Welcome to AP Psychology! You have chosen to embark on a fun yet challenging journey this year. You will have the opportunity to explore human behaviors and be able to really understand why people, including yourself, act the way that they do. Welcome and I hope you enjoy!
I have very high expectations for this course and I will be treating the class as I would treat students entering college. You will have to work hard in order to succeed in this course but I know that with the caliber of students that have chosen to take this course, I will be able to demand the best and I am confident you will all exceed my expectations. My goal for this course is that all of you pass the AP Psychology exam in May and earn college credit! With so little time to cover all of the required material, I have come up with a small, four part summer assignment that will get you thinking about psychology and prepare your mind for the work we will do this year.
The summer assignments will combine for 10% of your grade for the first grading period. If you do not complete the summer project it will be impossible for you to get an A for the grading period.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me! Also, please check my website, http://www.loete.weebly.com frequently over the summer for updates!
Assignment 1: Due July 1, 2014
This is the only assignment that is due over the summer!
Draft an e-mail using the following rules:
a.Write in complete sentences! Make sure that you use spell check and that you treat this communication like you would if you were talking to a college professor or boss.
b. Send the letter in an email to [email protected]
c. Make the subject: “AP Psychology: Introduction to <Your Name>”
d.Write your attachment like a formal letter with proper salutations (Dear Miss Loete, etc.) and formal closings (Sincerely, etc.)
e. Introduce yourself with at least the following information:
a. What are your hobbies, interests, activities, etc.
b. Do you have a job? Where do you work? Do you enjoy your job or do you wish you could do something else?
c. Tell me about your family. What do your parents do? What are your siblings like? Etc.
d. What was the last book that you read for fun?
e. Are you taking any other AP courses?
f. What are your extra-curricular activities?
g. Why are you taking this class? What are you looking forward to in this class? What things about psychology do you find interesting or want to learn more about?
h. Have you had any experiences with people who you think act “abnormal?” What did they do? What does “abnormal” mean to you? Was there a reason for their actions?
i. Any additional information you would like to share.
Assignment #2: Due 1st Day of Class
You will need to read the book It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini and complete the following paper. The paper should be a minimum of three but no more than four double spaced pages (1” margins, Times New Roman Font, emailed in .doc format) and include detailed answers to the following questions:
a. What was the book about? Who wrote it?
b. What did you learn that you didn’t previously know?
c. What was the most interesting part of the book for you?
d. How does the book you read relate to psychology? Please explain.
e. Do you agree or disagree with the author’s conclusions? Please explain and justify your answer.
f. After reading the book, is there anything you would like to learn more about?
Remember to cite all of your sources in APA (American Psychological Association) format.
If you do not have access to the internet or a computer at home, please make sure that you find a computer at a local library or other source.
Assignment #3- Due 2nd Day of Class
Watch at least ONE of the following movies. Descriptions of each movie are attached.
For this assignment you are required to integrate what will be the curriculum material of the AP Psychology course with the movie material in a cohesive way. Please make sure you include information on disorders and other psychological and social concepts and issues, Make sure that you connect psychological concepts, ideas, and events in a clear and logical manner that is supported by evidence from the films.
Movie List
As Good As It Gets (PG13)
Awakenings (PG13)
A Beautiful Mind (PG13)
Benny and Joon (PG)
Lars and the Real Girl (PG)
Harold and Maude (PG13)
Harvey (PG)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (PG13)
Paper
After watching the movie, your task is to connect the events and main characters of the field to topics in psychology. It will be necessary for you to do some research on popular topics in order to successfully complete this assignment. The assignment is to connect the concepts of the material, not just give me a summary of the movie!
There is no page requirement, but please make sure that you provide a good amount of detail and that you use proper standards of grammar and check your spelling. You will need to make sure the paper has proper citations (both in text and references) in proper APA citations. A well-developed essay will most likely be around three to four double-spaced pages.
