Required Materials:
Zimbardo, Johnson, Weber, Gruber. (2007) Psychology, AP Edition. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- Definition of Psychology- Past and present approaches to psychology
- Experimental, correlation, observational and clinical research
-Statistics/ Measurement: descriptive and inferential results
-reading/ organizing statistical data **excerpt from Stats chapter** hand-out
-Ethics/ APA
Activities:
Design and complete your own experiment – “Within These Walls”
Clever Hans the Super Horse
Cooperative Learning: Using the book “Forty Experiments that Shaped Psychology”, identify and describe the ethical issues in each experiment, present findings to class.
Topics Include:
- Logic, Philosophy and the history of
Psychology as a science.
- Major contributors to the science.
-Approaches to psychology: biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, socio-cultural, and evolutionary
- Three key perspectives of Psychology: biological, learning, cognitive
Activities:
“Who am I “- be a famous psychologist for the period
Research paper- “The Father’s of Psychology”, “Psychology Beginnings”,
“Where We Were and Where We Are”

Topics Include:
- The nervous system: study of, structure, functions, affects on behavior.
-Neurons: Building Blocks
-Structure and Functions of Neurons
-The Synapse (Illustrations)
- The brain: study of, structure, functions, affects on behavior.
-Central Nervous System
-The Spinal Cord
-“Lower Brain Centers”: Brain Stem, RAS, Hypothalamus
-The Cerebral Cortex
-Splitting the Brain
-Male & Female Brains
- The endocrine system: study of, structure, functions, affects on behavior.
- Genetics
-Nature v. Nurture
Activities:
Clay Brains
Sidewalk Neurotransmitters
Candy Neurons
Presentation on Nature versus Nurture- “All Around Us”
Topics Include:
- Thresholds/ Differential and Absolute
- Sensory mechanisms and adaptation
- Perceptual processes and development
- Functions of perception environment/ biological
- Vision
-Stimulus for Vision: Light
-Reception for Vision: The Eye
-Color Vision and Color Blindness
-Perceptual Organization
-Perception of Depth and Distance
-The Perception of Motion
-The Constancy of Visual Perception
Hearing and the Other Senses

-Hearing
-The Chemical Senses
-The Skin, or Cutaneous Senses
-The Position Senses
-Pain: A Special Sense
Activities:
Diagram/ Key of the Ear
Diagram/ Key of the Eye
“Painting for Perspective”- paint supplies will be distributed
“Illusions, How and Why”- decoding illusions
“Perception is Reality”- special effects, lighting, expectations, past experience
“What is it”- Magic Touch boxes, use your senses to determine the objects in the box.
Appreciation Day- Trust your other senses to guide you through the period with a blindfold.
Topics Include:
- Aspects of consciousness
-Sleep and dreaming
-Psychotropic Drugs
-Levels of Consciousness
-Normal, Waking Consciousness
-Unconsciousness: Freudian & Contemporary Views
-Sleeping and Dreaming
-Stages of Sleep
-REM and NREM Sleep
-Sleep Deprivation
-Sleep Disorders
-Voluntary Alterations of Consciousness
-Hypnosis
-Meditation
-Altering Consciousness with Drugs
Activities:
Sleep Quiz- “Do you know your Z’s?”
Decoding your Dreams- Begin Sleep Journal
Cooperative Learning: Research Presentations: Sleep Disorders Explained.
Wear comfortable clothes: Yoga, Stretching and Meditation Day

Topics Include:
-Classical conditioning
-Reviews of Classical Conditioning
-Cognitive Approaches to Learning
- Operant conditioning
- Basics of Operant Conditioning
-Reinforcement
-Punishment
-Generalization and Discrimination
-Can any response be operantly conditioned?
- Social learning
Activities:
Classical Conditioning Experiments: Use your friends, family and teachers as subjects, document progress daily using video journal.
Good vs. Bad punishment, is it helpful? A study in the school daycare.
Bandura and Social Learning: Your experiences documented, create a timeline of your own social learning milestones.
Present classical conditioning video journals.
Topics include:
-Memory (short term/long term)
- Information Processing
- Language/ Chomsky v. Skinner (Debate Issue)
- Problem solving and creativity (Debate Issue)
Activities:
Memory Quiz, How Much Do You Really Remember?
How do we process information? Where does it all go? How to get it to stick, strategies for everyone.
Language acquisition- How do we learn verbal and non-verbal languages.
People watching in the cafeteria.
Topics Include:
-standardization and norms
-reliability and validity
-types of tests
-Ethics and standards in testing (APA)

