1. Johns Hopkins University - Center for Talented Youth
Foundations of Psychology
2015
June 28
- Session 1
- July 17
Instructor
Teaching Assistant
Claire Stramrood, MD PhD
Richard Guo, MA

2. Dear students,
Welcome to Foundations of Psychology at CTY. In this syllabus you will find a lot of practical information about the
course, including an overview of the topics we will be covering, and the format and activities we will be using. We hope
you have a great learning experience and a wonderful time here in Bristol!
Contents
Course description
Goals and Objectives
Format and Activities
Course requirements
Resources
Your teachers
Schedule
Course description
This course introduces students to the major content domains in modern psychology: biopsychological, developmental,
cognitive, and social. The course also focuses on different methodologies and learning what constitutes an effective
research design. With this foundation, students examine important topics in the field, including sensation and
perception, learning and intelligence, motivation, personality, and abnormal psychology. Throughout the course,
students develop the analytical and research skills necessary for future studies in the discipline, and carry out a research
project.
Goals and Objectives
Foundations of Psychology is a rigorous introductory course with two primary goals:
• to introduce students to several of the principal content domains of psychology
• to provide students with a background in psychological research methods and design
Think of this course as a way to study an instruction manual for human thought and behavior. Although the manual is far
from complete, it does contain some pretty interesting facts. You will learn the methods that psychologists use to
approach questions about behavior, critical thinking skills necessary for approaching these questions, and how to apply
what we already know about human behavior to everyday life.
It is important that you are aware that psychology is a science. Because it is a scientific enterprise, it is important that
you become familiar with the empirical methods that scientists use to test their ideas. By learning about human
behavior, you will learn how to remain open to new information, while using skepticism. It is also my hope that, as a
result of having taken this class, you will be able to maintain an appreciation for psychological principles and their
application to everyday life.
There are learning goals that you should achieve, including the ability to:
• Understand that behavior, thoughts, and emotions are shaped by heredity, the immediate environment, and
culture, and that people’s experience of the world is subjective.
• Demonstrate how course concepts apply to daily living.
• Recognize that psychological conclusions are based on the scientific method; Be able to explain scientific
methods and evaluate scientific information
• Discriminate between reliable and less reliable information in your decision-making

3. Format and Activities
The format for this class will be a mixture of lecture, discussion, small group work, reading, writing, and a lot of hands-on
activities. Research shows us that people learn much better and retain the information that they learn much longer
when they actively participate in the learning process, and I encourage you to do so! You are also invited to talk about
what you are learning with others, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to your daily life.
We will discuss a different topic every day, as listed above (‘tentative schedule’). In addition, there are a number of
activities that run throughout the course:
Research
In groups, students will design, execute and evaluate various research projects. We will discuss observational studies,
questionnaires and experiments.
Independent project
In pairs, you will make a poster on a psychological concept of your choice, approved by us. You will write a few articles
about your topic from multiple perspectives. For instance, you could include a main story about new treatments for
ADHD, a letter to the editor from a parent describing difficulties in finding treatment, or a movie review that describes
how ADHD occurred in a movie you have seen. You may also include additional fun items such as crossword puzzles and
advertisements relating to your topic. On our final day together, you will present your newspapers.
Positive psychology
Psychology is not all about disorders and ‘normalizing what is wrong’. Positive psychology focuses on factors and
processes that lead to positive emotions, virtuous behaviors and optimal performance in individuals and groups.
Students will be presented with valuable tools for developing skills to use positive psychology in daily life.
Journal
Your journal comprises a very important part of this course. Almost every evening (Sunday – Thursday), some time is
reserved to for writing. There are several reasons for including the journal in this course:
• An important part of the learning experience includes reviewing what you have learned and considering what you
do not understand well. Writing this down helps you synthesize and process information, and may also be valuable
for your teachers to monitor your progress.
• Especially in a course like psychology, concepts and theories you read about, or stories we talk about, may give rise
to (positive or negative) feelings of recognition, could be eye-openers, and may at time be confronting.
• Confiding your thoughts and feelings to paper is something many people find very valuable. This program is an
experience new to many students, but special, challenging, and at times exhausting for everyone. You may use the
journal not only to reflect on the course and academic content, but also to share other aspects of how you’re doing.
Your journal is personal. This means that only you, and we (the instructor and TA) have access to what you write. Also,
journal stories will not be considered right or wrong. Occasionally, you may be given some directions on how to proceed
or get started, but in general we find it most important that you feel you’re able to write freely.
Pre-test and post-test
These assessments are required for all students. You will take a test in the beginning of our time together to help us
understand what you already know about psychology. You will take a test again at the end of our three weeks together.
You will not receive a letter or number grade, and students, parents or schools will NOT receive the results of these
tests.

