High School Block:

Psychology 120

The vision for Psychology 120 is to build on learners’ knowledge of how external influences guide the development of thoughts and behaviour. In Psychology 120 learners will gain transferrable skills to daily interactions, to understand, communicate, empathy, and cooperate with others, and to maintain healthy relationships to support positive mental health. This will lead to stronger interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships at home, school and in the workforce.

Learners in Psychology 120 will cover a variety of areas related to psychology, including social relationships, memory, learning, and how to apply their knowledge to consider current and ethical research practices. Learners will have the opportunity to examine psychological disorders and their preventions and treatments. The topics will include psychology as a social science, biological factors, variations and perspectives, and applications of psychology.

CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS

Psychology as a Social Science

  • Ethics review practices in public and private sectors
  • Intellectual property rights for research data
  • Historical data collection of Wabanaki and Indigenous Peoples
  • Wabanaki views on research
    • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
    • 231 Calls for Justice for MMIWG2S
Biological Factors

  • Short-term memories and long-term memories
    • Capacity (amount)
    • Duration (length of time)
    • Research around memory
  • Implicit and explict memories
    • Types of each memory
    • Processing locations within the brain
    • Case study of HM
  • Motivation
    • Instincts and drives
    • Arousal theories
    • Homeostasis
    • Hierarchy of needs
    • Achievement motivation
    • Physiology of hunger
    • Theory of Planned Behaviour
Variations and Perspectives

  • Classical and Operant Conditioning
  • Observational Learning
  • Components of attraction:
    • Proximity
    • Physical attractiveness
    • Similarity
    • Hormones
  • Attraction
  • Conscious and unconscious biases
    • Prejudice
    • Stereotypes
    • Discrimination
    • Scapegoat Theory
  • Reasons groups may work together:
    • The Just World Phenomenon
    • Superordinate Goals
  • Influences on behaviours
    • Aggression and related causes
    • Altruism
    • Factors impact bystander intervention
Applications of Psychology

  • Treatment approaches
    • Psychotherapy
    • Psychoanalysis
    • Humanistic therapies (active listening)
    • Behavioural therapies (systematic desensitization and VR therapy)
    • Cognitive therapies (including CBT)
  • Treatment models
    • Medical
    • Psychological
    • Alternative
  • Research design
    • Hypothesis
    • Study sample size
    • How to assign participants
    • Prevention of harm by/in the study
    • Ethical guidelines
    • Data collection methods
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GRADE 12

Strand: Psychology as a Social Science

Big Idea: Changes in Approaches to Research

Skill Descriptor: Examine how societal perspectives inform changes to research design.

Global Competencies: CM, CL, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss considerations for changes to ethical guidelines for psychological research
  • Examine the Own-Race Bias Effect on the reliability of facial recognition
  • Investigate the importance of research by and for Indigenous and marginialized communities
  • Reflect on and share how research materials involving personal interviews within communities should be handled after research is completed

Strand: Biological Factors

Big Idea: Information Processing

Skill Descriptor: Explore the connection between sensation and perception.

Global Competencies: CM, CL, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain the three stages of information processing
  • Define the role of the five senses in sensation
  • Investigate specialized pathways for the five senses
  • Discuss how culture and experiences influence own perception
  • Examine brain plasticity related to the five senses

Skill Descriptor: Examine influences on memory construction and retrieval

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe the systems of the brain involved in memory
  • Explain strategies and techniques to help improve recall
  • Examine how Indigenous oral traditions enhance memory
  • Differentiate between short- and long-term memories
  • Explain the difference between implicit memory and explicit memory
  • Examine current research related to false memory construction

Big Idea: Motivation

Skill Descriptor: Analyze the factors that influence motivation.

Global Competencies: CM, CL, CTPS, SASM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss current theories of motivation management
  • Examine factors that influence human motivations from a variety of worldviews
  • Compare intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations
  • Discuss the strengths and limitations of motivational theories
  • Reflect on and share personal strategies that improve motivation

Strand: Variations and Perspectives

Big Idea: Learning and Intelligence

Skill Descriptor: Investigate the various experiences through which people learn.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain the relationship between stimulus and response
  • Examine the power of reinforcement and punishment
  • Examine how modeling shapes behaviour

Big Idea: Social Relations

Skill Descriptor: Examine factors that influence building and maintaining personal relationships.

Global Competencies: CM, CL, CTPS, SASM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss how proximity influences the establishment of relationships
  • Investigate the cultural and biological elements influencing perception of physical attractiveness
  • Reflect on and share how personal worldviews relate to the establishment and maintenance of relationships

Skill Descriptor: Investigate biological and cultural factors that influence attitudes and social behaviours.

Global Competencies: CM, CL, CTPS, SASM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss the impact of unconscious and conscious biases on human behaviour
  • Examine factors related to aggressive behaviour
  • Analyze factors that influence individual behaviours in a social setting

Big Idea: Indigenous Perspectives on Research

Skill Descriptor: Appreciate Wabanaki and Indigenous Peoples view on psychological research.

Global Competencies: CM, CL, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss the application of Two-Eyed Seeing perspective in psychological research
  • Connect medicine wheel teachings and the biopsychosocial model
  • Explain the importance of cultural safety and practice in psychological research
  • Apply ethical guidelines when considering research design involving Indigenous children in Residential Schools

Strand: Applications of Psychology

Big Idea: Research Methods

Skill Descriptor: Examine the importance of research tools and experimental design principles.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM, CL

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine the strengths and limitations of various research designs
  • Compare and contrast correlation and causation
  • Discuss the importance of replication of results in sound research
  • Describe how confounding variables affect the validity of research data
  • Consider how to reduce the risk of doing harm when non-community members conduct research

Skill Descriptor: Apply the scientific method to psychological research.

Global Competencies: ICE, CM, CL, CTPS, SASM, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Create a hypothesis
  • Define operational variables
  • Develop a research procedure that reflects ethical guidelines and cultural sensitivity
  • Determine the experimental design principles of the study
  • Apply research methods in an experimental research project to collect data related to the hypothesis
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