skip to main content

Applications of Psychological Science Domain: Performance Indicators

Performance Indicators are designed for the assessment of student learning and list examples of potential ways students can demonstrate mastery of material presented in the high school psychology class.

These Performance Indicators are meant to serve only as examples and are not meant to be all-inclusive; they are also not official APA policy. Teachers are not expected to use every indicator for each standard. Instead, instructors should choose at least one from each set provided for each standard, or design their own as appropriate. Instructors must consider the unique composition of each class when selecting which Performance Indicators will be used for instruction of each Performance Standard.

We welcome feedback on the provided Performance Indicators, including suggestions for additional or revised indicators.

APA Style leaf logo Cite this in APA Style
American Psychological Association. (2015, March 9). Applications of psychological science domain: Performance indicators. https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/applications-domain-indicators

expand all

Content Standards

After concluding this unit, students understand:

  1. Perspectives on treatment.

  2. Categories of treatment and types of treatment providers.

  3. Legal, ethical and professional issues in the treatment of psychological disorders.

Content Standards with Performance Standards

Content Standard 1: Perspectives on treatment

Students are able to (performance standards): 

1.1: Explain how psychological treatments have changed over time and among cultures.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Discussing the effectiveness of treatment based upon beliefs about abnormality or cause of illness.
b. Discussing cultural beliefs about treatment. 

1.2: Match methods of treatment to psychological perspectives.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Describing major psychological treatments used in therapy (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, psychoanalytic or psychodynamic, humanistic).
b. Describing major biomedical treatments used in therapy (e.g., psychopharmacology, ECT, surgery).
c. Discussing pseudoscientific treatments. 

1.3: Explain why psychologists use a variety of treatment options.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Discussing the importance of psychological perspectives for treatment options (macro level).
b. Discussing the importance of practitioners matching client symptoms with established research (micro level).
c. Discussing the benefits of eclectic therapy or integrative therapy.
d. Distinguishing between different types of treatment options (e.g., group, family, counseling).

Content Standard 2: Categories of treatment and types of treatment providers

Students are able to (performance standards): 

2.1: Identify biomedical treatments.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Identifying the medications typically used to treat various psychological disorders (e.g., antidepressants, antipsychotics, antianxiety and mood stabilizers).
b. Discussing the past and present use of psychosurgery.
c. Describing the current use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and deep brain stimulation (DBS).
d. Explaining how psychotropic medications work with neurotransmitters (e.g., SSRI’s).
e. Evaluating the criticisms of using medications to treat psychological disorders. 

2.2: Identify psychological treatments.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Distinguishing psychotherapy from medical intervention and spiritual support.
b. Describing different treatment formats (e.g., individual, family, couple, group therapy).
c. Evaluating the efficacy of different approaches with specific disorders.
d. Describing ways that integrating behavioral and biomedical interventions may optimize clinical response to treatment.
e. Differentiating between counseling and psychotherapy. 

2.3: Describe appropriate treatments for different age groups.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Discussing strategies for seeking help based on age.
b. Discussing the risk of using adult medications on children.
c. Discussing the cognitive and emotional abilities of the client in terms of appropriate treatment. 

2.4: Evaluate the efficacy of treatments for particular disorders.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Identifying criteria for evaluating successful treatment.
b. Citing evidence for success of a treatment intervention, including the significance of outcome studies and control groups.
c. Examining examples of case studies involving successful therapies.
d. Evaluating examples of therapies that have been discredited by outcome studies (e.g., re-birthing). 

2.5: Identify other factors that improve the efficacy of treatment.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Explaining how different treatment orientations will influence the therapy plan.
b. Exploring how the credibility of treatment professionals or healers varies among diverse groups of people.
c. Discussing how theoretical orientations may promote specific treatment biases.
d. Discussing the importance of the client-therapist relationship (including therapeutic/working alliance). 

2.6: Identify treatment providers for psychological disorders and the training required for each.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Differentiating various types of intervention specialists (e.g., psychologist, psychiatrist, counselor, social worker).
b. Creating a chart comparing and contrasting education and training requirements of mental health care providers.

Content Standard 3: Legal, ethical and professional issues in the treatment of psychological disorders

Students are able to (performance standards): 

3.1: Identify ethical challenges involved in delivery of treatment.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Identifying the therapist’s ethical obligations to the client and to society (e.g., confidentiality vs. prevention of violence).
b. Discussing the ethical guidelines preventing “dual relationships.”
c. Explaining “right to treatment” as well as “right to refuse treatment.” 

3.2: Identify national and local resources available to support individuals with psychological disorders and their families (e.g., NAMI and support groups).
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators): 

a. Researching how one begins to seek treatment.
b. Exploring local avenues for treatment (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, school resources).
c. Exploring state-based avenues for treatment.
d. Exploring national support groups (e.g., NAMI, NIMH).

Content Standards

After concluding this unit, students understand:

  1. Stress and coping.
  2. Behaviors and attitudes that promote health.

Content Standards with Performance Standards

Content Standard 1: Stress and coping

Students are able to (performance standards): 

1.1: Define stress as a psychophysiological reaction.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Defining distress and eustress.
b. Providing examples of stressors.
c. Differentiating between acute and chronic stressors.
d. Identifying physical, behavioral and cognitive responses to stressors.