-Milgram/ Zimbardo/ Skinner/ Watson (Debate Issue)
-Intelligence
-Theories
Activities:
What is your IQ, does it really matter?
Creating your own test, how to determine standardization in a diverse classroom setting.
Creating your own test, measure the reliability and validity using your classmates as subjects.
How did the APA get involved in the testing process? A look at the studies of the past that have gone wrong, recreate the experiment using the APA guidelines.
Topics Include:
- Biological bases
-Survival
-Sexual Maturity
-Drives
-Impulses
-Motivators
Activities:
Why do we do what we do? Primary vs. Secondary.
What motivates you? Survey the students around you to determine motivation and emotions that are the driving force of SHS.
Groups will present findings to class.
Survival Mode, survival techniques for:
Adolescence, Being Lost in the Wilderness and Survival of the Species, explain the similarities and the bodily functions involved in each situation.
Topics Include:
- Life span approach
- Research methods
- Nature v. nurture
- Dimensions of development:

physical, cognitive, social and moral development
- Developmental theories
-Prenatal Influences on Development
-Genetics/Inheritance/Interactionist
-Stages of Prenatal Development
-Environmental Influences
-Development in Childhood
-Motor Development: Getting from Here to There
-Sensory and Perceptual Development
-Cognitive and Social Development: Piaget, Kohlberg, Erikson
Development in Adolescence
-Characteristics
-Physical Changes
-Challenges
-Development in Adulthood
-Stages in Adulthood
-Death and Dying
Activities:
Eric Erikson interviews, Using Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man interview or observe three subjects from each age category, analysis 11/20
Piaget videos: Create tests to determine development levels based on Jean
Piaget’s theories of development.
Death, Dying and Acceptance- Create a step by step brochure to outline grief counseling given to terminally ill patients.
Topics Include:
Psychoanalytic Approach: Freud and Beyond
-Behavioral/Learning Approach
-Humanistic-Phenomenological Approach
-Trait Approach
-Pros/cons to approaches
-Issues related to Personality: Interactionism; gender; assessment (Debate
Issue)
Activities:
Freud analyzed, the how and why’s of thoughts and behaviors according to
Sigmond. Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, Kohler, James Marcia, etc.
Gender and sex identity, where does it come from and how does it mold your outlook.
A day of observation in the child care center.
A day at the local nursing home

Topics Include:
-Defining and Classifying Psychological Disorders
-Introduction and use of the DSM
-What is “Abnormal”?
-Classification of Abnormal Reactions
-Problems with Classification
Sampling of Psychological Disorders:
-Anxiety Disorders
-Somatoform Disorders
-Dissociative Disorders
-Personality Disorders
-Disorders in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
-Delirium, Dementia, Amnestic, and Other Cognitive Disorders
-Mood Disorders
-Schizophrenia
Activities:
What is abnormal? The Legal, Standard, and Medical Definitions of
“Abnormal”, “Insanity”, and the implications of each. Case Studies.
Anxiety, the causes, the treatments and the prognosis.
OCD Case Studies. *MTV True Life “I HAVE OCD” Segment, with question and answer sections.
Quiz, “Are you depressed?” Looking at disorders that are all around us, bipolar diagnosis behaviors and treatments.
Schizophrenia, Anorexia, OCD, Bi-polar, Case Studies and famous cases of disorders gone wrong. Group Presentations
REVIEW
Review and Speed Dating**
Each Student will be assigned a disorder.
A round of “Speed Dating” will be used to allow the students question and answer sessions to determine the indicative behaviors and identify the disorder.
Every 4 minutes and 30 seconds the timer will sound and the students will move to another table to begin “dating” the next student.

