A.P. Psychology

Prerequisites: honors grades in previous courses and teacher recommendation.

This AP course provides an overview of current psychological research methods and theories. Students explore the therapies used by professional counselors and clinical psychologists and examine human reactions: how people learn and think, the process of human development and human aggression, altruism, intimacy, and self–reflection. Students study the core psychological concepts, such as the brain and sense functions, and learn to gauge human reactions, gather information, and form meaningful syntheses. The equivalent of a 100–level college survey course, AP Psychology prepares students for further studies in psychology and life sciences. To help prepare students for the AP exam, each unit exam is designed to replicate the AP Psychology exam. Students also participate in a variety of experiments. These range from quick in–class exercises to replications of famous experiments to self–designed experiments.