AP PSYCHOLOGY COURSE SYLLABUS
MRS. KEARNS
AP Psychology is a college level class the purpose of which 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 with each of the major subfields within
psychology. They also learn about the ethics and methods psychologists use in their science and practice
(College Board).”
The goal of this class is to help students learn about psychology at a more in depth level as well as prepare
them for the exam in May. For more specific information regarding the AP exam at this time, please refer
to the College Board website at www.apcentral.collegeboard.com.
This year the AP exam is scheduled for the afternoon of Monday May 6, 2013.
Course Objectives:
1. Students will prepare to do passing work in the Advanced Placement Examination in Psychology
2. Students will study the major core concepts and theories of psychology. They will be able to
define key terms and use these in daily class discussions
3. Students will learn the basic skills of psychological research.
4. Students will be able to recognize psychological concepts in their own lives when encountered in
everyday situations
5. Students will develop critical thinking skills. They will become aware of the danger of blindly
accepting or rejecting any psychological theory without careful, objective evaluation.
6. Students will build their reading, writing and discussing skills
7. Students will learn about psychology as a profession and become aware of the educational
requirements, which must be met to pursue a variety of careers in this field
Textbook:
Myers, David G. Psychology, 8th Ed. New York: Worth, 2007. (Includes study guide and CD-ROM.)
Teacher Resources:
Myers, David G. Psychology, 8th Ed. New York: Worth, 2007. ( Including Instructor’s Resources, test
bank and CD-ROM)
Myers, David G. Psychology: Myers in Modules 6th Ed. New York: Worth, 2001
Previously released AP examinations, 1994, 1999, 2004 along with Essay Questions from 1999-2006
Course Outline:
We will cover the following units between September and April to prepare for the exam. Review for the
AP takes place the 1-½ -2 weeks before the exam date.
Unit 1: History and Approaches and Research Methods
Objectives:
1. Define Psychology
2. Trace development of psychology as a science including the evolution of psychology from the
1920’s-today
3. Understand the nature-nurture debate in psychology and the principle of natural selection
4. Identify famous psychologists and their contributions to psychology
5. Identify some of psychology’s subfields and explain the difference between clinical psychology
and psychiatry
6. Explain how the scientific attitude encourages critical thinking
7. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of case study, naturalistic observations, and survey research
8. Explain why correlational research fails to provide evidence of cause and effect and describe how
people form illusory correlations
9. Explain why the double-blind procedure and random assignment build confidence in research
findings
10. Identify basic elements of an experiment (groups, independent variable, placebo, etc)
11. Explain importance of statistical principles
12. Describe the three measures of central tendency and know which is most affected by extreme
scores and understand the two measures of variation
13. Evaluate the importance of ethics in research
14. Discuss how personal values can influence psychological research and the importance of critical
thinking as a result.
Unit 2: Biological Basis of Behavior
Objectives:
1. Describe the parts of the neuron and explain how impulses are generated
2. Describe how nerve cells communicate
3. Explain how neurotransmitters affect behavior and outline the effects of acetylcholine and
endorphins
4. Explain how drugs and other chemicals affect neurotransmission as well as the effects of agonists
and antagonists
5. Describe the nervous systems two major divisions and the three types of neurons transmitting
information throughout the system
6. Identify the subdivisions of the peripheral nervous system and their functions
7. Describe the nature and functions of the endocrine system and its interaction with the nervous
system
8. Describe several techniques for studying the brain
9. Describe the components of the brainstem as well as the functions of the thalamus and cerebellum
10. Describe the structures and functions of the limbic system
11. Define the cerebral cortex and its importance for the human brain
12. Identify the four lobes
13. Describe split-brain research and how it helps us to understand the functions of our left and right
hemispheres
Unit 3: Developmental Psychology
Objectives:
1. Describe the types of questions which interest behavior geneticists
2. Define chromosome, DNA, gene and genome as well as their relationships with one another
3. Explain how identical and fraternal twins differ and how geneticists use twin studies to understand
the effects of environment and heredity such as in temperament.
