Preparing for Your History, Approaches, and Research Methods Test

On Thursday, you'll take your first unit test in AP Psychology! I know you find it important to prepare thoroughly, so I'm hoping the links in this post are helpful as you begin your review.

Study Tools:

• Your unit objectives. Can you confidently do all of the things described on this list?
• The MC study guide you received in class (on Friday, Sept. 11). Harness the power of retrieval practice by treating this as a practice test.
• Quizlet Flashcards for Unit I and Unit II. 
• Need a quick video refresher of major topics from this unit? Here are the Crash Course Videos on Psychology's History and Research Methods.
• You might want to check out the resources in your etext, including the practice quizzes available there (2 per unit). You will need the login info you created when we registered these in class.
• Still want MORE practice multiple choice questions? Here are some on psychological approaches, and some more on research methods. 
• I'm also posting the slides we've used this unit below, along with embedded flashcards and some helpful videos.

Video: Why Experiments Show Cause and Effect (and...Why We Know Sugar Doesn't Cause Hyperactivity) Note: "Randomized Controlled Trials" = experiments


Flashcards:
Unit I: History Approaches



Unit II: Research Methods


Slides:
The Story of Psychology


Contemporary Psychological Approaches


Research Methods and Stats

Top 25 Assignment

On Tuesday, you will get directions for your Top 25 Assignment, which is due on Monday, September 23rd The purpose of the exercise is to get you introduced to some of the "big names" in psychology that you will be learning about over the course of this year. Because of their notoriety, you will be able to find most of what you need to know about these individuals (which, is not much...just a brief summary of their biggest accomplishments) with a quick Google search. But, since Google doesn't always lead a person to credible, scholarly information, below I've provided examples of some links that you may find helpful.

• Alphabetical list of Famous Figures in Psychology.
• This online encyclopedia of psychology has a number of psychologist biographies. 
• Psychology Standard has a reference section with bios of some historically significant psychologists. 
• There are some more at AllPsych Online. 
• This timeline of significant events in the contemporary history of psychology includes many of your Top 25.

Admit that you could not be more stoked to learn about this stylin' crew.

Of course, given that you'll have a lot of time to be reviewing the photographs of this hip crew, we'll also be voting on Most Attractive Top 25 Psychologist on Friday. Choose carefully, as many of them have put a lot of thought into their outfits and accessories. 

Phrenology Head Arrives at Chi-Hi

Our new Phrenology Head

Last week Friday we welcomed a new member of the AP Psychology family to Chi-Hi, when our Phrenology Head arrived in the mail! My classroom has long felt the absence of a phrenology head, since it seems no psychology classroom would be complete without one. However, thanks to the folks at Jake's Antiques and Reproductions, we now have a model even Franz Gall would be proud of. (Note: Ours is certainly a reproduction, not an original...the Psych Club budget is not THAT flush.)

We are looking forward to making sure this friendly piece of psychology history is outfitted for each season, and my students wasted no time in arranging for some accessories.



Phrenology Fiona?

The next big step for Phrenology Head will be our December Psych Club meeting on December 7, during Lunch B, where we will vote on an official name for the Phrenology Head. Personally, I'm pulling for Phrank the Phrenology Head, but we'll see what club members come up with.

Also during the December Psych Club meeting, we will be decorating Psychology cookies for the holidays (because...why not?). So this will be a meeting you won't want to miss.

Psychology's Top 25

Today in class you received materials and instructions for your Top 25 Assignment, which will be due Monday, September 10. To complete it, you will use your best Googling skills and the links provided below to identify the most significant contribution(s) of the listed psychologists, who are among the most important folks we'll learn about all year. Don't feel the need to summarize EVERYTHING they've done (many of them had long and storied careers); we're just looking for a sentence or two about what the psychologist is most known for.

Links:

• Famous Figures in Psychology
• History of Psychology
• People and History in Psychology (a bunch of sites)
• Psychology Biographies

Perhaps more fun will be Step 2: coming up with your own ranking system for them. After finding out what they did, you'll identify the first most important psychologist, second, third, etc., and number them on the worksheet. NOTE: I do not need a repeat of what OTHER scholars think is the appropriate ranking (as this is easy to find with a quick Web search). I want to know what YOU think, and you'll not be judged against any established list.

