KYH AP Psych Study cards #2 (Perspectives)

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes.

Science

Based on research and the scientific method.

Behavior

Observable and measurable.

Mental Processes

Thinking, dreaming, not observable.

Stability vs. Change

Do one's personality traits last one's whole lifetime?

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

Is development continuous or distinct stages?

Nature vs. Nurture

Relative effects of biology and life experiences.

Goals of Psychology

Observe, Predict, Explain, Describe, Control.

Pre-Scientific Psychology

Curious about the world and behavior; blamed abnormal behavior on evil spirits.

Trepanations

Performed to 'release' evil spirits from the brain.

Ancient Egyptians

Believed that within each person was a smaller person, 'Ka' that controlled behavior.

Aristotle

Suggested that the soul is not separable from the body and knowledge grows from experience.

Socrates and Plato

Believed the mind was separate from the body and continued to exist after death.

Rene Descartes

Believed that the mind and the body were separated.

Francis Bacon

One of the founders of the experimental method and modern science.

John Locke

Held that the mind was a tabula rasa, or a 'blank sheet,' at birth.

Wilhelm Wundt

Studied elements of the mind through experiments; created the first Psychology Laboratory.

Structuralism

Find structure of the mind through introspection.

Functionalism

Asks what is the function of our thoughts/dreams/feelings.

William James

First American psychologist and founder of Functionalism.

Mary Whiton Calkins

Denied a Harvard Ph.D. despite outscoring all males; first female APA president.

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female psychology Ph.D. and second female APA President.

Dorothea Dix

Disturbed by treatment of the mentally ill; established asylums and advocated for reform.

Gestalt Psychology

The whole is different from the sum of its parts; integrates pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Stanley Hall

First American man to earn Ph.D. in Psychology.

First Psychology Laboratory

Opened the first psychology laboratory in U.S.

American Psychological Association

The largest organization of psychologists with more than 170,000 members worldwide.

British Psychological Society

Second largest organization of psychologists with nearly 60,000 members.

Psychological Perspectives

Method of classifying a collection of ideas also called 'schools of thought' or 'psychological approaches'.

Neuroscience Perspective

Focuses on how the physical body and brain create our emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.

Evolutionary Perspective

Focuses on Darwinism; we behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors.

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Perspective

Fathered by Sigmund Freud; our behavior comes from unconscious drives and conflicts.

Behavioral Perspective

How we learn through rewards, punishments, and observations.

Cognitive Perspective

Focuses on how we think and encode information.

Social-Cultural Perspective

Focuses on how your external culture affects your thinking and behavior.

Humanistic Perspective

Focuses on positive growth and seeks self-actualization.

Positive Psychology

Focuses on studying and promoting optimal human functioning.

Behavior Genetics

Focus on how behavior is affected by genes and the environment.

Biopsychosocial Perspective

Holistic approach considering biological, psychological, and social factors.

Biological Psychology

Explores the links between brain and mind.

Developmental Psychology

Studies changing abilities from womb to tomb.

Cognitive Psychology

Studies how we perceive, think, and solve problems.

Personality Psychology

Investigates our persistent traits.

Social Psychology

Explores how we view and affect one another.

Clinical Psychology

Studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders.

Counseling Psychology

Helps people cope with academic, vocational, and marital challenges.

Educational Psychology

Studies and helps individuals in school and educational settings.

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Studies and advises on behavior in the workplace.

Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry

Clinical psychologists (Ph.D.) treat with psychotherapy; psychiatrists (M.D.) use drugs and psychotherapy.

Replication

The action of repeating a study, using the same methods to see if the original results can be consistently reproduced.

Survey Technique

A research technique that involves the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to favor information that confirms existing beliefs.

Reliability

The consistency of a research study or measuring test.

Wording Effect

The effect that question phrasing and order have on survey data.

Validity

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

Social Desirability Bias

A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.

Naturalistic Observation

Observing subjects in their natural environment without manipulation or control by the researcher.

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs and judgments.

The American Psychological Association (APA)

A professional organization representing psychologists in the United States.

Case Study

An in-depth study of a single person, group, event, or community.

Empirical Evidence

Information acquired by observation or experimentation.

Quantitative Data

Information about quantities; that is, information that can be measured and written down with numbers.

Correlational Research

A type of non-experimental research method, which studies the relationship between two variables with the help of statistical analysis.

Scientific Method

A systematic approach to research where a problem is identified, relevant data is gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from these data, and the hypothesis is empirically tested.

Qualitative Data

Descriptive information, which often comes from interviews, focus groups, or artistic depictions such as photographs.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.

Third Variable Problem

A form of confounding in which a third variable leads to a mistaken causal relationship between two others.

Falsifiable

Capable of being disproved by experimental results.

Scatterplot

A graphical representation of the values of two variables for a set of data.

Likert Scales

A psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research.

Structured Interviews

A quantitative research method where the interviewer asks a set sequence of questions.

Peer Review

A process by which something proposed (as for research or publication) is evaluated by a group of experts in the appropriate field.

Correlation is NOT causation

Correlations predict.

Experimental Method

A method of research where the researcher manipulates one variable, and controls/randomizes the rest of the variables.

Single-Blind Study

A study in which the participants do not know whether they are in the control group or the experimental group but the researchers do.

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1).

Independent Variable

The variable that is manipulated or controlled by the researcher.

Dependent Variable

The variable that is tested and measured in an experiment.

Placebo Condition

A condition in which treatment is not administered but the subject believes that it is administered.

Confounding Variable

A variable that influences both the dependent variable and independent variable causing a spurious association.

Sample

A subset of individuals from a larger population, used to conduct research.

Operational Definitions

Specifically defining a variable in terms of how it is measured or manipulated in a study.

Representative Sample

A sample that accurately reflects the characteristics of the population as a whole.

Experimental Group

The group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested.

Random Sample

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

Control Group

The group in an experiment that does not receive the test variable.

Positive Correlation

A relationship between two variables in which both variables move in the same direction.

Correlation

A relationship between two variables in which both variables move in the same direction.

Sample Bias

A bias that occurs when a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population are less likely to be included than others.

Random Assignment

Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups.

Generalizability

The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized or extended to others.

Negative Correlation

A relationship between two variables in which the variables move in opposite directions.

Experimenter Bias

A process where the scientists performing the research influence the results, in order to portray a certain outcome.

Standard Deviation

A measure of the amount of variation or dispersion in a set of values.

Statistics

A branch of mathematics dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of masses of numerical data.

Mean

Add all numbers together and divide by the count of the numbers.

Percentile Rank

The percentage of scores in its frequency distribution that are equal to or lower than it.

Descriptive Statistics

Statistics that summarize the data collected in a study.

Median

Arrange numbers in order and find the middle number.