Ridgefield Public Schools - Psychology 2- High School

Psychology 2 - High School

Motivation and Emotion (late January)

LONG TERM GOALS

Students will analyze how humans experience emotion, the different forces motivating humans, and evaluate how the theories surrounding these topics work to offer competing yet complimentary explanations for these processes.

BIG IDEAS

Emotions have evolved to help us respond to important situations and to convey our intentions to others. The discovery of two distinct brain pathways for emotional arousal have clarified the connection between emotion and the biological structures of the brain but there still remains varying theories on the role played by the physical and cognitive components of emotional labelling.
Motivation takes many forms, but all involved inferred mental processes that select and direct our behavior.
The human stress response to perceived threat activates thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and physiological arousal that normally promode adaptation and survival.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Where do our emotions come from?
What motivates us to act as we do?
How and why do we experience stress?

LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will . . .

compare the major theories of emotion and evaluate which theory best explains how humans process emotion.
compare the major theories of motivation and evaluate how the competing theories complement and/or contradict each other based on the focus of the theory.

CONTENT TOPICS

Emotions
Motivation
Conflict
Stress

Intelligence (mid February)

LONG TERM GOALS

Students will evaluate the current controversy of single vs. multiple intelligences by examining the major theories of intelligence along with how intelligence is measured.

BIG IDEAS

Some psychologists believe that the essence of intelligence is a single, general factor while others believe that intelligence is best described as a collection of distinct abilities.
Intelligence testing has a history of controversy, but most psychologists now view intelligence as a normally distributed trait that can be measured by performance on a variety of tasks - both verbal and nonverbal.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What are the components of intelligence?
How is intelligence measured?

LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will . . .

analyze and evaluate the major theories of intelligence in order to determine what it means to be "intelligence."
Students will analyze and critique how intelligence is tested through both subjective and objective tasks.

CONTENT TOPICS

Types of Tests
Intelligence Theories

Personality (late February)

LONG TERM GOALS

Students will analyze and evaluate the competing theories of personality development in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of individual theories and determine how the theories can be looked at holistically for a more complete understanding of the forces shaping personality development.

BIG IDEAS

According to the psychodynamic, humanist, and cognitive theories, personality is a continuously changing process, shaped by our internal needs and cognitions and by external pressures from the social environment.
Another approach describes personality in terms of stable patterns known as temperaments, traits, and types.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What forces shape our personalities?
What persistent patterns are found in personality?

LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will . . .

analyze and evaluate the major theories of personality development in order to determine which force(s) most shape our development.
critique the theories of personality development in order to determine their relative strengths and weaknesses.

CONTENT TOPICS

Psychodynamic Theory
Humanist Theories
Social Cognitive
Trait Theories

Abnormal Behavior (mid March)

LONG TERM GOALS

Students will analyze some of the major psychological disorders outlined in the DSM-V in order to understand the etiology and symptoms that characterize these disorders, along with the stigma attached to these disorders and how they can impact the ability of the sufferer to function on a day-to-day basis.

BIG IDEAS

The medical model takes a "disease" view, while psychology sees psychological disorders as an interactions of biological, mental, social, and behavioral factors.
The DSM-V, the most widely used system, classifies disorders by their mental and behavioral symptoms.
Ideally, accurate diagnoses lead to proper treatments, but diagnoses may also become labels that depersonalize individuals and ignore the social and cultural contexts in which their problems arise.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What is a psychological disorder?
How are psychological disorders classified?
What are the consequences of labelling people?

LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will . . .

analyze the criteria that are used to determine abnormal behavior at both a macro level and in terms of individual disorders.
analyze and evaluate disorder categories outlined in the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in order to explain how the disorders manifest themselves, are treated, and impact those affected.

CONTENT TOPICS

Approaches to Abnormality
Major Categories of Disorders

Treatment of Abnormal Behavior (early April)

LONG TERM GOALS

Students will analyze the major approaches to the treatment of abnormal disorders in order to determine why some treatments are preferable for specific disorders, and how multiple treatments can compliment each other for the treatment of complex disorders.

BIG IDEAS

Therapy for psychological disorders takes a variety of forms, but all involve some relationship focused on improving a person's mental. behavioral, or social functioning.
Psychologists employ two main forms of treatment: the insight therapies (focused on developing an understanding of the problem) and the behavior therapies (focused on changing behavior through conditioning). Biomedical therapies seek to treat psychological disorders by changing the brain's chemistry with drugs, its circuitry with surgery, or its patterns of activity with pulses of electricity or powerful magnetic fields.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What is therapy?
How do psychologists treat psychological disorders?

LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will . . .

compare the overall methods used in cognitive, behavioral, humanistic, and biology based therapies.
analyze and investigate the major forms of therapies used today in order to determine how and when these treatments can be of use in treating specific abnormal disorders.

CONTENT TOPICS

Historical Context
Approaches