Be sure to complete YOUR OWN WORK; honesty is important, and copying another's work (descriptions or rank order) will result in a score of zero.

Also, don't forget to scope out their pictures as you read about these guys. Not only will most of them show up again later this year, but their fashion choices and poses are priceless.

New Quizlet Flashcards Available!

For most subjects in AP Psych, I have created online flashcards sets through Quizlet for your reviewing pleasure! I recently updated and added new terms/people to the two sets for this unit: History & Approaches and Research Methods. If you access them using the links provided, you'll be able to play games and test yourself on major terms and people for this unit.

I am in the process of transferring all of my Quizlet links to the Study Resources page of this website. So, you should be able to access them there at any time. Please be patient with me as I make the switch with all of the vocab review links.

If you are in the mood for a very quick review, you can use the applets I've embedded in this post for simple flashcard review. Happy studying!

History & Approaches Set (Prologue):

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study history flash cards

Research Methods Set (Chapter 1):

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study psychology flash cards

Adler's Ashes?

Ready for some weird psychology history?

According to this article in The Guardian, the long-missing remains of Alfred Adler were recently discovered in Edinburgh. How did they get there and why was this a mystery? Apparently, Adler, a psychologist remembered today for his early friendship with Sigmund Freud, for creating the idea of the inferiority complex, and for founding a unique approach to psychotherapy, unexpectedly suffered a heart attack in 1937 when visiting Aberdeen for a lecture tour.

His Viennese family lost track of the remains when they were shipped south to Edinburgh for cremation, where they have remained since. Surviving family members believe the chaos surrounding the start of World War II likely interfered with communication efforts following the prominent psychologist's death.

Adler's ashes will be returned to Vienna and a ceremony is planned to commemorate the famed, and now found, psychologist.

Look Who Made the APA Monitor!

No, not yours truly. But that was a good guess.

This month's Monitor on Psychology features an article by Elizabeth Scarborough about the contributions of Margaret Floy Washburn, entitled Understanding the Animal Mind. The article suggests that Washburn, who is most often remembered for her role as the first female to earn a PhD in psychology and for serving as the APA's second female president, also should be remembered for her outstanding contributions to comparative psychology and her position on the prospect of studying animal consciousness. Her argument that animal consciousness was a legitimate topic of study was particularly courageous in an era where behaviorism was becoming increasingly the status quo.


The article serves a great reminder of the important role of Washburn in shaping the early history of psychology.

Top 25 Assignment Links

On Friday during class you will be getting directions for your "Top 25 Assignment." You will be provided with a written copy of directions and pictures. You can choose to fill in the paper copy you are given, or you can utlize the Excel Spreadsheet for Top 25 Assignment, which allows for easier sorting of the information when you are done. Just be sure to print your final copy to bring to class on Thursday, Sept. 9.

Note: Be sure to do a "save as" to save the Excel spreadsheet to your own computer.

Use the links provided below (and/or your best Googling skills) to determine the most noteworthy contributions of the “Top 25 Psychologists." A sentence or two per psychologist is plenty. Then, assign each a rank according to YOUR VIEW of which was most important, second most, third most…and so on.

NOTE: I do not need a repeat of what OTHER scholars think is the appropriate ranking. I want to know what YOU think.

Be sure to complete YOUR OWN WORK; plagiarism will result in a score of zero.

Links:

• Famous Figures in Psychology
• History of Psychology
• People and History in Psychology (a bunch of sites)
• Psychology Biographies

Steer clear of Wikipedia, please (and similar publicly-edited pages). While it is good for some things, it's also not trusted by most in higher-level academics, so get used to it being off-limits.

Famous Psychologists Quizlet

As the AP Psychology Exam approaches, you may want to avail yourself of some online resources for review.

I have several sets of online vocabulary flashcards available (linked on the left hand navigation bar). More to come, of course. They include options to create "tests" for yourself, play games, or just shuffle through the deck for familiarity.

I would highly recommend using the Famous Psychologists Quizlet to review all those fabulous people in psychology. My list was recently updated to include all the folks recommended by the College Board for the AP Psych curriculum, plus a few more.

