Spring, 2009

| Overview | Purpose | Course Texts | Course Outline | Assessment | Grading Scale | Research Papers |

Overview

The AP Psychology Course is scheduled to be a Spring Semester course lasting fourteen weeks. Each class meets for a 98 minute block each day of the week. The class also meets for three, four hour Saturday review sessions as well as two, two hour Thursday evening research sessions at the University or South Alabama library. The total amount of time dedicated to this class is over 130 class contact hours. This means on average that we spend over 9 hours in class each week. Students are expected to follow the two hours out for each hour in rule. This means that each student is expected to study 18 hours each week.

Purpose

Psychology is absolutely the most relevant class you will take in High School. The study of behavior is fascinating. To have the chance to study it at your age is a real privilege and I look forward with great anticipation to sharing it with you.
This course is designed to prepare the honor student to take and pass the advanced placement psychology exam. It will give the student the working vocabulary related to the history, practice and methodology used in the study of human behavior. It will allow the student the opportunity to explore the biological, perceptual, motivational and social influence that we humans face in our daily lives. We will also consider the issues related to psychopathology and therapy.

Course Texts

The majority of reading assignments will come from Douglas Bernstein's Psychology, 4th Edition (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1997).

Additional reading assignments will come from Karen Huffman's Psychology in Action, 7th Edition (Wiley, John & Sons, New York, 2003)

Excerpts from several classic writings in psychology will also be assigned. They are located at Classics in the History of Psychology, a web site developed by Christopher Green at York University, Toronto, Canada in 2006. (http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/author.htm)

Course Outline

Unit 01	History, Systems and Approaches in Psychology
Unit 02	Research Methodology in Psychology
Unit 03	The Biological Aspects of Psychology
Unit 04	Sensation and Perception
Unit 05	States of Consciousness
Unit 06	Developmental Psychology Part I
Unit 07	Developmental Psychology Part II
Unit 08	Learning
Unit 09	Memory
Unit 10	Intelligence and Psychological Testing
Unit 11	Motivation, Emotion and Stress
Unit 12	Theories of Personality
Unit 13	Abnormal Psychology and Therapy
Unit 14	Social Psychology

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 01 January 5 - 9

Unit 01 - History, Systems and Approaches in Psychology
College Board Curriculum Requirement 01

Reading Assignment:

Bernstein, Chapter 1

Essential Questions:

1.	How do the different perspectives in psychology compare and contrast?
2.	Who were the movers and shakers in the evolution of psychology as a science?
3.	What are the fields of psychology?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Psychology
2.	Structuralism
3.	Functionalism
4.	Schools of Psychology
5.	Biological
6.	Behavioral
7.	Cognitive
8.	Humanistic
9.	Psychodynamic
10.	Sociocultural
11.	Evolutionary
12.	Socrates
13.	Aristotle
14.	Middle Ages
15.	Renaissance
16.	Empiricism
17.	Scientific Method
18.	Charles Darwin
19.	William James
20.	John B. Watson
21.	B.F. Skinner
22.	Jean Piaget
23.	Clinical Psychology
24.	Counseling Psychologist
25.	School Psychologists
26.	Educational Psychologists
27.	Developmental Psychologists
28.	Personality Psychologists
29.	Social Psychologists
30.	Experimental psychologists

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 02 - January 12 - 16

Unit 02 - Research Methodology in Psychology
College Board Curriculum Requirement 02

Reading Assignment:	Bernstein, Chapter 2
	Huffman, Chapter 1

Essential Questions:

