AP Psychology Nutshell Review Part 1

wilhelm wundt

creater of psychology

structuralism

wundt created the field of \___, believing that to study a particular behavior, you need to break it down into distinct parts

ag stanley hall

created first psychlogy lab in america; founded american psychological association

william james

founder of functionalist school; believed human mental abilities key to survival

sir francis drake

key founder of psychology who said behavior is inherited

gestalt

key founder of psychology, created german school of thought that looked at the entire behavior

sigmund freud (psychoanalytic)

key founder of psychology: people are generally bad, but able to hide it from others/themselves; unconscious urges drive conscious behavior

what's more important: investigating the basic elements of psychology (structuralism) or its purpose (functionalism)?

first major controversy in psychology

edward titchener

structuralism, introspection

william james

founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

functionalism

a school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish; influenced applied psychology and behaviorism

behaviorism

the belief that our actions are influenced by the environment we are in

john watson and bf skinner

founders of behaviorism

humanism

people are good and seek to be their best selves

psychologists \= PhD, cannot describe medicine; psychiatrists \= MD, prescribe medicine

what's the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists?

scientific method

psychology is a science, so it uses the \___ \___ to determine cause/effect relationships

researcher gathers data through non-experimental methods that appear to indicate the possible existence of a cause and effect relationship

step one of the experimental process

hawthorne effect

key issue of step 1 of experimental process; researchers need to be aware that a person may alter their behavior if they believe/know they are being watched

researcher forms a hypothesis

step two of the experimental process

experimental hypothesis

a cause and effect relationship exists

null hypothesis

no cause and effect relationship exists

determine the independent and dependent variables

step three of the experimental process

independent variable

the factor that the researcher believes will have a statistically significant impact on the dependent variable

dependent variable

the results

independent variable

all experiments must have at least one \___ \___

find subjects for the experiment and split them up through random selection

step four of the experimental process

experimental group

receives the independent variable

control group

does not receive the independent variable

population study

research conducted on the entire group

sample

small segment of the population; used in research when populations are too big/unwieldy to study

representative

in selecting groups for the experiment, scientists hope that the groups are \___ of the population

confounding variable

factors that account for differences between research groups outside of the impact of the independent variable

independent variable

in a properly conducted experiment, the groups should reflect one another except for the appearance of the \___ \___

repeated

experiments must be \____

theory

related hypotheses unite to form a \___

fraud, ethics (do no harm), subject pool, placebo effect, double-blind experiments, bias

issues in experimentation

subject

issues in experimentation: does it reflect the society at large?

placebo effect

experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent.

double-blind experiments

where neither the subject nor experimenters know which group the subjet is in

bias

when humans are involved in research, they may accidentally/purposely affect the results due to prejudices/conflicts of interest

neutral

scientific research is supposed to be \___

hindsight, confirmation, experimenter, social desirability

types of bias

confirmation bias

focus on results that affirm preexisting beliefs

experimenter bias

conscious/unconscious leading of subjects to desired results

social desirability bias

subjects perform as society expects, not as they truly desire

case study

intense study of an individual behavioral issue; often done with highly unusual behaviors, or for a detailed study of a more common problem

genie, synesthesia, multiple personality disorder/schizophrenia

examples of case studies/behavioral issues studied in a case study

longitudinal study

researchers follow a group of people for a period of years (or decades) to study an aspect of their behavior

framingham heart study, hiroshima, national children's study

examples of longitudinal studies

survey

researchers question subjects on certain issues of interest

milgram study

yale social psychology experiments that measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. (teacher administered shocks to a learner)

MK Ultra

CIA program carried out with possibility of using LSD as psychological weapon

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Research study conducted by a branch of the U.S. government, lasting for roughly 50 years (ending in the 1970s), in which a sample of African American men diagnosed with syphilis were deliberately left untreated, without their knowledge, to learn about the lifetime course of the disease.

milgram, mk-ultra, tuskegee syphilis study

experiments that seriously were not ethical!!!!

framingham heart study

a large epidemiologic study begun in the 1940s designed to assess the relationship between lifestyle factors and risk for heart disease

national children's study

designed to follow 100,000 children from before birth to age 21; aimed to understand effects of children's genes and environment on their physical and mental health and development

correlational studies

researchers look to see if there is a connection between two or more things

no

does correlation equal causation?

experimental method

must be used to prove cause/effect relationship

positive correlation

increase in X is related with an increase in Y

negative correlation

increase in X is related to a decrease in Y

mean

sum of scores within a group divided by the number of scores

median

midpoint of the range of scores

mode

most frequent score in a set of scores; can have more than one number

statistical significance

the likelihood that the difference between the experimental group and the control group is due to the independent variable, and not to change

p\=0.05

there is no more than a 5% change that the research findings obtained were due to chance

standard deviation

the average distance of each score in a data set from the mean

consciousness

a person's awareness of the world around him/her

altered state of consciousness

if consciousness varies to the point that it considerably varies from the norm

circadian rhythm

the cycle of wake and sleep; the biological clock

melatonin

chemical that plays a key role in the regulation of sleep/wake cycles

hallucinations and death

what occurs if people don't sleep?

age

sleep needs vary with \___

one

most dreaming takes place in what stage of sleep?

four

how many stages of sleep are there?

REM

some separate this into a different stage of sleep

sleep apnea

interruption of breathing during sleep; person afflicted will snore because their windpipe is blocked, which causes the person to wake up repeatedly through the sleep cycle; can be fatal

insomnia

inability to sleep; linked with anxiety and/or depression

narcolepsy

the immediate falling to sleep (often REM) from wake

somnambulism

sleepwalking; occurs in NREM sleep (any stage); can be very dangerous

somniloquy

sleeptalking; occurs in NREM sleep (any stage)

night terrors

occurs during stage 4 sleep (not REM); features fear-producing episodes combined with movement of the person affected; associated with younger people; NOT the same as nightmares

lucid dreaming

active awareness of dreaming; may lessen the number/impact of nightmares

rapid eye movement, sexual arousal, paralysis

what REM state sleep means (three things)

REM sleep disorder

people are able to move during REM and can act out during REM dreams; can be very dangerous

parietal lobe

where dreams take place, unless you have brain damage

REM and NREM

when do dreams occur?

positive, negative

NREM dreams are associated with \___ emotions, while REM dreams are associated with \___ emotions

real time

dreams occur in \___ \___

freudian dream theory

dreams are symbolic and indicate a pathway into a person's true self; dreams are the processing of the unconscious mind

activation-synthesis theory

dreams are composed of bizarre combinations of a person's working memory; no symbolism

continual-activation theory

during sleep, information is stored into long-term memory; dreams are a byproduct (waste) of the storage process (what really matters)

neurogenesis

the formation of new neurons; fostered in REM sleep

drug

any substance that changes a person's behavior

psychoactive

drugs taken for recreational purposes

therapeutic

drugs taken for health benefits

stimulants

drugs that accelerate the brain and body; caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamines

depressants

drugs that slow down the brain and body; alcohol, barbiturates, morphine, opium

opiates

depressants that are painkillers

sedatives

depressants that make the user drowsy