Approaches:
Topics Include:
-insight therapies (psychodynamic/humanism)
-behavioral
-cognitive
biological (psychopharmacology/psychosurgery)
- Modes of Therapy.
- Preventative Approaches
Activities:
The Medical Model- Drug Treatment, Guest Speaker: Local Psychiatrist
A look at ECT, RET, Group and Individual therapy.
How to prevent and be proactive- Helping and loving those around you.
Topics Include:
- Group Dynamics (Debate Issue)
- Attribution processes
- Interpersonal perception
- Conformity, compliance, obedience
- Attitudes
- Aggression and anti-social behavior
- Organizational behavior
Activities:
Review of Horney, Adler, Jung, Bandura, the positive and negative of social learning.
A look at the Milgram experiment, Neuremburg trials and obedience in society today.
Create your own experiment to test obedience and social pressures in SHS today.
Topics Include:
-Position Responsibilities/ Requirements
Potential Career Opportunities
-Fitting the Person to the job
-Motivating people to do good work

-Fitting the Job to the Person
-Satisfaction with the job
-Environmental and Sport Psychology
-Space and Territory
-Life in the City: An Example
-Noise, Temperature, and Environmental Toxins
-Changing Behaviors
-Psychological Characteristics of Athletes
Activities:
Guest Speaker from the College I/O program
Guest Speaker from the College Sports Med/ PT program
Mentality of people in different living situations: City Mouse, Country
Mouse.
Review and Exam Prep.- AP EXAM
TESTS
There will be a test at the conclusion of each chapter.
Supplementary Materials-
All Supplementary materials and articles come from the American
Psychological Association magazine, website and sites endorsed by the APA.
Students use technology to attain recent information from reputable sources.
A sample of the sites used: www.apa.org
www.apa.org/topics http://www.apa.org/databases/ http://www.psychologymatters.org/glossary.html
http://www.apa.org/books/student.html
http://psycport.apa.org/ http://www.apa.org/monitor/ http://www.apahelpcenter.org/
Monitor of Psychology website
APA Journals/ Articles
Psychology News
Sample Timed Essays (from previous AP exams and supplemental sources):

1.
Your high school is proposing to move to a system in which grades are no longer given or used to evaluate student progress.
Define each of the following concepts and state how each might either positively or negatively change student behavior under such system. a.
Extrinsic Motivation b.
Arousal Theory (Yerkes-Dodson Law) c.
Learned Helplessness d.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
2.
Discuss the cause of anxiety from each of the following perspectives: a.
Behavioral b.
Psychodynamic/ Psychoanalytic c.
Biological d.
Cognitive
Discuss a specific treatment technique for reducing anxiety used by professionals representing each of the four perspectives.
3.
Describe the general goals and reasons for biological therapies. Identify three types of biological therapy and briefly describe the reasons for using them, their effectiveness, and the disadvantages associated with using them.
4.
Describe the advantages and goals of group therapy. Also, identify two types of therapy and describe their methods, goals and effectiveness.
5.
Two clients are listed below. First describe the symptoms of each disorder. Then, create an effective treatment plan for each client. Include the techniques and goals involved with each form of therapy. a.
A 20 year old woman with disorganized schizophrenia. b.
A retired businessman who has a long history of alcoholism and suffers periods of depression.
We use the 313 terms outlined on the next few pages in addition to the text and supplemental materials listed to study for the AP exam. Each class period during the review students are tested on 50 terms and complete short answer sections to review and prepare for the exam.