Movie Summaries
As Good As It Gets
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1997 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Jack Nicholson, Greg Kinnear, Helen Hunt
Topics: Psychopathology, OCD, Personality Disorder, Social Bias
Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Actress. Jack Nicholson plays Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, writer with terrible case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. His life is turned upside down when his neighbor, gay artist Simon, played by Greg Kinnear, is beaten in a brutal mugging. Hospitalized Simon entrusts his beloved dog to Melvin. In addition, Melvin seems to be falling in love with Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him. The film addresses OCD, bias (homophobia) and attitude change.
Awakenings
Genre: Drama Year: 1990 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Robin Williams, Robert DeNiro, Julie Kavner
Topics: Psychopathology, Neuropsychology, Treatment
A wonderful movie based on Oliver Sacks' clinical cases performed in the 1960’s at Bronx Psychiatric Hospital. It chronicles the newly discovered drug of L-dopa's and its extreme Parkinsonian effects on encephalitis lethargica and neuronal supersensitivity. Also an interesting glimpse inside a mental hospital in the 1960s. Why do you think paranoia/psychosis developed after prolonged L-dopa treatment?
Beautiful Mind, A
Genre: Drama Year: 2001 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly
Topics: Psychopathology, Treatment, Schizophrenia, Marital/Family Dynamics, Stress and Coping
Academy Award winner for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress. Russell Crowe portrays Professor John Nash, a brilliant mathematician. There is a major plot twist – stop reading here if you don't want it spoiled…We learn that we are misled - situations and characters turn out to be portrayals of Nash's delusional thinking and hallucinations due to schizophrenia. We see him spiral downward in the throws of his psychotic thinking or the side effects of his medications. What do you think about the suggestion that he was able to self-challenge and treat the reality of the hallucinations, as at the end of the
movie? What do you think this movie did for public perception of schizophrenia?
Benny & Joon
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1993 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn
Topics: Psychopathology, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorder, Marital/Family
Dynamics, Stress and Coping
Johnny Depp portrays Sam a quiet eccentric who emulates the ways of silent movie star Buster Keaton and who develops a relationship with a young woman who is schizophrenic portrayed by Mary Stuart Masterton. Good portrayal of the certain stresses on family members dealing with mental illness, as Joon's brother devotes himself to her care.
Harold and Maude
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1971 Rating: PG
Actors: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles
Topics: Psychopathology, Mood Disorders, Marital/Family Dynamics
The self-destructive and needy wealthy teenager Harold is obsessed by death and spends his leisure time attending funerals, watching the demolishing of buildings, and simulating suicides trying to get attention from his indifferent, snobbish and egocentric mother. His sessions with his psychologist are also for his amusement. When Harold meets the anarchist seventy-nine-year-old Maude at a funeral, they become friends and the old lady introduces him to a happier side of life. Meanwhile, his mother enlists him in a dating service and tries to force Harold to join the army. On the day of Maude's eightieth birthday, Harold proposes to her but he finds the truth about life at the end of hers. Involves faked suicides, and a real one, but are the characters actually depressed?
Harvey
Genre: Comedy Year: 1950 Rating: NR-PG
Actors: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow
Topics: Psychopathology, Psychotic Disorders, Substance Use Disorders, Treatment, Marital/Family Dynamics
Academy Award winner and classic comedy with Jimmy Stewart hallucinating (?) that a six-foot rabbit named Harvey is his constant companion. Consider the portrayal of psychiatry and the mental asylum and the apparent ease with which one seemed to be able to commit a person. Also, one might think Harvey was a result of too much alcohol, but do we actually see Jimmy Stewart ever drink? Hmmm. Harvey’s gentle and personable attitude towards everyone is considered a personality disorder is it a disorder to be too nice, too polite? Ah, if we all were so afflicted!
Lars and the Real Girl
Genre: Comedy/Drama Year: 2007 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Kelli Garner
Topics: Psychopathology, Psychotic Disorders, Treatment, Marital/Family Dynamics, Social
Lars is an office worker in a small time. He's an odd, reclusive guy, but nice and harmless. Exposed to the concept of a "mail order doll" (anatomically correct) by a coworker, he orders a doll, not for sexual reasons, but as part of a delusional system he uses to repress bad memories. Lars introduces the doll as his foreign girlfriend, who is in a wheelchair. The resulting responses from his family and community, as well as the very empathetic physician, make this a "feel good" movie. The film tries to show a sympathetic side to mental illness and model supportive family and community response. It "takes a village" to treat mental illness.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1993 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Johnny Depp, Leonardo diCaprio, Juliette Lewis
Topics: Psychopathology, Mood Disorders, Neuropsychology, Developmental, Stress/Coping
Slice of life film, with Johnny Depp as the young adult caring for his family – a depressed, morbidly obese mother, a brother Arnie, with a severe mental disorder, two sisters and a father who has left them all while working at the town’s slowly dying convenience store. Gilbert’s life, his future, is thwarted but it is his love and guardian angel nature for his family that keeps him going.
