Oklahoma Social Studies PS.1.1
The Standard
- PS.1
- Examine the foundations of psychology and its origins as an empirical science.
Analyze the context and origins of psychology including the major approaches to psychology (e.g., cognitive-behavioral, psychoanalytic, cognitive) and major historical figures.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · PS.1
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how psychology grew from philosophy and early lab work into different ways of studying people. They connect figures such as Wundt, Freud, and Beck to their methods. They compare how psychoanalytic, cognitive, and cognitive-behavioral approaches explain the same behavior.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how Wundt studied conscious experience in a lab, while Freud used clinical cases to explore unconscious conflicts. Given a student avoiding a test, they can distinguish an unconscious conflict, a thought about failure, and a cycle of thoughts and avoidance.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often treat cognitive and cognitive-behavioral approaches as identical. Some assume Freud's ideas describe all current psychology, or that Wundt studied only observable behavior.
How to Assess It
- On an exit ticket, ask: Why did psychologists develop approaches beyond Wundt's lab work? Name one later figure and explain how two approaches would interpret a student avoiding a test.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs dated cards for Wundt's lab, Freud's clinical cases, and Beck's therapy; have them order the cards and label each method.
Ask students to write: Why might a psychologist use a thought record instead of Freud's account of unconscious conflict to study test anxiety?
Read 'I will fail, so I skip class' and have teams match it to cognitive and cognitive-behavioral explanations, with reasons.
Give students a sample counselor's test-anxiety log and have them circle the thought, feeling, and avoided action.
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Printable PS.1.1 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- MWH.P.2.2.B
Analyze complex and interacting factors that influence multiple perspectives during different historical eras and contemporary events.
- PS.5
Examine social influences on mental processes and behavior, as well as the human personality.
- PS.1
Examine the foundations of psychology and its origins as an empirical science.
- WG.P.2.2.B
Analyze complex and interacting factors that influence multiple perspectives during different historical eras and contemporary events.
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