United States Β· College BoardSyllabus
Psychology syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the United States Psychologysyllabus, with a focused answer for each one. Click any dot point for a worked explainer, past exam questions, and links to related dot points. Written by Claude Opus 4.8, Anthropic's latest AI.
Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior
Module overview β- How do heredity and environment interact to shape behavior and mental processes?Topic 1.1 Interaction of Heredity and Environment: explain how the interaction of nature and nurture, studied through twin, family, and adoption research, shapes psychological traits.11 min answer β
- How is the nervous system organized, and how do its divisions and the endocrine system control behavior?Topic 1.2 Overview of the Nervous System: describe the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems, the somatic and autonomic divisions, and the role of the endocrine system.11 min answer β
- How do our sensory systems detect and transmit information about the world to the brain?Topic 1.6 Sensation: explain transduction, sensory thresholds and adaptation, and how the visual, auditory, and other sensory systems detect and encode stimuli.12 min answer β
- Why do we sleep and dream, and how are sleep cycles and disorders explained?Topic 1.5 Sleep: describe the stages of sleep and the sleep cycle, the role of circadian rhythms, theories of why we sleep and dream, and major sleep disorders.11 min answer β
- How do the structures of the brain control behavior, and how do psychologists study and measure them?Topic 1.4 The Brain: identify the major structures of the brain and their functions, explain hemispheric specialization and plasticity, and describe the tools used to study the brain.13 min answer β
- How do neurons communicate, and how do neurotransmitters and drugs affect that communication?Topic 1.3 The Neuron and Neural Firing: explain the structure of the neuron, the action potential, synaptic transmission, and how neurotransmitters and drugs influence neural communication.12 min answer β
Unit 2: Cognition
Module overview β- How is information encoded into memory, and what makes encoding effective?Topic 2.4 Encoding Memories: explain the processes of encoding information into memory, including effortful and automatic processing, levels of processing, and mnemonic strategies.11 min answer β
- Why do we forget, and how can memory be distorted or constructed inaccurately?Topic 2.7 Forgetting and Other Memory Challenges: explain the causes of forgetting, including encoding failure, decay, interference, and retrieval failure, and how memory can be distorted.11 min answer β
- How is intelligence defined, measured, and influenced by heredity and environment?Topic 2.8 Intelligence and Achievement: explain theories of intelligence, how intelligence and achievement are measured, and the role of heredity, environment, and bias in testing.12 min answer β
- What are the major models and systems of human memory?Topic 2.3 Introduction to Memory: describe the major models of memory, including the three-stage information-processing model and the different memory systems.11 min answer β
- How does the brain organize and interpret sensory information into meaningful perceptions?Topic 2.1 Perception: explain bottom-up and top-down processing, perceptual organization and constancies, depth and gestalt principles, and the influence of attention and set.11 min answer β
- How do we retrieve stored memories, and what cues and effects influence retrieval?Topic 2.6 Retrieving Memories: explain the processes of retrieval, the difference between recall and recognition, and the cues and effects that aid or distort retrieval.11 min answer β
- How and where are memories stored in the brain, and what types of long-term memory exist?Topic 2.5 Storing Memories: describe how memories are stored, the types of long-term memory, and the brain structures and processes involved in memory storage.11 min answer β
- How do people think, solve problems, and make judgments, and what biases distort these processes?Topic 2.2 Thinking, Problem-Solving, Judgments, and Decision-Making: explain concepts and prototypes, problem-solving strategies, and the heuristics and biases that shape judgment.12 min answer β
Unit 3: Development and Learning
Module overview β- How do we learn associations between stimuli, and what processes govern classical conditioning?Topic 3.7 Classical Conditioning: explain classical conditioning, including the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and responses, acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.12 min answer β
- How does thinking change from infancy through old age, and what theories explain it?Topic 3.4 Cognitive Development Across the Lifespan: explain Piaget's stages of cognitive development, Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and the zone of proximal development, and the changes in cognition during adulthood and aging.12 min answer β
- How do children acquire language, and what explains the universal sequence of language milestones?Topic 3.5 Communication and Language Development: describe the stages and milestones of language acquisition and explain the major theories of language development, including the role of a critical period.10 min answer β
- How do psychologists distinguish sex, gender, and sexual orientation, and how do they develop?Topic 3.3 Gender and Sexual Orientation: distinguish sex from gender, explain gender identity, gender roles, and gender typing, and describe the biological and environmental influences on gender and sexual orientation.10 min answer β
- How do consequences shape voluntary behavior, and how do reinforcement and punishment work?Topic 3.8 Operant Conditioning: explain operant conditioning, including positive and negative reinforcement and punishment, primary and secondary reinforcers, shaping, and the schedules of reinforcement.12 min answer β