1 Aaron Beck's view of depression
2 absolute threshold
3 achievement vs. aptitude tests
4 action vs. resting potential
5 acuity-vision
6 Ainsworth Strange Situation (Paradigm)
7 Albert Bandura: major view on learning and
Bobo Doll experiment
8 Albert Ellis - Rational Emotive Therapy (RET)
9 Alfred Adler - inferiority complex
10 all-or-nothing law (all-or-none) of neural firing
11 altruism
12 American Psychological Association (APA)
13 amnesia (anteriograde & retrograde)
14 apparent motion
15 arousal
16 Asch's conformity study (line segments)
17 attachment
18 attribution theory
19 aversive conditioning (good or bad?)
20 aversive conditions
21 Babinsky response
22 behavior as being adaptive
23 bell curve (normal distribution)
24 Benjamin Worf's theory of linguistic relativism (determinism)
25 binocular disparity
26 blind spot
27 blood brain barrier
28 brain: what part do we share with animals?
How do we differ?
29 brainstorming
30 Broca's aphasia (expressive) located in left frontal lobe
31 bystander intervention: factors that influence it
32 Cannon's critique of James-Lange theory
33 Carl Rogers: person (client) centered therapy
34 Carol Gilligan's critique of Kohlberg's theory
35 chaining
36 character disorders : major ones
37 chunking
38 classical conditioning ( & can you distinguish it from operantl conditioning)
39 Clever Hans experiment
40 cognitive dissonance
41 color blindness: kinds
42 complementary colors
43 conflicts: four kinds
44 control group
45 correlation coefficients
46 cortexes of the brain : major ones
47 cross cultural studies
48 cross sectional studies
49 crystallized intelligence: acquired and usually does not decline with age
50 CS-CR-UCS-UCR
51 Daniel Goleman's views on emotional intelligence
52 David McClelland's achievement motivation studies
53 defense mechanisms: major ones
54 deindividuation
55 deinstitutionalization
56 dendrite (purpose of)
57 depression: trycyclic antidepressants are most widely used to treat it
58 descriptive vs. inferential statistics
59 determinism
60 developmental psychology
61 Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders ( purpose and limits)
62 difference threshold (jnd)
63 discrimination (in learning theory and race relations)
64 displacement
65 dissociative disorders
66 dominant responses (aided by social facilitation)
67 Down's syndrome
68 dream analysis
69 drives
70 Ebbinhaus' research on memory
71 echoic memory
72 effects of marijuana
73 eidetic memory
74 electroconvulsive shock therapy
75 Elizabeth Loftus' research on eyewitness testimony
76 endocrine organs and hormones secreted by them
77 endorphins
78 engram
79 episodic memory (a.k.a. flashbulb)
80 equity theory of relationships
81 Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development
82 ethics of testing
83 experiment: be able to design one
84 false consensus effect
85 feature (signal) detector cells: Hubel &
Wisel's research on visual processing
86 feature analysis
87 feral children
88 fetal alcohol syndrome: characteristics
89 figure - ground - phenomenon
90 foot-in-the-door phenomenon
91 formal operations
92 fovea
93 Francis Galton's research
94 free association
95 frequency polygon
96 Freudian dream analysis: two levels of interpretation
97 Freud's stage of psychosexual development
98 frustration-aggression hypothesis
99 functional fixedness
100 fundamental attribution error
101 galvanic skin response (GRS)
102 ganglia
103 Gansfeld Procedure
104 Gate Control Theory of Pain
105 generalizability of a study
106 genotype & phenotype
107 Gestalt theory
108 glial cells
109 group therapy (advantages of )
110 groupthink
111 gustatory sense: detects only sweet, sour, salty, bitter

112 habituation
113 Hans Seyle's General Adaptation
Response
114 Harry Harlow's research with surrogate mothers
115 Hawthorne Effect
116 heuristics: major types
117 hierarchy of needs (Maslow) can you put them in order?
118 high vs. low self-monitors
119 hindsight bias
120 histogram
121 homeostasis
122 Howard Gardner's view of multiple intelligence
123 hue: (British term for color)
124 hybrid
125 hypnosis: major theories of
126 hypothalamus
127 id, ego, superego
128 IDEAL (strategy for solving problems)
129 identical twin research
130 identification vs. internalization (Freudian terms)
131 illusory correlation
132 imaging techniques: PET, CAT, MRI, FMRI
133 imprinting
134 incentives
135 independent/dependent variables
136 induced motion
137 inductive vs. deductive reasoning
138 industrial (organizational) psychology
139 ingroup and outgroup bias
140 inner ear - vestibular sense
141 instinct
142 instrumental - operant conditioning
143 Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.)
144 intelligence tests (major kinds used)
145 interference (proactive vs. retroactive)
146 internal consistency reliability
147 internalization
148 James-Lange theory of emotions
149 John Garcia's ideas on the limits of conditioning
150 just-world phenomenon
151 Karen Horney's views on development
152 kinesthetics
153 Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning
154 Kubler Ross' stages of dying
155 L-dopa
156 learning curve
157 limbic system: structures and function
158 linear perspective
159 linkage analysis
160 lithium (bi-polar disorders)
161 localization of sound (how is it done? Why are two ears needed?)
162 long term potentiation
163 longitudinal study
164 loss of information from short term memory
165 major neurotransmitters
166 Martin Seligman's "learned helplessness"
167 measures of central tendency: mean, median, mode
168 measures of variability: range and standard deviation
169 memory: kinds ( sensory, short-term, longterm)
170 mental age
171 mental set
172 metacognition
173 method of loci
174 milieu therapy
175 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI) Test: use for what?
176 misinformation effect
177 modeling
178 monocular vs. binocular depth cues
179 motion aftereffect
180 motion parallax
181 myelin sheath: where and purpose?
182 narcissism
183 nature vs. nurture controversy
184 nervous system: major parts
185 neuron: three basic parts
186 neurotransmitters: major kinds
187 newborn baby reflexes
188 next-in-line-effect
189 normative social influence
190 norms
191 novelty preference
192 obesity (role of hypothalamus)
193 Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD)
194 occipital lobe
195 Oedipal conflict
196 one eye problem - what you couldn't do well if you had only one eye
197 operationalizing a definition
198 opponent-process theory of emotions
199 opponent-process theory of visual processing (afterimages)
200 optic disc
201 optic nerve
202 pancreas
203 panic attacks (& what's the best treatment?)
204 paradoxical sleep: why is REM called this?
205 paresis
206 perceptual constancy (size,color,shape)
207 perceptual set
208 personal space
209 perspectives in psychology (major ones)
210 phenylketonuria (PKU)
211 phi phenomenon
212 phonemes vs. morphemes
213 photoreceptors
214 Piaget's stages of cognitive development
215 pineal gland (function and what makes it unique?)
216 pitch
217 pituitary gland
218 plasticity
219 positive reinforcement
220 post traumatic stress disorder
221 Premack principle
222 primacy effect
223 projective tests: TAT & Rorschach
224 prosocial behavior: what is it and give an example
225 proximity (effects on relationships)
226 prototype
227 punishment: why it may not be effective

