Syllabus for AP Psychology
Unit One: The Scope and Methodology of Psychology
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain and apply the current perspectives
1.1 Neuroscience
1.2 Evolutionary
1.3 Behavior-genetics
1.4 Psychodynamic
1.5 Behavioral
1.6 Cognitive
1.7 Socio-cultural
2. Explain and apply the methodologies of psychology
2.1 Descriptive studies
2.1.1 Case study
2.1.2 Survey
2.1.3 Observation
2.2 Correlations
2.3 Experiment
3. Apply statistical Reasoning
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1. Text pp. 1-45
2. Stepping through the sections
3. Critical Thinking Guide Exercises
2.1 Psychology’s Perspectives
2.2 The Limits of Nursery Rhymes
2.3 The Case for Interference
3. Progress Tests
4. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 2: The Biological Bases for Behavior
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Identify the uses of imaging techniques
2. Explain the chemical and electrical communication systems of the body
a. neural communication
b. the nervous system
c. the endocrine system
3. Explain the structures and functions of the brain
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1. Text pp. 47-83
2. Stepping Through the Sections
3. Create a Neural Network
4. Critical Thinking Guide Exercise
a. Split Brain Problem
5. Progress Tests
6. Crossword Puzzle
7. Objective Test and Essay
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Unit 3: Sensation and Perception
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Distinguish between sensation, perception and thresholds
2. Explain the transduction involved in the human senses
a. Vision
b. Audition
c. Somethesis
d. Gustation
e. Olfaction
f. Kinethesis
g. Vestibular Sense
3. Explain and apply the Gestalt principles of perception
4. Explain and apply depth cues
5. Explain and apply the constancies
6. Assess the controversy involved in subliminal perception and ESP
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1. Text pp. 171-207
2. Crossword
3. Critical Thinking Exercises
a. Chaos Control
b. It’s a Matter of Taste
4. Articles
a. Seeing is Believing
b. A Mingling of the Senses
c. Tinnitus
d. Vestibular Sense
5. Progress Tests
6. Quiz
7. Text pp. 209-239
8. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 4: Developmental Psychology
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain the extent to which individuals are shaped by nature and their nurture
a. Evolutionary psychology
b. Behavior genetics
c. Social learning theory
d. Gender schema theory
2. Explain the stages involved in physical, cognitive, and social development from prenatal conditions to old age
3. Apply the concepts developed by developmental theorists
a. Piaget
b. Harlow
c. Lorenz
d. Erikson
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1. Text pp. 85-117
2. Stepping Through the Sections
3. Critical Thinking Guide Exercises
a. Keep on Truckin’
b. When Bad Children aren’t Bad
4. Crossword
5. Quiz
6. Text pp. 119-169
7. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 5: Consciousness and Learning
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain the stages of sleep
2. Explain hypnosis
3. Explain the effects of drugs
a. depressants
b. stimulants
c. hallucinogens
4.Explain and applying the concepts
developed by learning theorists
a. Pavlov
b. Skinner
c. Bandura
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1. Text pp. 241-285
2. Stepping through the Sections
3. Critical Thinking Guide Exercise
a. A Working Hypothesis
4. Progress Test
5. Quiz
6. Text pp. 287-315
7. Stepping through the Sections
8. Critical Thinking Guide Exercises
a. Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning Flow Charts
b. The Discriminating Dachshund
c. Little Albert Revisited
d. Powerful Consequences
9. Exercises
a. Traffic
b. Teaching a Pigeon to Bowl
c. The Homework Puzzle
10. Crossword
11. Progress Tests
12. Objective Test and Essays
13. Midterm Examination
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Unit 6: Memory
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain the concepts involved in encoding, memory storage, and retrieval
2. Differentiate between implicit and explicit memory and the brain structures involved
3. Explain memory construction
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1. Text pp. 317-355
2. Stepping through the Sections
3. Demonstrations
a. Encoding
b. Multi-sensory Input
c. Chunking
d. Reconstructive Memory
4. Information Processing Flow Chart
5. Crossword
6. Progress Tests
7. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 7: Thinking and Language
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Identify problem solving strategies and obstacles and interfere with solutions
2. Describe the structure of language
3. Describe the sequence of language development
4. Explain the theories of language development
a. Skinner’s Operant Learning
b. Chomsky Inborn Universal Grammar
c. Statistical Learning
d. Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
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1. Text pp. 357-389
2. Stepping through the Sections
3. Demonstrations
a. Overconfidence
b. Mental Set
c. Jokes, Riddles, and Insight
d. Hobbits and Orcs
4. Critical Thinking Exercises
a. Seeing is Believing
b. Poor John and Mary
c. Money in the Bank
5. Crossword
6. Progress Tests
7. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 8: Intelligence
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain the origins of intelligence testing and various tests