1.	How do psychologists use the scientific method to study behavior and mental processes?
2.	Which methods of research are appropriate for the study of different behaviors?
3.	How do psychologists draw appropriate conclusions about behavior from research?
4.	How do psychologists make ethical decisions about researching behavior with human and animal subjects?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Scientific Method
2.	Hypothesis
3.	Replication
4.	Theory
5.	Descriptive Studies
6.	Correlational Studies
7.	Dependent Variables
8.	Experimental Group
9.	Case Studies
10.	Observations
11.	Surveys
12.	Tests
13.	Case Study
14.	Naturalistic Observation
15.	Laboratory Observation
16.	Surveys
17.	Validity
18.	Reliability
19.	Experimental Research
20.	IV and DV
21.	Descriptive Statistics
22.	Inferential Statistics
23.	Mode/Median/Mean
24.	Ethics in Research
25.	Physical Harm
26.	Psychological harm
27.	Informed Concent
28.	Deception
29.	Confidentiality
30.	The Forbidden Experiment

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 03 January 19 - 23

Unit 03 - The Biological Aspects of Psychology
College Board Curriculum Requirement 03

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 3
	Huffman, Chapter 2

Essential Question:

1.	How do biological processes relate to behavior?
2.	How do the biological processes work to create and sustain behavior?
3.	How does damage to a biological process or part affect behavior?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Neuron
2.	Action Potential
3.	Neurotransmitters
4.	Soma
5.	Dendrite
6.	Neuroanatomy
7.	Synapse
8.	Sodium Potassium Pump
9.	Axon
10.	Myelin
11.	Nervous System
12.	Acetylcholine, GABA, Norephinephren, Serotonin, Dopamine and Endorphin
13.	Central Nervous System
14.	Parts of the Brain
15.	Broca's Area, Wernicke's  Area
16.	Endocrine System
17.	PET / CAT Scan
18.	MRI / fMRI
19.	Evolutionary Psychology
20.	Hindbrain
21.	Medulla, Brain Stem, RAS, Pons and Cerebellum
22.	Midbrain
23.	Corpus Callosum
24.	Forebrain
25.	Limbic system, Thalamus, Hypothalamus and both Cerebral Cortexes
26.	Sensory, Motor and Association Cortex.
27.	Thalamus
28.	Peripheral System, Somatic System
39.	Efferent Neurons, Afferent Neurons
30.	Autonomic System, Sympathetic System, Parasympathetic Systems

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 04  January 26 - 30

Unit 04 - Sensation and Perception
College Board Curriculum Requirement 04

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 4 and 5
	Bruner, Jerome S. & Postman, Leo. (1949). On the perception of incongruity: A paradigm. Journal of Personality, 18, 206-223. [Famous "New Look" study in which black hearts on playing cards were seen as being red.]
	Wertheimer, Max. (1938). Laws of organization in perceptual forms. In W. Ellis, W (Ed. & Trans.), A source book of Gestalt psychology (pp. 71-88). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (Original work published in 1923 as Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt II, in Psychologische Forschung, 4, 301-350.) [One of the most influential of all Gestalt papers.]

Essential Questions:

1.	How do the five senses receive and translate signals to the brain for processing?
2.	How do sensation and perception differ?
3.	How does the brain process sensory signals accurately? Inaccurately?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processing
2.	Absolute Threshold
3.	Difference Threshold
4.	Weber’s Law
5.	Opponent Process Theory
6.	Gate Control Theory
7.	Gestalt
8.	Selective Attention
9.	Cornea
10.	Lens
11.	Retina
12.	Rods
13.	Cones
14.	Fovea
15.	Blind Spot
16.	Pheromones
17.	Maleus, Incus and Stapese
18.	Cochlea
19.	Somatic, Vestibular, Proprioceptive Senses
20.	Psychophysics
21.	Figure and Ground
22.	proximity, similarity, closure, texture, common, fate, and simplicity
23.	Depth Perception
24.	Accommodation, Convergence. and Binocular Disparity
25.	Perceptual Constancies
26.	Visual Cliff
27.	Optic Illusions
28.	Muller Lyer, Zollner, Wundt, Twisted, Cord, Ebbinghaus, Ponzo, and Poggendorf
29.	Ames Room
30.	Necker Cube

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 05  February 2 - 6

Unit 05 States of Consciousness
College Board Curriculum Requirement 05

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 6
	Huffman, Chapter 5
	James, William. (1904a). Does consciousness exist? Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods, 1, 477-491. [A later Jamesian account of consciousness.]