Assignment #4- Due 3rd Day of Class
**DO SOMETHING THAT MIGHT BE VIEWED AS STRANGE/UNACCEPTABLE/UNEXPECTED TO OTHERS**
You WILL present your experiment and findings to the class and turn in the write up!
For example:
- Stand in the middle of the food court in the mall for 10 minutes singing to yourself, talking to yourself, etc. and see what others do.
- Cut in line at a store and see what the reaction is of others around you.
- Ignore your friends, no matter what they say.
- Etc.
When you are done running the “experiment” you need to introduce yourself, thank the people involved, and explain what you are doing and why (you are running a social experiment for your AP psychology class). You may want to have this assignment paper with you. If you complete the assignment in a public setting, you may want to have a friend join you and observe the situation to help you with your data collection.
Write a report on your experiment:
Title
Purpose or problem: What will happen if I…
Background Information: What do people do in certain situations (like how do people wait for their turn, how do they learn this, etc.) Do some research and thinking of your own experiences. Why do humans behave “normally” and what causes them to follow these social protocols?
Hypothesis: Based on the background information, what do you believe will happen?
Experiment: What are you going to do? How, when, where, what time are you doing this experiment, who is your audience, etc.
Data: What did the people do? Were there differences in their reactions based on gender, ethnicity, age, etc.
Results: What happened? No interpretations, just what the reactions were of the different individuals.
Conclusions: Interpret your data and results. Why did the people act the way that they did? What emotional reactions did they have and why do you think that they had these reactions? Was your hypothesis correct? Why or why not? Did anything unexpected happen to you? Explain!
I have very high expectations for this course and I will be treating the class as I would treat students entering college. You will have to work hard in order to succeed in this course but I know that with the caliber of students that have chosen to take this course, I will be able to demand the best and I am confident you will all exceed my expectations. My goal for this course is that all of you pass the AP Psychology exam in May and earn college credit! With so little time to cover all of the required material, I have come up with a small, four part summer assignment that will get you thinking about psychology and prepare your mind for the work we will do this year.
The summer assignments will combine for 10% of your grade for the first grading period. If you do not complete the summer project it will be impossible for you to get an A for the grading period.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me! Also, please check my website, http://www.loete.weebly.com frequently over the summer for updates!
Assignment 1: Due July 1, 2014
This is the only assignment that is due over the summer!
Draft an e-mail using the following rules:
a.Write in complete sentences! Make sure that you use spell check and that you treat this communication like you would if you were talking to a college professor or boss.
b. Send the letter in an email to [email protected]
c. Make the subject: “AP Psychology: Introduction to <Your Name>”
d.Write your attachment like a formal letter with proper salutations (Dear Miss Loete, etc.) and formal closings (Sincerely, etc.)
e. Introduce yourself with at least the following information:
a. What are your hobbies, interests, activities, etc.
b. Do you have a job? Where do you work? Do you enjoy your job or do you wish you could do something else?
c. Tell me about your family. What do your parents do? What are your siblings like? Etc.
d. What was the last book that you read for fun?
e. Are you taking any other AP courses?
f. What are your extra-curricular activities?
g. Why are you taking this class? What are you looking forward to in this class? What things about psychology do you find interesting or want to learn more about?
h. Have you had any experiences with people who you think act “abnormal?” What did they do? What does “abnormal” mean to you? Was there a reason for their actions?
i. Any additional information you would like to share.