4. Explain examples of genetic influenced traits vs. environmental influenced traits
5. Describe the area of evolutionary psychology
6. Understand the principle of natural selection and point to some possible effects of natural selection
in the development of human characteristics
7. Describe evolutionary explanations for gender differences in sexuality
8. Evaluate the importance of peer influence on development
9. Describe the effect of culture on individuals regarding child-rearing, individualist vs. collectivist,
similarities and differences
10. Discuss the importance of environment in the development of gender roles and theories of gendertyping
11. Define zygote, embryo and fetus
12. Explain how researchers use habituation to assess infant sensory and cognitive abilities
13. Describe Piaget’s stages of cognitive development and understand how children’s thinking
changes during these four stages
14. Describe the effects of nourishment, body contact and familiarity on infant attachment. Also
discuss contrast between secure and insecure attachments as well as basic trust
15. Trace the onset and development of self-concept
16. Identify major physical changes during adolescence
17. Discuss Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
18. Identify Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development and their accompanying issues
19. Assess the impact of aging on recall and recognition in adulthood
20. Describe the range of reactions to the death of a loved one, Kubler-Ross’s 5 stages
Unit 4: Sensation and Perception
Objectives:
1. Contrast sensation and perception explaining the difference between bottom-up and top-down
processing
2. Describe the difference between absolute and difference thresholds as well as sensory adaptation
3. Describe the major structures of the eye and explain how they guide an incoming ray of light
toward the eye’s receptor cells
4. Contrast the two types of receptor cells in the retina
5. Explain how the Young-Helmholtz and opponent process theories help us understand color vision
as well as the importance of color constancy
6. Describe the regions of the ear and outline the events which trigger the electrical impulses sent to
the brain
7. Contrast place and frequency theories and explain how they help us to understand pitch perception
8. Contrast the two types of hearing loss and describe their causes as well as ways to improve
hearing disabilities such as the cochlear implant
9. Describe the senses of touch, taste and smell
10. State the purpose of pain and what could happen if we do not feel it
11. Describe the interplay between attention and perception
12. Explain the figure-ground relationship and identify principles of perceptual grouping in form
perception
13. Explain the importance of depth perception and the contribution of the visual cliff as well as the
two binocular cues for perceiving depth
14. Explain how monocular cues differ from binocular cues as well as describe several monocular
cues for perceiving depth
15. Explain the importance of perceptual constancy and describe size, shape and light constancy’s
effects on what we perceive
16. Describe the contribution of restored vision and sensory deprivation to our understanding of
nature-nurture interplay of our perceptions
17. Identify ESP and why most research psychologists remain skeptical of ESP claims
Unit 5: States of Consciousness
Objectives:
1. Describe the cycle of our circadian rhythm and identify some events that can disrupt the biological
clock
2. List the stages of the sleep cycle and explain how they differ
3. Discuss risks associated with sleep deprivation
4. Identify four theories why we sleep
5. Identify major sleep disorders
6. Describe common content of dreams and major theories why we dream
7. Define hypnosis and arguments for and against hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness
8. Describe the nature of drug dependence, identify tolerance and withdrawal
9. Name the main categories of psychoactive drugs, identify drugs in each of these categories and
identify the ways these substances can interfere with neurotransmission in the brain
10. Discuss biological, psychological and social-cultural factors contributing to drug use
Unit 6: Learning Objective:
Define learning and identify two forms
1. Define classical conditioning and behaviorism, and describe the basic components of classical
conditioning
2. Summarize the processes of extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization and discrimination
3. Understand Thorndike’s Law of Effect and the influence it had on B.F. Skinner
4. Identify two major characteristics which distinguish classical conditioning from operant
conditioning
5. Define and give examples of reward, punishment, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,
as well as continuous and partial reinforcement schedules
6. Describe the process of observational learning and what Bandura found in regards to whether we
will imitate a model
Unit 7: Memory
Objectives:
1. Define memory and explain the difference between flashbulb and other memories
2. Describe and define the stages of encoding, storage and retrieval
3. Understand different types of encoding such as effortful and automatic processing, visual, acoustic
and semantic encoding
4. Describe the capacity and duration of both short and long term memory
5. Distinguish between implicit and explicit memories
6. Contrast recall, recognition and relearning
7. Explain how retrieval cues help people access stored memories
8. Understand role of encoding failure in forgetting along with the concept of storage decay as well
as Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve
9. Understand where false memories come from and how they affect our true memories
Unit 8: Thinking (Cognition) and Language
Objectives:
1. Define prototypes and hierarchies and the role they play in concept formation
2. Discuss how we use algorithms, and heuristics to solve problems
3. Describe the basic structural units of language
4. Trace the course of language acquisition from babbling stage through the two-word stage
5. Understand research regarding animal capacity for language
Unit 9: Intelligence and Testing
Objectives:
