Unit 14 Social Psychology

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
Video: Discovering Psychology

2. Social Thinking
Social cognition
Lecture: Attribution Theory
Reading: pp. 549-561
Attitudes
Lecture: Actions and attitudes and
attitudes and actions
Classic Experiments

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?

Question 1 Model Answer

Question 1.

1. Outline the nature-nurture debate in psychology.
2. How has this debate helped in understanding the following:
   Gender role
   schizophrenia
   Language development
   Phobias
   Brain development
   Intelligence
   Diathesis stress model
   

1. The nature-nurture debate in psychology focuses on the extent to which behavior is determined by biology, especially genetics and the environment. Psychologists argue that behavior is produced by a complex interaction between both factors.
2. Gender role is a set of expectations about how males and females behavior. The nature-nurture debate has helped us understand how our evolutionary past predisposes certain male gender roles like assertivenesses and toughness, but because gender roles vary across cultures and time, we understand how nurture plays an important role as well.
Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder characterized by a split from reality. We now understand that dopamine over activity and brain abnormality can play a role but other environmental factors are also important like separation from parents and poor peer relationships which can make a child high risk for acquiring the disorder.
Language development concerns they way we acquire language throughout the life span. Chomsky helped us understand that we are biologically prepared to learn words and use grammar but without interaction with language we can not develop our abilities fully.

Grading Schedule

Download the AP Grading Schedule.

Exam Review

AP Psychology

Free Response Review Questions

Question 1.

1. Outline the nature-nurture debate in psychology.
2. How has this debate helped in understanding the following:

· Gender roles

· Schizophrenia

· Language development

· Phobias

· Brain development

· Intelligence

· Diathesis stress model

Questions 2

How have stage theorists explained the following?

· Moral development

· Physical maturation

· Cognitive development

· Personality development

Question 3

Much of human processing is below the level of conscious awareness:

Explain with reference to the following:

· Insight

· Use of heuristics

· Dreams

· Perception

· Motivated forgetting

Question 4

Psychology aims to provide practical advice on a range of human issues

What advice does psychology offer on the following issues?

· Using Punishment to reduce unwanted behaviors

· Reducing Stress

· Maintaining Mental health

· Improving your memory

· Encouraging pro-social behavior

Question 5

What insights have been provided by evolutionary psychology on the following?

· Attraction

· Eating and obesity

· Phobias

· In-group and Out-group

Question 6

Culture has an important influence on human behavior producing both similarities and differences. Explain with reference to the following:

· Parenting styles

· Gestures

· Emotional expressions

· Depression

· Facial expressions

Question 7

Humans like to think that they are logical and rational beings:

With reference to the following, how has this belief being challenged?

· FAE

· Optical illusions

· Proactive and Retroactive interference

· Belief perseverance

· Overconfidence

· Heuristics

· Groupthink

· Just-world phenomenon

· Learned helplessness

Questions 8

Humans need to interact with the environment to develop:

Explain with reference to the following:

· Language development

· Critical periods

· Brain plasticity

· Bottom-up and top-down processing

· Intellectual development

· Unconditional positive regard

Question 9

How would the different psychological perspectives help someone suffering from a psychological disorder?

· Psychodynamic

· Cognitive

· Humanistic

· Learning

· Biological

Question 10

As social animals, we need to be with others. However being with other can have both positive and negative outcomes. Explain with reference to the following:

· Deindividuation

· Bystander affect

· Social loafing

· Social facilitation

· Conformity

· Obedience

Quesiton11

We are well suited to survive in a highly complex environment? Discuss with reference to the following

· Selective attention

· General adaptation syndrome

· Automatic and effortful processing

· Parallel processing

· Fight or flight response

· Schemas

Question 12

Design an experiment to determine whether listening to different types of music improves academic performance. Identify and explain the importance of each of the following:

· Hypothesis

· Target Population

· Random Sample

· Random Assignment

· IV and DV

· Controls

· Biases

· Use of Statistics

Question 13

Psychology has developed a range of data gathering instruments other than the experiment. Briefly explain how each of the following collects data for investigation:

· Case study

· Survey

· Interview

· Observation

· Longitudinal study

· Cross sectional study

· Correlation study

Questions 14

Psychology has a number of challenges to face in that there are competing theories about important aspects of human behavior. Briefly outline the ongoing debate concerning the following issues:

· The benefits of labeling

· The role of cognition and arousal in emotions

· The person-situation controversy

· The usefulness of therapy

· Perceptions of sounds

· Perception of color

· Absolute thresholds and signal detection theory

Units 12 and 13

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


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
Writing: Video review
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?