Assignment #2: Due 1st Day of Class
You will need to read the book It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini and complete the following paper. The paper should be a minimum of three but no more than four double spaced pages (1” margins, Times New Roman Font, emailed in .doc format) and include detailed answers to the following questions:
a. What was the book about? Who wrote it?
b. What did you learn that you didn’t previously know?
c. What was the most interesting part of the book for you?
d. How does the book you read relate to psychology? Please explain.
e. Do you agree or disagree with the author’s conclusions? Please explain and justify your answer.
f. After reading the book, is there anything you would like to learn more about?
Remember to cite all of your sources in APA (American Psychological Association) format.
If you do not have access to the internet or a computer at home, please make sure that you find a computer at a local library or other source.
Assignment #3- Due 2nd Day of Class
Watch at least ONE of the following movies. Descriptions of each movie are attached.
For this assignment you are required to integrate what will be the curriculum material of the AP Psychology course with the movie material in a cohesive way. Please make sure you include information on disorders and other psychological and social concepts and issues, Make sure that you connect psychological concepts, ideas, and events in a clear and logical manner that is supported by evidence from the films.
Movie List
As Good As It Gets (PG13)
Awakenings (PG13)
A Beautiful Mind (PG13)
Benny and Joon (PG)
Lars and the Real Girl (PG)
Harold and Maude (PG13)
Harvey (PG)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (PG13)
Paper
After watching the movie, your task is to connect the events and main characters of the field to topics in psychology. It will be necessary for you to do some research on popular topics in order to successfully complete this assignment. The assignment is to connect the concepts of the material, not just give me a summary of the movie!
There is no page requirement, but please make sure that you provide a good amount of detail and that you use proper standards of grammar and check your spelling. You will need to make sure the paper has proper citations (both in text and references) in proper APA citations. A well-developed essay will most likely be around three to four double-spaced pages.
Movie Summaries
As Good As It Gets
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1997 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Jack Nicholson, Greg Kinnear, Helen Hunt
Topics: Psychopathology, OCD, Personality Disorder, Social Bias
Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Actress. Jack Nicholson plays Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, writer with terrible case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. His life is turned upside down when his neighbor, gay artist Simon, played by Greg Kinnear, is beaten in a brutal mugging. Hospitalized Simon entrusts his beloved dog to Melvin. In addition, Melvin seems to be falling in love with Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him. The film addresses OCD, bias (homophobia) and attitude change.
Awakenings
Genre: Drama Year: 1990 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Robin Williams, Robert DeNiro, Julie Kavner
Topics: Psychopathology, Neuropsychology, Treatment
A wonderful movie based on Oliver Sacks' clinical cases performed in the 1960’s at Bronx Psychiatric Hospital. It chronicles the newly discovered drug of L-dopa's and its extreme Parkinsonian effects on encephalitis lethargica and neuronal supersensitivity. Also an interesting glimpse inside a mental hospital in the 1960s. Why do you think paranoia/psychosis developed after prolonged L-dopa treatment?
Beautiful Mind, A
Genre: Drama Year: 2001 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly
Topics: Psychopathology, Treatment, Schizophrenia, Marital/Family Dynamics, Stress and Coping
Academy Award winner for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress. Russell Crowe portrays Professor John Nash, a brilliant mathematician. There is a major plot twist – stop reading here if you don't want it spoiled…We learn that we are misled - situations and characters turn out to be portrayals of Nash's delusional thinking and hallucinations due to schizophrenia. We see him spiral downward in the throws of his psychotic thinking or the side effects of his medications. What do you think about the suggestion that he was able to self-challenge and treat the reality of the hallucinations, as at the end of the
movie? What do you think this movie did for public perception of schizophrenia?
Benny & Joon
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1993 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn
Topics: Psychopathology, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorder, Marital/Family
Dynamics, Stress and Coping
Johnny Depp portrays Sam a quiet eccentric who emulates the ways of silent movie star Buster Keaton and who develops a relationship with a young woman who is schizophrenic portrayed by Mary Stuart Masterton. Good portrayal of the certain stresses on family members dealing with mental illness, as Joon's brother devotes himself to her care.
