AP Psychology Course Syllabus
Ms. Mead
smead@bdchs.org
Course Description and Goals:
This course is designed to give students a sound understanding of psychological concepts and
applications. Students will be able to use knowledge gained in this course effectively in new
situations in their lives. Students should leave the course being able to think critically and to
use the scientific method to evaluate information. Finally, they should be prepared and feel
confident in their ability to be successful on the AP Psychology Exam.
Textbook:
Myers, David G. Psychology. (New York: Worth, 2007)
Class Participation and Attendance:
Class sessions will be spent exploring the concepts of this course through lecture, discussion,
experiments, demonstrations, video clips, and collaborative group work. Therefore, participation
in class activities and regular attendance will greatly increase the likelihood of succeeding in the
course. Participation and attendance will also factor into the students’ conduct grades.
Assignment Expectations:
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Reading notes will be completed in a hierarchy format prior to each class session. Quality
reading notes include major headings, objectives, and vocabulary from the text.
Vocabulary cards will be turned in to check for completion on test days. Vocabulary for
each unit ranges from 20 to 50 terms. A quality vocabulary card is expected to include the
term, definition, relevance, example, and an illustration.
All assignments will be competed to QUALITY and turned in ON TIME. Quality is defined
as a 70% or higher.
If you plan on missing class, arrangements must be made to turn in your assignment(s) in
advance.
Assignments not completed to quality will be returned and revised to quality. Points may
be deducted for assignments not completed to quality.
Late work will receive 50% maximum. The teacher has sole authority regarding these
matters.
Make-up Work Policy: A student who has been absent and whose absence is EXCUSED
is permitted to make up the work missed, provided that the student makes arrangements
with the teacher within three days of the student’s return to school. *Please consult our
class web page for missing work prior to coming to me.
Interactive Notebooks: Students will be expected to keep a notebook that contains all of
the work for our class. Notebooks will be graded periodically. Notebooks are used on a
daily basis. Your notebook is your source of information for this course. Lost notebooks
must be made up, under the direction of the teacher.
Assessments:
A variety of assessments allow me to determine whether students understand the concepts well
enough to apply them in new situations. Review assignments, quizzes, and tests inform me of
each student’s progress toward mastery of the content and that student’s ability to do well on
the AP Exam.
Tests occur at the end of each unit. Students are provided with in-class review sessions. Tests
are given to replicate the AP exam environment. Students have 35 minutes to answer 50
multiple- choice questions and 25 minutes to answer one of two free response questions.
Quizzes occur at the end of each chapter to ensure that students are keeping up with readings.
Course Sequence:
I.
The Story of Psychology
A. Historical Schools: Structuralism and Functionalism
B. Methods of Inquiry: Introspection and Empiricism
C. Contemporary Perspectives: Neuroscience, Evolutionary, Psychodynamic, Behavioral,
Cognitive, Humanistic, Socio-cultural
D. Levels of Analysis: The biopsychosocial approach
II.
Learning and Memory
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Classical Conditioning: Pavlov, Watson, applications, and criticisms
Operant Conditioning: Skinner, Thorndike, principles of reinforcement
Observational Learning: Bandura, prosocial behavior
Information Processing: Encoding, storage, and retrieval
Forgetting and Memory Construction: Ebbinghaus and Loftus
III. Sensation and Perception
A. Basic Principles: Top-down processing, bottom-up processing, thresholds, sensory
adaptation, Weber’s law
B. Vision: The Eye, Young-Hemholtz trichromatic theory, opponent-process theory
C. Audition: The Ear, place theory, frequency theory
D. Touch, Taste, and Smell: sensory interaction, Ramachandran’s phantom limb and
parallel processing studies
IV. Social Psychology
A. Attitudes and Behavior: Fundamental attribution error, self serving bias, cognitive
dissonance
B. Group Influences: Asch’s conformity experiment, Milgram’s obedience study, Zimbardo
prison experiment
C. Prejudice and Aggression: stereotypes, just-world phenomenon, frustration aggression
principle
D. Attraction and Altruism: Sternberg’s triangular theory of love, social-responsibility norms
V.
Neuroscience and The Nature-Nurture Debate
A.
B.
C.
D.
Neural Communication: Anatomy of a neuron, action potentials, neurotransmitters
The Nervous System: Peripheral and Central nervous systems, neural networks
The Endocrine System: Hormones, the role of the hypothalamus
The Brain: Neuroanatomy, Neuroimaging, Specialized structures, hemispheric
differences
E. Behavior Genetics: genes, twin studies, adoption studies, heritability, gene-environment
interaction
F. Evolutionary Psychology: Natural Selection
G. Parent, Peer, and Cultural Influences on Behavior
VI. Cognition
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Thinking: Concepts, Problem-solving, Judgment and Decision-Making
Language Development: B.F. Skinner vs. Noam Chomsky
Linguistic Determinism: Whorf’s hypothesis
Animal Thinking and Language: The case of the apes
Intelligence: general intelligence, Sternberg’s triarchic theory, Gardner’s multiple
intelligences
F. Intelligence Testing: Stanford-Binet, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, principles of test
construction
G. The Dynamics of Intelligence: giftedness, savant syndrome, genetic and environmental
influences
VII. Abnormal Psychology
A. Defining Psychological Disorders: Classification and Labeling of Psychological
Disorders, DSM-IV-TR, Keyes’s “Mental Health as Flourishing”, the biopsychosocial
approach, the medical model
B. Categories of Disorders: Anxiety disorders, Mood disorders, Schizophrenia, Personality
disorders, Dissociative disorders
C. The Psychotherapies: Psychoanalysis, Humanistic Therapies, Behavior Therapies,
Cognitive Therapies, Gestalt Therapy, Group and Family Therapy, Biomedical Therapies
D. Evaluating Psychotherapies: Measuring Effectiveness, Alternative Therapies,
Regression toward the mean, commonalities among therapies
E. Prevention of Psychological Disorders: Mental Health Awareness Project
VIII. Research Methods: Thinking Critically With Psychological Science
A. Descriptive Methods: The Case Study, The Survey, Naturalistic Observation
B. Correlational Research and Experimentation: Correlation vs. Causation, The Scientific
Method, Cause and Effect
C. Statistical Reasoning: Measures of Central Tendency, Measures of Variation, Statistical
Significance
D. Ethics in Research
IX. Motivation and Emotion
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
X.
Perspectives on Motivation: Instincts, Drive-reduction theory, Hierarchy of needs
Hunger and Eating Disorders
Sexual Motivation
The Need to Belong
Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Theories of Emotion: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter-Singer
Expression and Experience of Emotion: Fear, Anger, and Happiness
Developmental Psychology
A. Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood
B. Major Theories: Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Attachment theories,
Kohlberg’s Moral Reasoning, Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
C. Death and Dying: Stages of Grief, Cultural Perspectives on Death
XI. Personality
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Psychoanalytic Perspective and Unconscious Processes: Freud, Adler, and Jung
Humanistic Perspective and Self-Actualization: Maslow and Rogers
Trait Perspective: The Big Five, factor analysis, Myer’s-Briggs, and MMPI
The Social-Cognitive Perspective
Self-Esteem
XII. States of Consciousness
A. Sleep and Dreams: stages of sleep, purposes of sleep and dreams
B. Hypnosis
C. Drugs and Consciousness
XIII. Stress and Health
A. Stress and Illness
B. Stress Appraisal
C. Managing Stress: Exercise, Biofeedback, Relaxation, and Meditation