and might backfire
228 Rational Emotive Therapy
229 reality principle (function of ego)
230 recessive vs. dominant genes
231 reflex arc
232 reliability vs. validity in testing
233 REM sleep
234 repression
235 reticular formation: related to sleep, arousal, attention
236 retinal disparity (a.k.a. binocular disparity)
237 Robert Rescorla's findings on conditioning
238 rods and cones (structures & differences)
239 rooting reflex
240 sample
241 scatterplot: most often used to plot correlations
242 schedules of reinforcement (5 kinds - which are most effective?)
243 schema
244 schizophrenia
245 selective attention
246 self-efficacy
247 self-fulfilling prophecy
248 self-serving bias
249 semantic memory
250 serial position effect
251 set point
252 sexual characteristics (primary vs. secondary)
253 sexual identity vs. gender identity
254 shaping
255 signal detection theory
256 sleep disorders: major kinds
257 sleeper effect
258 social cognitive theory
259 social exchange theory
260 social facilitation
261 social loafing
262 social trap
263 somatoform disorders: major kinds
264 somatosensory cortex: location and used for what sense?
265 stages of learning (acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, etc.)
266 standard deviation
267 Stanley Milgram's experiement with obedience
268 Stanley Schachter's Two Factor Theory
269 stereotype
270 stimulus generalization
271 stranger anxiety
272 systematic desensitization: a.k.a. a kind of counterconditioning
273 Tay-Sachs disease
274 testable hypothesis
275 thalamus (& what sense doesn't get routed through here?)
276 Thorndike's Law of Effect
277 thyroid gland
278 token economy
279 Tourette's syndrome
280 tragedy of the commons
281 transduction
282 Turner's syndrome (X with missing chromosome)
283 validity: different kinds
284 vestibular sense
285 visual cliff
286 water balance (role of hypothalamus)
287 Weber's law
288 Wernicke's aphasia (receptive) located in left temporal lobe
289 Wilder Penfield's research on the brain
290 Wilhelm Wundt (structualism)
291 William James (functionalism)
292 Yerkes/Dodson Arousal Law
293 Zajonc's "Mere Expose Effect"
294 Zimbardo's prison experiment
295 androgyny
296 catharsis
297 haptic memory
298 syllogism
299 expectancy theory (aka mental set)
300 algorithm
301 positive and negative symptoms (in mental disorders)
302 two kinds of deafness: Conductive and nerve
303 intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
304 divergent vs. convergent thinking
305 Flynn effect
306 tip-of-the-tongue effect
307 primary vs. secondary reinforcers
308 Cooper's research on visual processing
(using cats)
309 agonist vs. antagonist chemicals
310 Afferent Neurons vs. Efferent Neurons
311 Ethnocentrism
312 androgeny
313 Optimistic Explanatory Style