Essential Questions:

1.	How do psychologists define consciousness?
2.	What happens during the sleep cycle?
3.	How do psychoactive drugs affect behavior?
4.	How do we know whether hypnosis is a real psychological phenomenon?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Circadian Rhythm
2.	Manifest and Latent Content
3.	Tolerance and Withdrawal
4.	Types of Drugs
5.	Addiction
6.	Alpha Waves
7.	altered states of consciousness
8.	Beta Waves
9.	Theta Waves
10.	Biofeedback
11.	Brain Wave Patterns
12.	Circadian Rhythm
13.	Consciousness
14.	Delta
15.	Dreaming During Nrem Sleep
16.	EEG
17.	Freud
18.	Hallucination
19.	Hypnosis
20.	Insomnia
21.	Mesmer
22.	Narcolepsy
23.	Neodissociation Theory
24.	Incubus or Night Terrors
25.	NREM
26.	Role Theory
27.	Sleep Apnea
28.	Stimulants
29.	Stress and Fatigue
30.	Suggestible

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 06 February 9 - 13

Unit 06 - Developmental Psychology - Part I
College Board Curriculum Requirement 09

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 12
	Huffman, Chapter 9
	Galton, Francis. (1875). History of twins. Human Faculty and its Development (pp. 155-173). [The original psychological twins study.]

Essential Questions:

1.	How do people grow and develop physically throughout the lifespan?
2.	How do people grow and develop cognitively throughout the lifespan?
3.	How do people grow and develop socially throughout the lifespan?
4.	How do people grow and develop morally throughout the lifespan?
5.	What is the issue of Nature v. Nurture?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Reflexes
2.	Maturation
3.	Object Permanence
4.	Conservation
5.	Attachment
6.	Identity Formation
7.	Accommodation
8.	Assimilation
9.	Authoritarian Parneting Style
10.	Conservation
11.	Critical period
12.	Depth perception
13.	Development
14.	Erik Erikson
15.	Formal Operation
16.	Grasping Reflex, Rooting Reflex, Babinski, Sucking Reflex
17.	Harry Harlow
18.	Imprinting
19.	Jean Piaget
20.	Konrad Lorenz
21.	Lawrence Kohlberg
22.	Moral Development
23.	Psychosexual Development
24.	Psychosocial Development
25.	Schemas
26.	Cognitive Development
27.	Fixation
28.	Defense Mechanisms, Sublimation, Projection, Denial. Procrastination
29.	Surrogate Mother
30.	Telegraphic Speech

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 07 February 16 - 20

Unit 07 - Developmental Psychology - Part II
College Board Curriculum Requirement 09

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 12
	Huffman, Chapter 10

Essential Questions:

1.	How do people grow and develop physically throughout the lifespan?
2.	How do people grow and develop cognitively throughout the lifespan?
3.	How do people grow and develop socially throughout the lifespan?
4.	How do people grow and develop morally throughout the lifespan?
5.	What is the issue of Nature v. Nurture?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Harry Harlow
2.	Contact Comfort
3.	Surrogate
4.	Konrad Lorenz
5.	Imprint
6.	Erik Erickson
7.	Identity v. Role Confusion
8.	Identity Moratorium
9.	Intimacy v. Isolation
10.	Generativity v. Stagnation
11.	Midlife Transition
12.	Empty Nest Transition
13.	Ego Integrity v. Despair
14.	Jean Piaget
15.	Cognitive Development
16.	Formal Operations
17.	Lorenz Kohlberg
18.	Heinz
19.	Pre Conventional
20.	Conventional
21.	Post Conventional
22.	Universal Principle
23.	Social Contract
24.	Kubler Ross
25.	Stages of Grief
26.	Denial
27.	Anger
28.	Bargaining
29.	Depression
30.	Acceptance

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 08 February 23 - 27

Unit 08 - Learning
College Board Curriculum Requirement 06

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 7
	Bandura, Albert, Ross, Dorothea, & Ross, Sheila A. (1961). Transmisssion of aggressions through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582. [One of the classic "Bobo Doll" studies of the imitation by children of aggressive behavior.]
	Skinner, B. F. (1950). Are theories of learning necessary? Psychological Review, 57, 193-216.
	Watson, John B. (1920). Is thinking merely the action of language mechanisms? British Journal of Psychology, 11, 87-104.