1. Understand the difficulty of defining intelligence and what it means to reify intelligence.
2. Describe Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence and how it compares with Sternberg’s theory of
intelligence
3. Distinguish between aptitude end achievement tests
4. Explain what it means to say a test is reliable, valid, and types of validity
5. Describe whether intelligence tests are biased
Unit 10 Motivation
Objectives:
1. Define motivation and explain how drive-reduction theory views human motivation
2. Understand Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
3. Describe the physiological, psychological and cultural influences on hunger
4. Explain how eating disorders demonstrate the influence of psychological forces on physiologically
motivated behavior
5. Describe the human sexual response cycle, and discuss causes of sexual disorders
6. Discuss the impact of hormones on sexual motivation
7. Describe some effective management techniques
Unit 11: Emotion
Objectives:
1. Identify three components of emotions and contrast the Lames-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and twofactor theories of emotion
2. Describe the role of autonomic nervous system during emotional arousal
3. Describe some factors affecting our ability to decipher nonverbal cues
4. Describe gender differences in perceiving and communicating emotions
5. Discuss biological components of fear
6. Describe how adaptation and relative deprivation affect our appraisals of our achievements
Unit 12: Stress and Health
Objectives:
1. Identify some behavior-related causes of illness and death and describe health psychology’s
contribution to the field of behavioral medicine
2. Discuss the health consequences of catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles
3. Discuss the role of stress in causing coronary heart disease and contrast Type A and Type B
personalities
4. Discuss the effect of stress on the immune system
5. Describe how perceived lack of control can affect health
Unit 13: Personality
Objectives:
1. Discuss Freud’s view of the mind regarding the unconscious and conscious and the effects on
personality, specifically through identifying the id, ego and superego
2. Identify Freud’s psychosexual stages of development and describe the effects of fixation on
behavior
3. Describe the function of defense mechanisms
4. Explain how humanistic psychologists assessed personality
5. Explain how psychologists use personality inventories to assess traits
6. Describe the social-cognitive perspective and explain how reciprocal determinism illustrates this
7. Understand the link between performance and optimism or pessimism
8. Explain psychology’s research on the ‘self’
Unit 14: Psychological Disorders (Abnormal Psychology) and Therapy
Objectives:
1. Identify how one judges whether behavior is psychologically disordered
2. Contrast the medical model of psychological disorders with the biopsychological approach to
disordered behavior
3. Define anxiety disorders and explain how these conditions differ from normal feelings of stress,
tension or uneasiness
4. Describe symptoms of dissociative disorders and explain why some critics are skeptical of
dissociative identity disorder
5. Define mood disorders, contrast and compare major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder
6. Demonstrate an understanding of the contributions of biological perspective on the study of
depression
7. Describe symptoms of schizophrenia and differentiate delusions and hallucinations
8. Discuss the prevalence of psychological disorders and summarize the findings on the link between
poverty and serious psychological disorders
9. Define different forms of therapy such as psychoanalysis, humanistic, behavioral, cognitive, group
and family
10. Describe why the effectiveness of psychotherapies is often overestimated by therapists and clients
alike
11. Summarize findings on which psychotherapies are most effective for specific disorders
12. Define psychopharmacology and how specific drugs used for different psychological disorders
Unit 15: Social Psychology
Objectives:
1. Define the main focuses of social psychology
2. Explain how the foot-in-the-door phenomenon, role-playing and cognitive dissonance illustrate the
influence of actions on attitudes
