Human Behavior

Course Level: College Preparatory

Credits: 2.5

Suggested Grade Level: 11 – 12

Prerequisite: None

NJ Course Code: 04-254-E

This semester course will expose junior and senior students to the fundamental principles of Psychology: including founding psychologists, important theories, psychological development, psychological disorders and their treatment. Units covered will include an Introduction to Psychology and its uses, Development, Personality, Psychological Disorders, and Psychological therapy. Topics will include Infancy and Childhood, Adolescence, Motivation and Emotion, Theories of Personality, Psychological Tests, Gender Roles, Stress and Health, Psychological Disorders, and Methods of Therapy. A great majority of the workload for this elective is focused in the classroom where the expectation for students is to come prepared to meet the goals of the days' lessons through active engagement, participation, and group/independent-thinking activities/assessments. Both primary and secondary texts and documents of rigor and challenge are used, including many documents found/retrieved by students independently in class via multiple forms of technology. Students will be exposed to a variety of orthodox and unorthodox theories with emphasis placed on critically thinking like a psychologist, evaluating pertinent and ancillary information, and the development of proper research, diagnoses/evaluation, and critical writing