- How does the body and its capacities change from conception through late adulthood?Topic 3.2 Physical Development Across the Lifespan: describe prenatal development and teratogens, infant reflexes and motor milestones, the changes of puberty and adolescence, and the physical and sensory changes of adulthood and aging.11 min answer β
- How do observation, cognition, and biology shape learning beyond simple conditioning?Topic 3.9 Social, Cognitive, and Neurological Factors in Learning: explain observational learning and modeling, cognitive influences such as latent and insight learning, and biological factors such as biological preparedness and instinctive drift.11 min answer β
- How do attachment, parenting, identity, and moral reasoning develop across the lifespan?Topic 3.6 Social-Emotional Development Across the Lifespan: explain attachment styles, parenting styles, temperament, Erikson's psychosocial stages, Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning, and ecological systems theory.13 min answer β
- What questions and research methods do developmental psychologists use to study change across the lifespan?Topic 3.1 Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology: explain the recurring themes of development (stability and change, nature and nurture, continuity and stages) and the research methods (cross-sectional and longitudinal) used to study them.10 min answer β
Unit 4: Social Psychology and Personality
Module overview β- How are attitudes formed and changed, and how do actions and attitudes influence each other?Topic 4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change: explain how attitudes form and change, including cognitive dissonance, the foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face techniques, the central and peripheral routes to persuasion, and the link between attitudes and behavior.11 min answer β
- How do we explain other people's behavior, and what biases distort those explanations?Topic 4.1 Attribution Theory and Person Perception: explain attribution theory, the dispositional and situational attributions, the fundamental attribution error, self-serving and actor-observer biases, and person-perception effects such as the mere exposure effect.11 min answer β
- What is an emotion, and how do the major theories explain the link between arousal, cognition, and feeling?Topic 4.7 Emotion: explain the major theories of emotion (James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer two-factor, and cognitive appraisal), the role of physiological arousal, and the expression and universality of emotion.11 min answer β
- What drives behavior, and how do biological and psychological theories explain motivation?Topic 4.6 Motivation: explain the major theories of motivation, including drive-reduction, arousal, Maslow's hierarchy, incentive, and self-determination theory, and apply them to hunger and other motivated behaviors.11 min answer β
- How do psychodynamic and humanistic theories explain the structure and growth of personality?Topic 4.4 Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality: explain Freud's psychodynamic theory, including the id, ego, and superego and the ego defense mechanisms, and the humanistic theories of Maslow and Rogers, including self-actualization and unconditional positive regard.11 min answer β
- How do groups and social situations change how individuals think, feel, and act?Topic 4.3 Psychology of Social Situations: explain conformity, obedience, and group influences such as social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation, group polarization, and groupthink, and describe prosocial behavior and the bystander effect.13 min answer β
- How do trait and social-cognitive theories explain and measure personality?Topic 4.5 Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality: explain the trait approach and the Big Five factors, the social-cognitive theory including reciprocal determinism and self-efficacy, and the methods used to assess personality.11 min answer β
Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health
Module overview β- What are the major categories of psychological disorders, and what symptoms define them?Topic 5.4 Categories of Psychological Disorders: describe the major categories of psychological disorders, including anxiety, OCD, depressive and bipolar, schizophrenia spectrum, dissociative, trauma- and stressor-related, feeding and eating, neurodevelopmental, and personality disorders, and their defining symptoms.13 min answer β
- How do psychologists define, explain, and classify psychological disorders?Topic 5.3 Explaining and Diagnosing Psychological Disorders: explain how psychological disorders are defined and classified, the diagnostic systems (DSM and ICD), and the models used to explain disorders, including the biopsychosocial and diathesis-stress models.11 min answer β
- How does stress affect the body and behavior, and how do people cope with it?Topic 5.1 Introduction to Health Psychology: explain stress and stressors, the general adaptation syndrome, the effects of stress on health, and the strategies people use to cope with stress.11 min answer β
- What makes life go well, and how does positive psychology study well-being and resilience?Topic 5.2 Positive Psychology: explain the aims of positive psychology, subjective well-being, the concepts of flow, gratitude, character strengths and virtues, resilience, and posttraumatic growth.10 min answer β
- How are psychological disorders treated through psychotherapy and biomedical approaches?Topic 5.5 Treatment of Psychological Disorders: describe the major approaches to treatment, including psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, cognitive, and biomedical therapies, and the formats and ethics of treatment.12 min answer β