Essential Questions:

1.	How do psychologists define learning?
2.	How do principles of classical conditioning work to create learning?
3.	How do principles of operant conditioning work to create learning?
4.	How do principles of observational learning work to create learning?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	UR, US, CR, CS
2.	Extinction
3.	Generalization
4.	Spontaneous Recovery
5.	Positive Reinforcement
6.	Negative Reinforcement
7.	Punishment
8.	Schedules of Reinforcement
9.	Modeling
10.	Vicarious Learning
11.	Ivan Pavlov
12.	Neutral Stimulus
13.	Unconditioned Stimulus
14.	Association
15.	Unconditioned Response
16.	Discrimination
17.	Generalization
18.	John B. Watson,
19.	Thorndyke’s Law of Effect
20.	instrumental behavior
21.	B. F. Skinner
23.	functional analysis
24.	operant behavior
25.	punishment,
26.	Shaping
27.	Primary Reinforcers
28.	Secondary Reinforcers
29.	Fixed Schedule
30.	Variable Schedules

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 09 March 2 - 6

Unit 09 - Memory
College Board Curriculum Requirement 

Reading Assignment                                     Bernstein, Chapter 8

Essential Question:                                                                                                                                                                           

1.	How do humans encode, store, and retrieve information from memory?
2.	How can humans enhance memory encoding, storage, and retrieval?

Key Terms and Jargon

1.	IPM
2.	Sensory Registers
3.	STM/LTM
4.	Serial Positioning Effect
5.	Pro/Retroactive Interference
6.	Acoustic Coding
7.	Semantic Coding
8.	Visual Coding
9.	Episodic Memory
10.	Procedural Memory
11.	Explicit Recall
12.	Implicit Recall
13.	Levels of Processing Model
14.	Transfer Appropriate Processing Models
15.	Parallel Distributed Processing Model
16.	Information Processing Model
17.	Sensory Memory
18.	Short Term Memory
19.	Chunking
20.	The Brown Peterson Procedure
21.	Long Term Memory
22.	Serial Position Effect
23.	Hermann Ebbinghaus
24.	Context and State Dependency
25.	Network Theory – Spreading Activation
26.	Constructivism
27.	Spontaneous Generalizations
28.	Fundamental Attribution Error
29.	Anterograde Amnesia
30.	Retrograde Amnesia

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 10 March 9 - 20

Unit 10 - Intelligence and Psychological Testing
College Board Curriculum Requirement 13

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 10
	Huffman, Chapter 8
	Baldwin, James Mark, Cattell, James McKeen, & Jastrow, Joseph. (1898). Physical and mental tests. Psychological Review, 5, 172-179. [An account of an early attempt at what we would now call intelligence testing.]

Essential Questions:

1.	How do psychologists define and study intelligence?
2.	How do psychologists know whether a test is reliable and/or valid? Why are these qualities of tests important?
3.	How do testing scores differ between group administrations and individual administrations of intelligence tests? Between genders? Races? Socioeconomic groups?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Intelligence
2.	Factor Analysis
3.	General Intelligence
4.	Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
5.	Multiple Intelligence
6.	Emotional Intelligence
7.	Validity and Reliability
8.	Achievement
9.	Aptitude
10.	Gardner, Howard
11.	Gifted
12.	Interpersonal
13.	Linguistic
14.	Logical Mathematical
15.	Chronomogical and Mental Age
16.	Musical
17.	Objective Test
18.	Spearman, Charles
19.	Distribution of IQ Scores
20.	Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
21.	Test-retest Reliability
22.	Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - WISC
23.	CPI
24.	Body – Kinesthetic
25.	Content Validity
26.	Heritability
27.	Identical Twins
28.	Binet, Alfred
29.	G Factor
30.	Cultural Bias