4. Course requirements
On the first day, we will discuss what we, your teachers, expect from you. We will talk about participation, doing
assignments and classroom behavior. Together, we will decide on a number of class rules. We will also be talking about
academic honesty. Not just about cheating, but also about plagiarism, and what we expect from you on individual and
group exercises.
Please remember that the backgrounds, ages and experiences of the students in this course are varied. It is therefore
impossible as well as undesirable to judge performance just by highest test scores. Although one of the main goals of
this course is undoubtedly that you come to understand the most important concepts of psychology, we aim to evaluate
your personal achievements, without comparing these to others.
Next to the class rules that we will establish together, there are two things to keep in mind throughout the course.
• Every day we will have activity periods in which you will work either alone or in small groups on activities that will
reflect the topics covered earlier in the day. The instructor and teaching assistant will be on hand to assist you with
the activities in the event that you require assistance. However, keep in mind that most of the activities are designed
to be somewhat challenging, so try to the best of your ability to complete the exercises on your own.
• Variety is the spice of life! This definitely applies to the class experience, as a variety of opinions almost always
enhances the learning experience. The only way we can achieve this is if you as students listen to the other students
in the class, reflect on what they have to say respect their input. Although it’s alright to disagree, please do so with
due consideration.
Resources
Textbook:
• Introduction to Psychology, 10th
edition by Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian. Wadsworth Publishers, 2014.
In addition to this, you will need:
• Spiral Notebook
• Black and white marble composition notebook
• Binder (2”)
• Notebook dividers
• Clipboard
• Flashdrive

5. Your teachers
We are present at every session of this course to provide instruction, guidance, inspiration and feedback. We hope to be
able to convey our passion for psychology to you, the students of this course!
Instructor: Dr. Claire Stramrood
Claire Stramrood is a Medical Doctor from The Netherlands, with a passion for teaching and working with young people.
She attended University College Utrecht, an international college in the center of The Netherlands, where she obtained
her BA (cum laude) majoring in psychology & law. After having graduated from Medical school, she was offered the
possibility to combine medicine and psychology in a research project on mental disorders (PTSD, depression and anxiety)
during pregnancy and after childbirth. The PhD thesis she defended in June 2013 sparkled nationwide media attention,
and during the course of her research she received numerous international awards for her work.
Claire is currently a Resident in Obstetrics/Gynecology and performed her 100th
cesarean section just before coming to
CTY. She is supervising several research projects related to psychosocial obstetrics, organizes a course on psychosocial
obstetrics and gynecology, and serves on the board of the Dutch National Center for Psychiatry and Pregnancy. She is
fortunate to combine her residency with teaching at CTY for the 6th
consecutive summer.
Teaching Assistant: Richard Guo
Richard (Jiajun) is a third-year doctoral student at University of Connecticut (UCONN, Husky!). He is in the CILT
(pronounced as Killed) program (Cognition, Instruction, and Learning Technology) in the Educational Psychology
department, where he studies creativity and education (actually it is about creativity and everything else). Richard spent
one year at Indiana University Bloomington and later transferred to UCONN.
He graduated from East China Normal University (a teacher college), where he got his Bachelor's and Master's degree in
special education. He likes jogging (while listening to music) and watching movies. This is his first time being a TA at CTY.
After he finishes the first session, he plans to drive to Canada from Connecticut to attend the APA (American
Psychological Association) conference.