a. Binet
b. Terman
c. Weschler
2. Describe various theories of intelligence
a. Spearman
b. Thurstone
c. Gardner
d. Sternberg
e. Cattel
f. Emotional intelligence
g. Brain glucose consumption
h. Perceptual and Neurological Speed
3. Explain the impact of nature and nurture on intelligence
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1. Text pp. 391-421
2. Stepping through the Sections
3. Demonstration
a. Factor Analysis Approach
4. Critical Thinking Guide Exercises
a. To Test or Retest
b. “Character”istics of Intelligence
5. Prompt: Why do intelligent people fail?
6. Crossword
7. Progress Tests
8. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 9: Motivation, Emotion, Stress & Health
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain the theories of motivation
a. Drive Reduction Theory
b. Optimum Arousal Theory
c. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
2. Describe the physiology and psychology of hunger, sexual motivation, belonging
3. Distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
4. Distinguish between task and social leadership
5. Distinguish the theories of emotion
a. James-Lange Theory
b. Cannon-Bard Theory
c. Two Factor Theory
6. Explain how emotions are expressed and experienced
7. Describe GAS and the heath consequences of stress
8. Describe ad assess various strategies for coping with stress
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1. Text pp. 423-457
2. Stepping Through the Sections
3. Progress Tests
4. Quiz
5. Text pp. 459-487
6. Stepping through the sections
7. Emotion Flow Chart
8. Demonstrations
a. Road Rage
b. Facial Feedback
c. The Affect Intensity Measure
d. Sensation Seeking Scale
e. Emotional Expressivity Scale
f. The Affective Communication Scale
g. The PANAS Scale
h. The Disgust Scale
9. Crossword
10. Progress Tests
11. Quiz
12. Text pp. 601-641
13. Stepping through the Sections
14. Progress Tests
15. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 10: Personality
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain the concepts involved in describing various personality theories
a. Freud and Neo-Freudians
i. Jung
ii. Adler
iii. Horney
b. Allport
c. Rogers
d. Social Cognitive Perspective
2. Explain the criticisms of each theory
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1. Text pp. 489-529
2. Stepping through the sections
3. Freud Practice Exercises
4. Demonstrations
a. Locus of Control
b. BFI-54
5. Critical Thinking Guide Exercise
a. Freud Meets Mother Goose
6. Progress Tests
7. Crossword
8. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 11: Personality Disorders and Therapies
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Describe the symptoms of anxiety, mood, schizophrenia, and personality disorders
2. Contrast the models of mental illness
a. Medical model
b. Bio-psycho-social model
3. Distinguish the various therapies
a. Psychoanalysis
b. Client-Centered Therapy
c. Counterconditioning
d. Systematic Desensitization
e. Exposure Therapy
f. Aversive Conditioning
g. Operant Conditioing
h. Cognitive-behavior Therapy
i. Drug Therapies
j. ECT and psychosurgery
4. Explain the results of studies on the effectiveness of therapies
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1. Text pp. 531-565
2. Stepping through the sections
3. Demonstrations
a. Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale
b. Referential Thinking Scale
c. Hartman’s Social Anxiety Thoughts Questionnaire
d. Obsessive-Compulsive Scale
4. Critical Thinking Guide Exercises
a. All I Need is an Agent
b. Even Domestic Engineers Get the Blues
c. How Does that Make You Feel
5. Progress Tests
6. Crossword
7. Text pp. 567-599
8. Stepping through the sections
9. Progress Tests
10. Objective Test and Essays
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Unit 12: Social Psychology
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Content Outline
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Assignments and Assessments
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1. Explain attribution theory
2. Explain how actions affect attitudes
3. Explain experiments
a. Asch on authority
b. Milgrim on obedience
4. Explain how the group influences actions
5. Explain the concepts involved in social relations
a. Prejudice
b. Aggression
c. Conflict
d. Attraction
e. Altruism
f. Peacemaking
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1. Text pp. 643-688
2. Stepping through the sections
3. Critical Thinking Guide Exercises
a. Pride and Prejudices
b. Dear Abby
4. Crossword
5. Progress Tests
6. Objective Test and Essays
7. Final Examination
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3. Sources
a. Myers, David G. Psychology, 6th edition. New York: Worth Publishers, 2001.
b. (Study guide)
c. (Teacher’s guide)
d. (Test Banks)
e. Critical Thinking Guide
f. Videos
i. Discovering Psychology video series
ii. Modules
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