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 11 March 23 - 27

Unit 11 - Motivation, Emotion and Stress
College Board Curriculum Requirement 08

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 11
	Harlow, Harry F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 573-685. [Harlow's APA Presidential Address about his research on the the importance of contact comfort in monkey infants.]
	James, William. (1884). What is an emotion? Mind, 9, 188-205. [The major statement of the James-Lange theory of emotion: "I see a bear, I run, I am afraid."]

Essential Questions:

1.	In what ways are humans motivated to behave?
2.	What methods of motivation are more effective than others?
3.	How does hunger operate?
4.	How do maladaptive eating patterns affect behavior?
5.	What role do emotions play in behavior?
6.	How does physical arousal and cognition affect emotions?
7.	How does stress influence health and behavior?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Drive-Reduction Theory
2.	Yerkes-Dodson Law
3.	Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
4.	Anorexia and Bulimia
5.	James-Lange Theory
6.	Cannon-Bard Theory
7.	Two-Factory Theory
8.	Approach/avoidance Conflict
9.	GAS
10.	PTSD
11.	Need
12.	Drive
13.	Homeostasis
14.	Incentives
15.	Rewards
16.	Intrinsic
17.	Self Actualization
18.	Needs
19.	Instinct Theory
20.	Drive Reduction Theory
21.	Arousal Theory
22.	Incentive Theory
23.	Cognitive Theory
24.	Cognitive Dissonance
25.	Dissonance Reduction Theory
26.	Humanistic Theory
27.	Maslow's Hierachy
28.	Human Behavior
29.	Facial Feedback Theory
30.	Schacter Singer Theory

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 12 March 30 - April 3

Unit 12 - Theories of Personality
College Board Curriculum Requirement 10

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 14
	Allport, Floyd H. & Allport, Gordon W. (1921). Personality traits: Their classificiation and measurement. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 16, 6-40.
	Maslow, Abraham H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396. [The first published description of the "hierarchy of needs."]
	Jung, Carl G. (1921/1923). General description of the types. Chapter 10 of Psychological types (H.G. Bayes, Trans.). (Original work published 1921) [Key chapter of Jung's major treatise on personality.]

Essential Questions:

1.	How do psychologists define and study personality?
2.	What advantages and limitations exist for each theory’s description of personality?
3.	How do psychologists reliably measure personality?

Key Terms and Jargon

1.	Personality
2.	Interviews
3.	Observations
4.	Self-Report
5.	Projective Techniques
6.	MMPI-2R
7.	Rorschach "inkblot" Test
8.	TAT
9.	Barnum Effect
10.	Cattell
11.	Eysenck
12.	Big Five
13.	Extraversion
14.	Neuroticism
15.	Agreeableness
16.	Sigmund Freud
17.	Id, Ego, Superego
18.	Adler - Inferiority Complex
19.	Jung - Collective Unconscious, Archetypes
20.	Horney - Power Envy
21.	Carl Rogers
22.	Abraham Maslow
23.	Bandura
24.	Rotter's Iocus of Control Theory
25.	Internal Locus
26.	External Locus
27.	Objective Tests
28.	Projective Tests
29.	Validity Issues
30.	Reliability Issues

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 13 March 6 - 10

Unit 13 - Abnormal Psychology and Therapy
College Board Curriculum Requirement 12 and 13

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 15 and 16
	Rogers, Carl R.. (1946). Significant aspects of client-centered therapy. American Psychologist, 1, 415-422.
	Watson, John B. (1916). Behavior and the concept of mental disease. Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods, 13, 589-597.
	Eysenck, Hans J. (1952). The effects of psychotherapy: An evaluation. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 16, 319-324. [Classic empirical critique of the effectiveness of psychotherapy.]

