SECTION 210:15-3-108. Psychology  


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  • (a)   Psychology Content Standard 1. The student will examine the foundations of psychology and its origins as a separate social science discipline.
    (1)   Analyze the definition of psychology in the context of psychology as an empirical science and the major approaches to psychology including cognitive-behavioral, psychoanalytic, cognitive, and humanistic.
    (2)   Evaluate the origins of psychology based on significant historic figures including Wilhelm Wundt, William James, John B. Watson, and Karen Horney.
    (3)   Classify the various subfields in psychology including vocational applications such as counseling, industrial, clinical, experimental, and educational psychology.
    (b)   Psychology Content Standard 2. The student will examine the development of psychology as an empirical science by describing the scientific method, explaining research strategies, and identifying ethical issues.
    (1)   Describe the scientific method as the framework for research and apply the principles of research design to an appropriate experiment.
    (2)   Compare quantitative and qualitative research strategies including experiments, surveys, focus groups, and narratives as the foundation of research in psychology.
    (3)   Identify ethical standards psychologists must address regarding research with human and non-human participants.
    (4)   Explore the various modes of psychological testing including personality, intelligence, and projective, while assessing the reliability of each.
    (c)   Psychology Content Standard 3. The student will investigate the structure, biochemistry, and circuitry of the brain and the nervous system to understand their roles in affecting behavior.
    (1)   Identify and describe the structure and function of the brain including the hypothalamus, prefrontal lobe, corpus callosum, hemispheres, and amygdala.
    (2)   Examine the structure and function of the nervous and endocrine systems and how they affect behavior.
    (3)   Identify the parts of a neuron and explain neurotransmission, including the role and impact of various neurotransmitters.
    (4)   Explain the processes of sensation and perception, as well as the capabilities and limitations of sensory processes including the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory sensory systems.
    (5)   Describe the interaction of a person and the environment in determining perception, including Gestalt principles and how one's experiences and expectations influence perception.
    (6)   Identify various stages of consciousness including sleep and dreams, hypnosis, meditation, and psychoactive drugs.
    (d)   Psychology Content Standard 4. The student will analyze physical, social, emotional, moral, and cognitive development from conception through the latter stages of adulthood.
    (1)   Explain the interaction of environmental and biological factors in human development including the role of the brain in all aspects of development.
    (2)   Compare the theories of Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud, Lawrence Kohlberg, Carl Jung, and Erick Erickson regarding human development.
    (e)   Psychology Content Standard 5. The student will understand how organisms adapt to their environment through learning and cognition.
    (1)   Identify and explain the major theories of learning including Ivan Pavlov's classical conditioning, B.F. Skinner's and Albert Bandura's operant conditioning, and Bandura's observational learning.
    (2)   Describe the process, organization, and factors that influence memory and recall.
    (3)   Analyze strategies and impediments involved in problem solving and decision making, and how this knowledge could be applied to daily life.
    (f)   Psychology Content Standard 6. The student will understand the principles of motivation and emotion.
    (1)   Compare the predominant theories of motivation and emotion including the biological, social-cognitive, humanistic, and cultural theories.
    (2)   Analyze the biological and environmental influences on positive and negative emotion.
    (g)   Psychology Content Standard 7. The student will understand how society and culture influence a person's behavior and mental processes.
    (1)   Evaluate the factors that lead to conformity, obedience, and nonconformity as demonstrated in experiments including the Stanford Prison Experiment, Milgram Experiment, or Solomon Ash's studies.
    (2)   Explain how bias, discrimination, and use of stereotypes influence behavior with regard to gender, race, sexual orientation, and ethnicity as demonstrated in the studies of the Brown Eyed/Blue Eyed Experiment, and the Clark Doll Experiment.
    (3)   Examine influences on aggression and conflict, including the factors associated with the bystander effect as demonstrated in such cases as the Kitty Genovese murder.
    (h)   Psychology Content Standard 8. The student will examine how psychological disorders are diagnosed, classified, and treated.
    (1)   Analyze the methods of determining abnormal behavior and the tools used to diagnose and classify disorders.
    (2)   Describe symptoms and causes of major categories of psychological disorders including schizophrenia, mood, anxiety, personality, somatoform, and dissociative disorders.
    (3)   Compare available treatment options and how they evolved through history and among different cultures.
    (i)   Psychology Content Standard 9. The student will evaluate the many factors that promote mental health.
    (1)   Identify and explain potential sources of stress, effects of stress, and various coping strategies for dealing with stress.
    (2)   Describe the characteristics of and factors that promote resilience and optimism.
    (3)   Analyze the relationship between psychological health and physiological health.
    (4)   Identify mental health disorders such as eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders.
[Source: Added at 36 Ok Reg 755, eff 7-25-19]