Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Summary
2008-2009
Ms. Cosentino
ccosentino@rich227.org
Course Description: This Advanced Placement Psychology Course is designed to give
students college-level class experience each day. This means that students are
expected to be engaged in class each day and work independently to complete shortand long-term assignments in a high quality manner. The course will involve nightly
reading assignments as well as an APA (American Psychological Association) style
paper and student organized presentations. You should expect weekly quizzes over
reading assignments in addition to unit(chapter)exams. Your full cooperation on group
projects and in class discussion is expected. A variety of methods will be implemented
in order to convey information. The demonstrations, examples, and activities should
make concepts clear and show their relevance to you.
The course will cover those topics generally presented in an introduction to psychology
course in college. The topics include: history and research methods, social psychology,
personality, the brain, sensation and perception, learning, memory, cognition,
developmental psychology, and psychological disorders and treatment. The course
schedule includes the full list of topics.
Course Objectives: Upon the completion of this course, a student should have
accomplished the following.
1. Understand the scientific methodology used in psychology.
2. Show increased knowledge of physiological psychology.
3. Show increased understanding of relationship between biology and behavior.
4. Demonstrate understanding of the various states of consciousness.
5. Develop understanding of the complexity of psychological development
through the study of the physical, intellectual, emotional, moral, and social
growth over the human life span.
6. Understand and explain the major core concepts and theories of psychology.
7. Increase knowledge regarding the classification system for psychological
disorders.
8. Increase knowledge about the variety of treatment theories.
9. Understand good test design and reliable research processes, including the
measurement of intelligence.
10. Learn the basic skills of psychological research: what to look for and what to
use in initiating a full-scale research project.
11. Apply psychological concepts to their own lives and recognize psychological
principles when they are in evidence in daily life.
12. Develop critical thinking skills as they read and evaluate material presented in
class presentations and independent reading and research.
Required Text:
Psychology, 8th edt. (2007). David Myers. Worth Publishers.
Supplemental articles for each unit will be provided. These will need to be kept with unit
materials in a notebook.
Topics
The Story of Psychology
-
history of the discipline
different perspectives in psychology
areas of specialization
Thinking Critically
-
Experimental design
Statistical Reasoning
Neuroscience and Behavior
-
how neurons communicate
the brain – what’s in there, what’s done by which part
how we watch the brain
Perception and Sensation
-
basic principles
hearing & vision
interpreting perceptions
Nature, Nurture, and Human Diversity
- behavior genetics
- evolutionary psychology
- what influences development
- ongoing debates
Consciousness
-
defining it
consciousness and information processing
sleep and dreams: why, what, disorders
Learning
-
defining it
how does it happen
how do we even think about it
Memory
-
defining it
processing information
forgetting
eyewitness recall
Intelligence
-
defining it
how do we measure it & what can we trust about those
measures
what complicates measurement of it
genetic and environmental influences
Social Pscyhology
-
social thinking/ situational or personal attribution
social influence
Social relations
Emotion and Motivation
-
theories of emotion
perspectives on motivation
Developmental Psychology
-
prenatal and newborn development
infancy and childhood
adolescence
adulthood
Personality
-
major theories
how theories shape understanding of personality
Psychological Disorders -
Therapy
-
defining them and the controversies around that
- anxiety disorders
- mood disorders
- schizophrenia
- personality disorders
- the DSM IV TR
-
types of therapeutic approaches, perspectives
what is psychological health?
Over the summer
1. Read the Prologue handout and complete the study guide, including 1 practice test,
vocabulary quiz, and the application test. Be secure in the vocabulary listed at the end of
the chapter. You can highlight it in the study guide for reinforcement. Bring it,
completed, on our first full day of school.
2. You have a list of the 15 most influential psychologists of the twentieth century. Your
brain will be very grateful to you for completing the assignment explained with that list.
These should not be difficult to find; just be sure to provide yourself with a strong, clear
explanation of their contribution.
3. You are also receiving a reading, “The Lost Mariner.” It is a case study from the work of
Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, so this is a true story. ( The film Awakenings is based on one
of his accounts.) After reading it, I’d like you to send me an email with a paragraph of
your reflections on it. The paragraph - or more, if you have more to say – should be a
chance to process what new understandings and insights you had as you read this.
There might be questions that come to mind as you think about it. In a separate
paragraph, please relate some of your hopes for this course, your strengths as a student,
what you feel you need to shore up in your academic skills, and why you decided to take
this course.
Be sure to spell my name correctly when you email your response. I’d prefer to have this
last item by the end of June. Get ‘er done!
Remember, the point is to get oriented to this field of study. So relax with it and learn.