AP Psychology

What did the following psychologist show about behavior?

Harry Harlow

Konrad Lorenz

Paul Ekman

Why is the use of the polygraph lie detector suspect?
Know each of the Axes of the DSM – IV- TR

What are antagonist and agonist drugs?

What can a test-retest correlation tell a researcher about the reliability of a test?

What does Gestalt psychology primarily investigate?

What is an absolute threshold?

What is the difference between sampling bias and experimenter bias?

What is a social desirability bias?

What is transduction and where does it take place for all the senses

What is the difference between fetal alcohol syndrome, and phenylketonurial?

What is the difference between the trichromatic theory of color perception and the opponent-process theory?

What is the difference between content, construct and predictive validly?

What is the gate control theory of pain?

What are display rules?

What is the purpose of debriefing?

What perspective is most interesting in locus o control in analyzing behavior?

How does a somatization disorder differ from hypochondriasis and conversion disorder?

What did we learn from Schachter and Singer’s experiment that aroused participants through injections of epinephrine?

What is belief perseverance?

To gauge how worthwhile maintaining class blog and your personal weblog on Psychology has been, I would like you to review all your posts and answer the following questions by means of a comment to this post.

1. To what extent did you find the AP Psychology Class Blog helpful in managing the course, providing you with resources and explaining activities?
2. To what extent did maintaining a personal blog in psychology help you learn? (To a large extent.. To some extent… To little extent…)
3. What suggestions do you have to further enhance the use of blogs for teaching and learning?

Handy Hints

1. What is a double-blind technique?
2. Compare and contrast the educational qualifications of a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist. What does this allow the psychiatrist to do?
3. What would a cognitive psychologists assume to be the root cause of emotional disturbances?
4. Why would Freud be interested in a patients hesitation during a free association task?
5. Where do mental health specialists and community health specialists locate the source of psychological disorders, within social situations or due to individual traits?
6. How would a cognitive psychologist counsel some from suffering from depression?
7. How does systematic desensitization work?
8. What did the meta-analysis conducted by Smith conclude about the effectiveness of therapy?
9. For what disorders would the following most likely be prescribed: valium, prozac, xanax, thorazine, lithium, anti-pyschotics.
10. What is the placebo effective?
11. List the various techniques used by Rogers and Freud.
12. How does a family therapist treat a disorder of a family member?
13. Which psychologist would associate the following: counterconditioning, token economy.
14. What is light exposure therapy and how might it work?
15. Under what category of treatments would you place the following: systematic desensitization, ECT, psychosurgery drug therapy, RET.
16. What is touch therapy and is it effective?
17. What is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and what disorder is it used for?
18. What are the characteristics of an effective psychotherapist?

Outcomes:
1. Understand attribution theory.
2. Understand how attitudes are formed and their influence on action.
3. Understand the processes of conformity and obedience.
4. Understand the dynamics of social relations.

Topics and Activities

Myers PP
1. Social Psychology
Overview: Lecture Notes
The Power of the Situation
Complete Viewing Activity Video: Discovering Psychology

2. Social Thinking
Social cognition
Lecture: Attribution Theory
Attitudes
Lecture: Actions and attitudes and
attitudes and actions
Classic Experiments

Kitty Genovese

3. Social Influence
Classic Experiments: Milgram
Reading 555-561
Group influences Reading pp. 561-566
Current Events and Social Psychology: Abu Ghraib

4. Social Relations
Reading pp. 567-589
Group Presentations: Prejudice, Aggression, Attraction, Love, Altruism
Article: Looking Good: The Psychology and Biology of Beauty

Focus:
Why do we need other?
What do you find most frustrating in your dealing with others?

Outcomes:
1. Understand the characteristics of abnormal behaviors
2. Understand the theories concerning abnormality
3. Identify the major treatment methods
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of treatment

Topic and Activities
1. What’s abnormal? 1) Lecture and Class Discussion
2) Judging Abnormal Behavior W/S
3) Dangers of Labeling
4) Historical Perspective on Abnormal Behavior. This PP presentation explores abnormal behavior throughout history.
5) Explanations of Dysfunctional Behavior. This PP presentation identifies the various theories on the causes of dysfunctional behavior.

2. Classifying Psychological Disorders
1) Chart making and the DSM
2) Video: The DSM-IV
3) Video: Psychopathology
4) Myers PP Presentation

3. Psychotherapy
1) Lecture : Overview
2) Myers PP

4. Treatments in Action
1) Video: “One Flew Over …”
Viewing Activity

Asking Clinical Questions from a Variety of Perspectives

Assessment

Chapter Tests
Blog Entries
Video review
Extended Reading Number 1
Extended Reading Number 2

Focus:
List behaviors, traits and symptoms that you associate with insanity?

Friends and family member are usually the first to seek help when they believe that someone is mentally ill. What behaviors would prompt you to seek help for someone close to you who maybe experiencing mental problems?

How should society treat the mentally ill?

To help SAS seniors make the transition to college, you will write a post or series posts providing advice on ways to more effectively meet this major life challenge. Your topics will include ways to handle stress and maintain health.

Step 1

Read Chapter 17 and undertake further research on stress and health

Step 2

Write a post or a series of posts that covers the following topics:

1. A definition of stress and an explanation of how it impacts health
2. Advice on ways to reduce stress
3. Advice on ways to maintain good health

As your audience is an intelligent one, include rationales based on psychological theories and studies.
Content and Style

• you will need to establish your credibility with you audience so ensure that your post or posts are directed at their needs and based on research

• you need to develop a writing style that will maintain the interest of your readers.

Criteria

Your project will be graded on your knowledge, research and audience appeal. You will need to find 3 seniors outside of our class to write comments about your project. This is a major component of your February Weblog. Due end of February.

In a world where tests are pervasive, the IQ test is considered the “mother” of them all. There are a number of websites offering a wide variety of IQ tests. For some tests, validity and reliability is questionable especially from sites that seek to make financial gain.  You can find a classic IQ test of the last century on the link below . You will have to register first. After you have completed the test, write a blog entry that reflects on how valid you think the test was in measuring your mental abilities. There are 40 questions and the test should take you about 20 minutes.

Classic IQ Test

Debates about intelligence have raged within psychology since the beginning of testing during the First World War. As well as the issues of validity and reliability of the tests employed, defining exactly what is intelligence and the factors that influence its development remain a challenge. This article in Psychology Today presents a number of surprising findings about one of the “slipperiest” concepts in psychology. Write a post outlining what you think are the traits of an intelligent person. You might also like to undertake research on Garderner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence, Sternberg’s triarchic theory and emotional intelligence . Your posting should outline your own reflections, discuss the various psychological theories you have researched and reach a conclusion about what is an intelligent person.

Outcomes:
1. Understand how psychological tests providing insights into human behavior in a reliable and valid manner.
2. Understand how intelligence can be defined.

Myers PP Presentation
Topic and Activities

1. Reliability and Validity
Class Discussion
Text pp. 292-295

2. Types of Tests :
Group and Graphic Organiser that depicts the various types of tests and cites examples of
each.

3. Defining Intelligence
Overview of IQ testing
PowerPoint Presentation Intellegence: Major Issues
Weblog Entry: What is an intelligent person? (See post above)
4. Review

a) Video: Testing and Intelligence

Focus: List the various types of test you have undertaken in recent years: How well do they reflect you and your abilities?

We will postpone the Chapter test until after Chinese New Year. We will spend one to two lesson during the first week back covering and reviewing all material on personality.