Harold and Maude
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1971 Rating: PG
Actors: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles
Topics: Psychopathology, Mood Disorders, Marital/Family Dynamics
The self-destructive and needy wealthy teenager Harold is obsessed by death and spends his leisure time attending funerals, watching the demolishing of buildings, and simulating suicides trying to get attention from his indifferent, snobbish and egocentric mother. His sessions with his psychologist are also for his amusement. When Harold meets the anarchist seventy-nine-year-old Maude at a funeral, they become friends and the old lady introduces him to a happier side of life. Meanwhile, his mother enlists him in a dating service and tries to force Harold to join the army. On the day of Maude's eightieth birthday, Harold proposes to her but he finds the truth about life at the end of hers. Involves faked suicides, and a real one, but are the characters actually depressed?
Harvey
Genre: Comedy Year: 1950 Rating: NR-PG
Actors: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow
Topics: Psychopathology, Psychotic Disorders, Substance Use Disorders, Treatment, Marital/Family Dynamics
Academy Award winner and classic comedy with Jimmy Stewart hallucinating (?) that a six-foot rabbit named Harvey is his constant companion. Consider the portrayal of psychiatry and the mental asylum and the apparent ease with which one seemed to be able to commit a person. Also, one might think Harvey was a result of too much alcohol, but do we actually see Jimmy Stewart ever drink? Hmmm. Harvey’s gentle and personable attitude towards everyone is considered a personality disorder is it a disorder to be too nice, too polite? Ah, if we all were so afflicted!
Lars and the Real Girl
Genre: Comedy/Drama Year: 2007 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Kelli Garner
Topics: Psychopathology, Psychotic Disorders, Treatment, Marital/Family Dynamics, Social
Lars is an office worker in a small time. He's an odd, reclusive guy, but nice and harmless. Exposed to the concept of a "mail order doll" (anatomically correct) by a coworker, he orders a doll, not for sexual reasons, but as part of a delusional system he uses to repress bad memories. Lars introduces the doll as his foreign girlfriend, who is in a wheelchair. The resulting responses from his family and community, as well as the very empathetic physician, make this a "feel good" movie. The film tries to show a sympathetic side to mental illness and model supportive family and community response. It "takes a village" to treat mental illness.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1993 Rating: PG-13
Actors: Johnny Depp, Leonardo diCaprio, Juliette Lewis
Topics: Psychopathology, Mood Disorders, Neuropsychology, Developmental, Stress/Coping
Slice of life film, with Johnny Depp as the young adult caring for his family – a depressed, morbidly obese mother, a brother Arnie, with a severe mental disorder, two sisters and a father who has left them all while working at the town’s slowly dying convenience store. Gilbert’s life, his future, is thwarted but it is his love and guardian angel nature for his family that keeps him going.
Assignment #4- Due 3rd Day of Class
**DO SOMETHING THAT MIGHT BE VIEWED AS STRANGE/UNACCEPTABLE/UNEXPECTED TO OTHERS**
You WILL present your experiment and findings to the class and turn in the write up!
For example:
- Stand in the middle of the food court in the mall for 10 minutes singing to yourself, talking to yourself, etc. and see what others do.
- Cut in line at a store and see what the reaction is of others around you.
- Ignore your friends, no matter what they say.
- Etc.
When you are done running the “experiment” you need to introduce yourself, thank the people involved, and explain what you are doing and why (you are running a social experiment for your AP psychology class). You may want to have this assignment paper with you. If you complete the assignment in a public setting, you may want to have a friend join you and observe the situation to help you with your data collection.
Write a report on your experiment:
Title
Purpose or problem: What will happen if I…
Background Information: What do people do in certain situations (like how do people wait for their turn, how do they learn this, etc.) Do some research and thinking of your own experiences. Why do humans behave “normally” and what causes them to follow these social protocols?
Hypothesis: Based on the background information, what do you believe will happen?
Experiment: What are you going to do? How, when, where, what time are you doing this experiment, who is your audience, etc.
Data: What did the people do? Were there differences in their reactions based on gender, ethnicity, age, etc.
Results: What happened? No interpretations, just what the reactions were of the different individuals.
Conclusions: Interpret your data and results. Why did the people act the way that they did? What emotional reactions did they have and why do you think that they had these reactions? Was your hypothesis correct? Why or why not? Did anything unexpected happen to you? Explain!