701
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.
Psychological disorders: how to define, understand and classify?
(disturbing/dysfunctional, maladaptive, distressful – and often
deviant/abnormal (ask Jones) How deviance is defined – note the
example of homosexuality in 1973. ADHD (p.652). Ways of
understanding: medical model, biopsychosocial (be aware of culturebound disorders, but don’t memorize). Fig. 65-1. Classifying
disorders: the DSM-5 ( ) – skim the changes. The power of labeling:
Rosenhan’s experiment, stereotypes/stigma and self-fulfilling
prophechies. Insanity and responsibility. Rates: can you tell the most
common disorder? How does the US compare to the world? p.658:
what makes us resist and be vulnerable to disorders? (nature/nurture)
Anxiety disorders: GAD, panic disorder (panic attacks), phobias
(know symptoms of each). Do not learn lists of phobias: main ones to
know are agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder. OCD: obsessions are
____ and compulsions are ____. See 66.1. Common compulsions?
checking & cleaning. PTSD: who gets it, why’s it overdiagnosed,
resiliency). Explanations: learning, biological (know examples of
each), and brain changes.
NOTE: This section should be called DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS,
not mood disorders. Major depressive disorders (five signs/2 weeks
– see 67.1). #1 reason for ___? Persistent depressive disorder
(dysthymia). Bipolar disorder (old name “manic-depression,” mania,
link w/creativity). Note seasonal pattern (FYI, p. 673). Summarize the
GREAT info on depression (67-2). Explanations: biological (genetic,
brain changes) and social-cognitive (know examples of each).
Rumination. Explanatory styles (p. 680 & fig 67.5: stable, global,
internal). Vicious cycle (fig. 16.9) – “bad moods feed on themselves.”
Schizophrenia: “split mind,” not split personality. (It’s a psychosis –
ask Jones about neurosis). S terms to know: Delusions v.
hallucinations (which sense?), paranoia, word salad, disturbed
thinking from selective inattention. Emotions: inappropriate/flat
affect and behaviors: repetitive, even catatonia. 68-2: age of onset,
prevalence (__%), equal gender, role of stress. Negative and positive
symptoms. Acute v. chronic. Explanations: brain (dopamine, PET
scans, maternal virus (!), genetic, psychological factors (possible
warning signs 690).
Somatic symptom and related disorders (this is very confusing!). As
you read about/take notes on somatic symptom disorder and
conversion disorder, consider this from the DSM-5: “In conversion
disorder, the presenting symptom is loss of function (e.g., of a limb),
whereas in somatic symptom disorder, the focus is on the distress that
particular symptoms cause.” Illness anxiety disorder
(hypochondriasis) = normal symptoms are _______?
Dissociative disorders: what’s dissociation (normal) vs. what’s DID
(really complex – and is it real?) Read the final paragraph p. 696.
Eating disorders: distinguish between anorexia and bulimia and
W
4/22
Th
4/23
F
4/24
M
4/27
T
4/28
Content quiz: 708-13,
anxiety,
716-725
OCD, PTSD,
depressive &
schizophrenia
disorders.
728-37
binge-eating (similarities? Differences?) Personality disorders: what
are they (in general) and FOCUS on antisocial.
Still to come!
Still to come!
740-748
Still to come!
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Review
Test, Unit 9
NOTE: THIS TEST COUNTS AS 2 TEST GRADES!