SMESx Psychology 101

St. Margaret’s Episcopal School Course Syllabus

Psychology 101 will provide you with foundational knowledge and thinking skills to understand the science of human behavior and thinking.

1. About Psych 101:

Psychology is the academic and applied study of the human mind and behavior. Perhaps there are no more salient topics in the information age and the global economy than a comprehensive understanding of how learning takes place and what predicts and determines human behavior. The AP course is a primer, meant to provide substantive content through which to understand the human condition and to inspire students to continue their learning and growth.

This course is also self-paced, and a resource for you to engage with the subject of Psychology. As such, we will not be posting in discussion forums often. Please see below for further information regarding the discussion forums.

2. Video Lectures: Each week will open with a Psych Report video clip to frame the lesson for the week and to dispel some common myths. There will also be 1 to 3 tablet capture videos to dive into the content of the week. Additionally, there are a few TED talks for students to watch. The TED talks are not mandatory content and students will not be held responsible for them on weekly quizzes and the final exam.

3. Prerequisites: An open mind and willingness to share your thoughts.

4. Workload: It is expected that you will spend between 2 and 4 hours per week on homework, readings and other activities.

5. Textbooks and Resources: The required textbook is embedded in the course. The course instructors have curated the material that is most relevant to this class. If you are interested in reading the book in its entirety, it is available at: http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Introduction%20to%20Psychology.pdf

6. Discussion Forum: Because this course is self-paced, and should you choose, a resource for you to interact with other students, the discussion forum is to be used with proper etiquette to ask and respond to questions from your peers. The course instructors will not be posting regularly in the discussions. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of the experience:

a. Participate fully by engaging in the entire discussion b. Demonstrate knowledge by making comments that are insightful and informed c. Present unique, insightful ideas and perspectives that help the class see something in

a new way and demonstrate your ability to see beyond the obvious d. Provide relevant examples from your home, school, and community in addition to

resources such as useful websites, books, blogs, articles, etc. that support your response

e. Pose questions that are thought provoking and promote further discussion f. Clarify what portion of your classmate's comment you are responding to and describe

how the classmate's contribution helped you specifically understand the topic or think about the topic in a different way

g. Ask for clarification or help when needed and offer assistance to those who need extra explanation on a topic

h. Contribute to a healthy and safe learning environment by being open to others' comments and ideas and respecting different points-of-view without judgement or prejudice

7. Grading Policy: There will be 12 graded assignments in this course. Those who want to obtain a Certificate, must complete the weekly quizzes which contain between 5 and 7 multiple choices questions, a submission of responses to the two final Free Response Questions (FRQs) and a final exam which consists of 50 multiple choice questions.

a. Weekly Quizzes (40%) b. Submission of FRQ responses (10%) c. Final Exam (50%)

8. Schedule:

Week

Release Date

Topics

Readings

Assignments

1

June 15

History and approaches

Textbook pages MC Questions Discussion Board

2

June 15

Research Methods and Statistics

Textbook pages

MC Questions Discussion Board

3

June 15

Biology Textbook pages

MC Questions Discussion Board

4

June 15

Sensation, perception and consciousness

Textbook pages

MC Questions Discussion Board

5

June 15

Learning and Cognition

Textbook pages Learning Handout

MC Questions Discussion Board

6

June 15

Motivation and Emotion

Textbook pages

MC Questions Discussion Board

7

June 15

Developmental Psychology

Textbook pages

MC Questions Discussion Board

8

June 15

Intelligence and Personality

Textbook pages

MC Questions Discussion Board

9

June 15

Abnormal Behavior

Textbook pages

MC Questions Discussion Board

10

June 15

Social Psychology

Textbook pages

MC Questions FINAL EXAM FRQ SUBMISSION

Module 1 (Week 1 and 2)

History, Approaches and Research Methods

Key Terms: structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, humanistic psychology, applied research, basic research, theory, hypothesis, case study, survey, population, random sample, correlation, scatterplot, experiment,, mode, mean, standard deviation,

Big Picture Objectives and Questions: -What is psychology? -History of psychology -What do psychologists study and how? -How do psychologists share research results?

Module 2 (Week 3 and 4)

Biology, Sensation, Perception and Consciousness

Neurons, dendrites, axons, myelin sheath, action potential, threshold, synapse, nervous system, endorphins, endocrine system, hormones, brainstem, MRI, brain structure, genetics, environment, DNA, natural selection, sensation, perception, attention, gestalt, perceptual set, consciousness, sleep, insomnia, apnea, hypnosis, dreams, drugs, depressants

-What are neurons and how do they transfer information? -How do neurotransmitters influence behavior? -What are the functions of brain structures? -To what extent can a damaged brain reorganize itself? -What are genes and what do they do?

-What are dependence and addiction? -How do perception and observation work together?

Module 3 (Week 5 and 6)

Learning, Cognition, motivation and emotion

Learning, habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, law of effect, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, working memory, encoding, chunking, recall, recognition, heuristic, cognition, insight, creativity, hierarchy of needs, emotion, well-being, stress, language, sexual orientation

-How does learning take place? -What gets remembered and how do we forget? -How do we learn language? -What are the components of an emotion? -What is motivation?

Module 4 (Week 7 and 8)

Developmental Psychology, Personality, Individual Differences

Piaget’s stages of development, maturation, schema, Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning, Erikson’s psychosocial stages, adolescence, attachment, trust, temperament, ego, intelligence, multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence, IQ, aptitude tests, achievement tests, normal curve, reliability, validity, standardization

- How does a child’s mind develop? -What are the effects of temperament and parenting on attachment? -What was Freud’s view development? -How does morality change as we get older? -What is the nature of intelligence? -What is the difference between aptitude and intelligence tests? -What do psychometrics measure?

Module 5 (Week 9 and 10)

Abnormal Behavior, Treatment of Abnormal Behavior, Social Psychology

Psychological disorder, ADHD, anxiety, panic, phobia, OCD, PTSD, DID, Depression, Bipolar, schizophrenia, psychotherapy, resistance, transference, active listening, behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, social psychology, attribution theory, attitude, conformity, groupthink, culture, prejudice, stereotype, discrimination, social loafing, the bystander effect, altruism,

-How do you draw the line between normality and disorder? -How do clinicians classify disorders? -What are the different types of therapy and do they work? -How do we explain others’ behavior and our own? -Does what we think affect what we do? -Do we attribute others behavior to internal or external causes? -What is prejudice?