3. Discuss Asch’s experiments on conformity and distinguish between normative and social
influence
4. Describe Millgram’s experiments on obedience and outline the conditions in which obedience was
highest
5. Discuss the social factors contributing to prejudice
6. Describe biological influences on aggression
7. Describe the influence of proximity, physical attractiveness and similarity on interpersonal
attraction
Grading Policy:
The majority of the grade will be determined by points earned on unit tests made up of 50 multiple choice
questions and one essay, based on the AP exam format. Students will also complete one midterm and one
final exam per semester. Both the midterm and final exams will be made up of 100 multiple choice and 2
essay questions. Points will be earned for quizzes, written work, homework, projects and class
participation as well. Based on the total points possible, quarter and semester grades will be assigned as
follows:
90% & above=A
80%-89.9%=B
79%-79.9%=C
60%-69.9%=D
59% and below=F
1.
The semester grade is not an average of the first and second quarter; it is based on the total number
of points earned during the semester.
2.
Reading from the AP text according to your class calendar and studying for tests will make up the
majority of homework for this class. We have a vast amount of material to cover before the exam
in May and students should expect to spend 1-2 hours a night reading and studying.
3.
Absent students will be expected to make up missed chapter tests on the morning they return to
school. (Information on the test is covered in the book and I will expect students to be prepared
when they return). Make-ups will take place at 7:00 AM except for circumstances discussed with
me prior to the makeup time. If the student is absent from an entire school day not related to a
school activity (such as field trip, presentation, leadership, matinee, etc.) when an assignment is
due, they will turn it in on the day they return to school. If a student is in school for any amount of
time, or on a school-related field trip/production, then the assignment must be turned in on the due
date.
4.
Late work is NOT accepted for points in this class!
Major Projects/ Continuous Assignments:
1. Continuous assignments with every chapter include the daily readings and unit homework/practice
2. One optional assignment recommended for students are flashcards using the key terms the teacher
places on the board for each unit. These are extremely integral to the success of students
vocabulary comprehension
3. Chapter outlines: these will be required for students with a test average below an 80% after the
first exam and thereafter. These outlines will include key terms, people and studies for the chapter
as well as essential questions.
4. Current Events: Students will be required to find a current news article that corresponds with a
unit of study once each quarter. You may turn this in any time during the quarter as we cover a
topic. This will include a brief summary of the article you found, which unit it connects to and an
analysis of the research presented in the article
5. Lifeline: This project is to be completed during the unit of study on Developmental Psychology.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of different developmental psychologists and their
theories
6. Pop Culture and Psychology: This is the end of the year/second semester final project. Students
will choose any topic we have studied during the year and do an in-depth research paper on the
topic from historical inception to modern research including important people, experiments,
etc. Students will then apply their topic to a piece of popular culture demonstrating how we see
psychology in our daily lives.
Office Hours:
If you wish to contact me, I am usually in my classroom B21 before school (by 7:15 AM) and in the Social
Studies off ice during lunch. I am also in B21 each afternoon. You may also leave me a voicemail
message at 657-3600 ext. 37025 or email me at skearns@fremont.k12.ca.us. I will try to return your
message promptly. My goal is to help your student succeed to the best of his/her ability throughout the
school year. I count on your support as well as your students’ best effort and responsibility to accomplish
this task.