There are 75 people in all, and knowing them will also help you review some of the biggest ideas in psychology. Happy reviewing!

Dr. Freud

Whether you find his ideas intriguing or repulsive, it is impossible to deny that Sigmund Freud had an incredible impact on the early years of psychology. If you're looking for more information on this controversial figure, there is no shortage of documentation on his life. In addition to the A & E Biography production we watched in class, these websites provide a wealth of information.

PBS special: The Young Dr. Freud companion site.
The Freud Museum in London.
The Freud Museum in Vienna, Austria.

Below, another historical video about the man, the myth & the legend, Dr. Freud.

Psychology's Top 100

I had a good time hearing about your rankings of Psychology's Top 25 minds today in class, students.

For anyone who's interested in how those rankings were created, here's link to the published article. It describes how the researchers from Western Kentucky University and Arkansas State University gathered their data and completed the complicated process they used to create the rankings.

Want to know who else is on the list? I only asked you to take a look at the top 25 for your assignment. The list they generated actually ranks the Top 100 ("Most Eminent") Psychologists of the 20th Century. If your favorite didn't make the top 25, maybe he/she still made the top 100.

Psychology's Top 25

Tomorrow in class you will be getting an assignment called "Psychology's Top 25". To assist your search to uncover the major accomplishments of those great-looking gentlemen, here are some web links:

Famous Figures in Psychology

History of Psychology

People and History in Psychology

Psychology Biographies

I would avoid Wikipedia, simply because I've checked out some psychology-related entries on that site and have found strange information on them...

Remember, there is no point in attempting to match the APA's ranking of these folks: you don't earn points for having a similar list. I'll post their rankings next week. For now, I want to know what YOU think. :)

Serendipitous Trip to Bedlam!

Some of you may know that I am taking a group of high school students to Europe this summer to study the history of World War II. Our travels will take us to London, Paris, and Berlin, and I am very excited that we will be departing quite soon! See the trip website at http://www.chi-hi-history-trip.blogspot.com/ for details.

While I was communicating with our tour director who is currently in Ireland, he casually mentioned that one of the museums we will be visiting - the Imperial War Museum, which houses artifacts from WWI and WWII - IS BUILT ON THE GROUNDS OF BETHLEM ROYAL HOSPITAL (a.k.a. "Bedlam")! So, my trip is now (though unintentionally) a psychology history trip as well!

For my students who may be confused as to why I am so excited about this, Bethlem was a notorious mental hospital that, in practice, operated more like a zoo. Most abnormal psychology textbooks make some mention of it (often as an example of why modern reforms in mental health care were so direly needed). In fact, our term "bedlam", which is used to describe chaos or an out-of-control situation is derived from this hospital's name!

The IWM's website describes the history of Bethlem Royal Hospital like this:

The building which accommodates the Imperial War Museum London was formerly the central portion of Bethlem Royal Hospital, or Bedlam, as it was commonly known. Designed by James Lewis, it was completed in 1815. Sidney Smith’s dome was added in 1846 and contained the chapel. The east and west wings were demolished in the early 1930s to make room for the park which now surrounds the Museum.
Bethlem Royal Hospital dates back to 1247, when Simon Fitz-Mary, a wealthy alderman and sheriff of London, founded the Priory of St Mary of Bethlehem on the site which is now part of Liverpool Street Station. In the fourteenth century the priory began to specialise in the care of the insane. In 1547 Henry VIII granted the hospital to the City of London.Bethlem was moved to a new building in Moorfields in 1676. Until 1770 there were no restrictions on visitors, and the lunatics, who were often manacled or chained to the walls, were a public attraction.

The hospital was housed in the present building from 1815 to 1930, when it was transferred to Eden Park near Beckenham, Kent.

Patients included Mary Nicholson who tried to assassinate George III in 1786; Jonathan Martin, committed in 1829 after setting fire to York Minster; the painters Richard Dadd and Louis Wain, famous for his cartoons of cats; Antonia White, author of Frost in May and Beyond the Glass; and the architect A W N Pugin who designed the Houses of Parliament and St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral opposite the Museum.

As if I needed another reason to be excited about this trip! Can't wait to bring back photos to share!