Essential Questions:

1.	How do psychologists measure and define abnormal behavior?
2.	How are the various psychological disorders identified and studied?
3.	What are the different treatment options for the various types of psychological disorders?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Systems Approach
2.	Depression
3.	Specific Phobias
4.	Conversion Disorders
5.	D.I.D.
6.	Types of Schizophrenia
7.	AD/HD
8.	Free Association
9.	Transference
10.	Gestalt Therapy
11.	Systematic Desensitization
12.	R.E.T.
13.	Beck's Cognitive Therapy
14.	Agoraphobia
15.	Antisocial Personality
16.	Anxiety
17.	Bipolar Disorder
18.	Catatonic Schizophrenia
19.	Compulsions
20.	Conversion Disorder
21.	Delusions
22.	Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
23.	Diathesis Stress Hypothesis
24.	Disorganized Schizophrenia
25.	Histrionic
26.	Hypochondriasis
27.	Affective Mood Disorders
28.	Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
29.	Paranoid schizophrenia
30.	Somatoform Disorders

Advanced Placement Psychology
Course Outline
Week 14 March 20 - 24

Unit 14 - Social Psychology
College Board Curriculum Requirement 14

Reading Assignment	Bernstein, Chapter 17 and 18
	Huffman, Chapter 16

Essential Question:

1.	How do people explain (or attribute) the behavior of others?
2.	How are individuals affected by groups?
3.	Under what conditions do people obey, conform, make friendships, find love, and help others?
4.	How do attitudes and actions influence individual and group behavior?

Key Terms and Jargon:

1.	Fundamental Attribution Theory
2.	Attitude
3.	Cognitive Dissonance
4.	Norms
5.	Conformity and Compliance
6.	Deindividuation
7.	Bystander Effect / Genovese Syndrom
8.	Group Polarization
9.	Risky Shift
10.	Attributions
11.	Iternal Dispositions
12.	Traits and Motives
13.	External Situations
14.	Fundamental attribution error
15.	The Saliency Bias
16.	Self-Serving Bias
17.	Collectivist Culture
18.	Attitude
19.	Cognitive Response
20.	Affective Response
21.	Behavioral Tendencies
22.	Prejudice
23.	Discrimination
24.	Romantic Love
25.	Conformity
26.	Obedience
27.	Asch
28.	Milgram
29.	Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study
30.	Deindividuation

Assessment

Traditional Assessments

Unit Tests

Unit tests will follow the same format as the AP Exam, with 50 multiple-choice questions and one essay to be completed in 58 minutes.

Quizzes

Quizzes are randomly scheduled at least twice each unit and use the multiple-choice format. They are usually ten questions. Make sure that you keep up with the reading.

Midterm Exam

There will be a midterm examination covering the first seven units. The exam is in the same format as the AP Exam. It has 100 multiple-choice questions and two short essays.

Alternative Assessments

Three minor research papers will be completed by each student. Each research paper is worth 100 points. The first is called the Real Psychology Paper. The second is called the Famous Research Project Paper. The third is called the Famous Psychologist Paper.

Grading Scale

Students will be assessed on the following scale:

100 - 90 = A
89 - 80 = B
79 - 70 = C
69 - 60 = D
59 - Below = F

Advanced Placement Research Paper Number 01

A Real Psychology Paper

Each student will select a topic of interest in the field of psychology to research. You will prepare a 3-4 page typed, double-spaced and 12 point size paper, not counting the cover page, abstract, and reference page. Please address the following:

1.         Pose your research project in the form of a hypothesis -- what do you want to show or prove?
2.         Give a brief background of the subject or problem.
3.         State the problem in the form of a thesis or hypothesis.
4.         Give a personal statement of your thoughts, bias, feelings towards the subject or problem prior to research.
5.         Types of research methods utilized to study this problem and find insight or answers; or possibly pose new questions.
6.         What is the significance of study -- why is this subject or problem important?
7.         Are there any assumptions -- what is already known, given facts?
8.         Limitations -- what limits are present to not give you all the information you need or that need to be resolved so the problem could be looked at more                 objectively, more completely?
9.         Describe the practical applications of the research.
10.       Conclusions from your research -- need for more research? Definite answers found? Any suggestions to gain further insight?