6. Schedule
DAY
1 Introduction
2 Psychology & the Brain
3 Sensation & Perception
4 Personality
5 Social Psychology 1
6 Social Psychology 2
7 Class research activity
8 Learning
9 Memory and Creativity
10 Consciousness
11 Developmental psychology
12 Abnormal psychology 1
13 Abnormal psychology 2
14 Abnormal psychology 3, review, post-test, project presentations
15 Abnormal psychology 4, movie
Day 1 Introduction
- Morning
o Icebreakers
o Class rules, honor code
o Pretest
o Psychology: goals and careers (lecture)
- Afternoon
o Psychology charades (activity)
o Different approaches (reading + presentation)
- Evening
o Positive psychology: introduction (lecture + reading)
Day 2 Psychobiology
- Morning
o Structure and organization of the brain (lecture)
o Functions of the lobes (reading + presenting + Playdoh activity)
- Afternoon
o Positive psychology (activity)
- Evening
o Research: designs, settings, experiments (lecture)
o Day 3 Sensation reading
Day 3 Sensation and Perception
- Morning
o Sensation (worksheet + experiments)
- Afternoon
o Perception (lecture + videos)
- Evening
o Day 4 Personality reading
o Research: experiments (activity)
Day 4 Personality
- Morning
o Personality theories (read + present in groups)
o Research: reliability and validity (lecture + activity)
- Afternoon

7. o Personality tests (lecture + activity)
- Evening
o Personality quiz
o Research: How journals work, how to write a research paper (lecture)
Day 5 Social Psychology 1
- Morning
o Social cultural awareness (activity)
o Aggression and sexual aggression (lecture + discussion, video Bobo doll experiment)
o Attributions (lecture + activity)
o Prosocial behavior & altruism (reading + discussion)
- Afternoon
o Stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination (video white/black doll + video A Class divided)
- Evening
o Research: Read article + complete worksheet
o Positive psychology: write letter of gratefulness
Day 6 Social Psychology 2
- Morning
o Conformity and compliance (reading + discussion)
o Obedience (reading + video Milgram experiment)
o Group behavior, bystander effect (reading + activity + video)
- Afternoon
o Research: Design methods of class research activity (in groups)
o Research: Writing introduction of research paper
- Evening
o Research: Decide on method of class research activity
o Research: Practice class research activity
Day 7 RESEARCH: Class Activity
- Morning
o Run class research activity
- Afternoon
o Day 8 Learning: classical conditioning (lecture + reading + activity)
- Evening
o Research: write methods of research paper
Day 8 Learning
- Morning
o Classical conditioning (activity)
o Operant conditioning (reading + activity)
- Afternoon
o Operant conditioning (activity + review)
o Research: statistics (lecture)
- Evening
o Research: write results of research paper
Day 9 Memory and Creativity
- Morning
o Types of memory (lecture + video)
o Serial positioning effect (activity)
o Mind maps (activity)
o Eye witness testimony (activity)
o Mnemonics and study habits (reading + discussion)
- Afternoon
o Measuring creativity (activity)
o Functional fixedness (activity)
o Creativity puzzles and riddles (activity)
- Evening
o Day 10 Consciousness: stages of sleep (reading + quiz)

8. Day 10 Consciousness
- Morning
o Function of sleep, lack of sleep (discussion)
o Sleep disorders (lecture)
o Research: write discussion of research paper
- Afternoon
o Psychoactive drugs (lecture + discussion)
- Evening
o Day 11 Development: cognitive & emotional development (reading)
o Research: finish research paper
Day 11 Development
- Morning
o Motor development (activity)
o Sensory development (lecture + videos)
o Cognitive development (video + activity)
o Social development (reading + video)
- Afternoon
o Moral development (lecture + video)
o Emotional development (lecture + videos)
- Evening
o Parenting styles (reading + discussion)
o Research: independent project
Day 12 Abnormal Psychology 1
- Morning
o Definitions of abnormal and mental disorders (discussion)
- Afternoon
o Neurodevelopmental disorders: ADHD, Autism (lecture + videos)
- Evening
o Research: Independent project
Day 13 Abnormal Psychology 2
- Morning
o Mood disorders: depression, bipolar disorder (lecture + videos)
o Anxiety disorders: OCD, PTSD, panic disorder, phobias (lecture + reading + videos)
- Afternoon
o Schizophrenia (lecture + videos)
o Personality disorders (lecture + activity)
- Evening
o Review course material (prepare)
Day 14 Abnormal Psychology 3, review, post test, projects
- Morning
o SPE’s
o Review course material (presentations)
o Post test
- Afternoon
o Research: finish independent project
o Research: present independent project
Day 15 Abnormal Psychology 4, movie
- Morning
o Movie “Temple Grandin”