1.2: Identify and explain potential sources of stress.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Defining frustration and giving examples of how it can be a source of stress.
b. Explaining and giving examples of approach-approach, approach-avoidance and avoidance-avoidance conflicts.
c. Explaining how the hassles of contemporary life are a source of stress.
d. Discussing how our cognitive appraisal of situations can cause stress.
e. Exploring how challenges in work environments, such as violence, harassment and downsizing, can increase stress reactions.
f. Examining the impact of discrimination on stress.
g. Describing how racial, ethnic and socioeconomic differences are associated with differential exposure to stress.

1.3: Explain physiological and psychological consequences for health.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Describing fight or flight responses
b. Describing Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS).
c. Describing how stress can affect the immune system.
d. Explaining how stress relates to learned helplessness and other conditioned reactions.
e. Relating personal examples of how stress can impair psychological functioning in such areas as work, school and relationships.
f. Explaining how stress can affect biological functioning.
g. Describing how stress may have positive outcomes.
h. Discussing how cultural differences can influence one’s reaction to stress.
i. Describing the causes, symptoms and treatments associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.

1.4: Identify and explain physiological, cognitive, and behavioral strategies to deal with stress.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Describing physiological strategies that may help to cope with stress and promote health (e.g., exercise, sleep, diet).
b. Describing cognitive strategies that may help to cope with stress and promote health (e.g., explanatory style, locus of control, personality type).
c. Describing behavioral strategies that may help to cope with stress and promote health (e.g., seeking social support).
d. Explaining how dispositional versus situational attributions for life events can influence one’s response to stressors and promote health.
e. Describing the positive health effects of ending or preventing smoking and/or substance abuse.
f. Determining when to seek professional help to cope with stress.

Content Standard 2: Behaviors and attitudes that promote health

Students are able to (performance standards):

2.1: Identify ways to promote mental health and physical fitness.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Describing the positive health benefits of exercise.
b. Describing the positive health benefits of developing social supports.
c. Describing ways in which behaviors, beliefs and attitudes influence health.
d. Identifying situational factors that influence health.

2.2: Describe the characteristics of and factors that promote resilience and optimism.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Discussing the importance of increased positive emotion (e.g., broaden and build theory of emotion).
b. Describing how to increase engagement (e.g., identifying and using strengths, seeking flow activities).
c. Explaining how to improve relationships (e.g., ACR or active constructive responding).
d. Discussing how to increase meaning (e.g., altruism, service learning).
e. Examining pathways to accomplishment (e.g., grit, hope).
f. Discussing how an optimistic explanatory style is related to increased resilience and other positive outcomes.
g. Characterizing emotionally resilient people (e.g., self-efficacy, perseverance).

2.3: Distinguish between effective and ineffective means of dealing with stressors and other health issues.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Describing how cognitive restructuring can be used to reduce stress levels.
b. Comparing and contrasting defensive and constructive coping.
c. Providing examples of constructive coping.

Content Standards

After concluding this unit, students understand:

  1. Career options.
  2. Educational requirements.
  3. Vocational applications of psychological science.

Content Standards with Performance Standards

Content Standard 1: Career options

Students are able to (performance standards):

1.1: Identify careers in psychological science and practice.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Differentiating between the roles of practitioners and researchers in psychology.
b. Participating in a psychology careers awareness program (teachers can invite psychologists from the community to familiarize students with educational requirements, etc.).
c. Researching career and specialty options in psychology.
d. Interviewing psychologists working in various fields.
e. Investigating the interdisciplinary nature of psychology careers.
f. Exploring the variety of careers listed by professional psychological organizations (e.g. the American Psychological Association and Association for Psychological Science).

1.2: Identify careers related to psychology.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Researching careers related to psychology, such as counseling and therapy, teaching, advertising and public relations.
b. Describing how careers such as counseling and therapy, teaching, advertising and public relations are related to psychology.

Content Standard 2: Educational requirements

Students are able to (performance standards): 

2.1: Identify degree requirements for psychologists and psychology-related careers.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Differentiating between the requirements for a PhD and a PsyD.
b. Identifying the career options that are possible with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
c. Identifying the career options that are possible with a master’s degree in psychology.

2.2: Identify resources to help select psychology programs for further study.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Researching professional organizations for students, such as APA (American Psychological Association) and APS (Association for Psychological Science).
b. Identifying individuals (e.g., school counselors, departmental faculty) who might be sources of information regarding further study in psychology.

Content Standard 3: Vocational applications of psychological science

Students are able to (performance standards):

3.1: Discuss ways in which psychological science addresses domestic and global issues.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Creating a research project to investigate how psychology can contribute to solving a specific domestic or global issue.
b. Reading journals related to psychological topics.
c. Relating current events to psychological concepts.
d. Implementing a service-learning project in the local community that utilizes psychological science to address a problem or improve quality of life.

3.2: Identify careers in psychological science that have evolved as a result of domestic and global issues.
Students may indicate this by (performance indicators):

a. Describing how industrial/organizational (I/O) and human factors psychologists have responded to issues and problems in business and community.
b. Discussing the new specialties emerging within the field of psychology (e.g., environmental psychology, gaming, behavioral economics).
c. Discussing career opportunities in areas such as geropsychology and military psychology.

  • Nancy Fenton.
  • Geri Acquard.
  • Marisa Del Savio.
  • Faye Johnson.
  • Carlos Montalvan.
  • Marie Smith.
  • Joe Swope.
  • Randy Ernst.
  • Rob McEntarffer.
Last updated: 2015Date created: 2014

More About Standards