Basic APA Style

1.         1" margins all around
2.         Title page centered horizontally and vertically
3.         Abstract-- second page-- brief summary of findings
4.         Side Paragraph headings Upper and lower case and underlined
5.         References within document (not footnotes, but author and year in parenthesis)
6.         Reference page after body of report (not numbered, alphabetical by author's last name

Advanced Placement Research Paper Number 02

A Famous Research Project

Each student will select a major psychological study to review and explain. You will prepare a 3-4 page typed, double-spaced and 12 point size paper, not counting the cover page, abstract, and reference page. The following list are some suggestions for topics.

1.         The Kurt Lewin Study
2.         The Jane Elliot Study
3.         The Zimbardo Prison Scenario
4.         The Milgrim Study
5.         The Harlow Monkey Study
6.         The Broadbent Study
7.         The Rosenhan Study
8.         The Rosenthal Study
9.         The Hawthorn Study
10.       The Asch Experiment
11.       The Pavlov Experiment
12.       The Bandura Study
13.       The John B. Watson's Little Albert Study
14.       The Festinger Cognitive Dissonance Study
15.       The Ebbinghaus Memory Study

Advanced Placement Research Paper Number 03

The Famous Psychologist Paper

Each student will select a major contributor to the field of psychology from the list below to research. You will prepare a 4-5 page typed, double-spaced and 12 point Times New Roman (or Arial) paper. Also include a cover page, abstract, and reference page. The paper must follow the APA format. And include the following information.

1.         Brief history
2.         School of Psychology to which he/she belongs
3.         Major impact of his/her work in the field of psychology
4.         Types of research methods utilized in his/her experiments
5.         Practical applications of the research (meaning)
6.         Major publications

Famous Psychologist List

1.         Alfred Adler
2.         Albert Ellis
3.         Erik Erikson
4.         Anna Freud
5.         Sigmund Freud
6.         Beatrice Hinkle
7.         Karen Horney
8.         William James
9.         Mary Carver Jones
10.       Carl Jung
11.       Lawrence Kohlberg
12.       Wolfgang Kohler
13.       Ivan Pavlov
14.       Jean Piaget
15.      Carl Rogers
16.      B. F. Skinner
17.      John B. Watson
18.      Max Wertheimer
19.      Wilheim Wundt
20.      Phillip Zimbardo

Advanced Placement Psychology
Research Paper Grading Rubric

Each research paper is worth 100 points and will be graded using the rubric below.

Trait: APA Style

5	4	3	2	1
Adheres to all styles: cover page; double-spaced throughout	Adheres to almost all styles 1-2 errors in form	Adheres to most styles; 3-4 errors in form	Adheres to a few styles; lots of errors, 5-8	Little form or style; Is there a style?

Trait: Mechanics, Grammar and Spelling

5	4	3	2	1
No major errors in grammar or spelling	Some errors in spelling and grammar (1-2)	Several errors in spelling or grammar (3-7)	Lots of errors in spelling and grammar (8-12)	More than 12 errors, Paper not proofread Careless

Trait: Content

5	4	3	2	1
Very complete- All of the content was clear and suggested that the student did a fine job of collecting and organizing the materials	Same as 5 but not as complete Missing one part or incomplete information or some inaccuracies	Same as 5 but missing several parts to the assignment	Incomplete and some inaccurate information.	Very incomplete Less than 3 pages in length. Missing and/or inaccurate information

Trait: Reflection

5	4	3	2	1
Shows considerable thought and insight	Shows some thought and insight	Shows thought and insight	Little thought or insight	What does thought and insight look like?