Studied by 13 people
Behavioral Psych.
How we learn observable responses through experience and outside influences
Biological Psych.
How the body and the brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experience
Cognitive Psych.
How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information (brain activity)
Evolutionary Psych.
How to natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes (involves human survival + genetically predisposed)
Humanistic Psych.
How we achieve personal self-growth & fulfillment
Psychodynamic Psych.
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and childhood experiences “and how to use this information to treat psychological disorders”
Social-Cultural Pscyh.
How situations and culture affect our behavior and thinking (sometimes on each other)
Empiricism
The idea that knowledge comes from experience, and that observation allow a person to develop knowledge (Bacon & Locke)
Structuralism
Understanding the brain’s structure through Introspection (unreliable) (Edward B. Titchener)
Functionalism
How mental processes function and allow humans to survive, adapt and flourish (applies on a mass scale) (William James)
Behaviorism
Psychology should only be about behavior, “you should study stuff that you can measure and observe” (Took over Psych 4 a period) (Watson & Skinner)
Freudian Psychology (Psychoanalytic)
The influence of the unconscious mind; The impact of childhood experiences on a persons behavior (Sigmund Freud)
Humanistic Psychology
Emphasized the potential for human growth (who are you currently, what do you need to grow) (Naslow + Rogers)
Socrates and Plato [PSP]
Knowledge is innate (born within us), the mind continues after the body dies
Aristotle [PSP}
Big on observations. Knowledge is not pre-existing, it grows from our experiences.
Rene Descartes [PSP]
Understood nerve pathways are important, but thought that animal spirits flowed through them!
Francis Bacon [PSP]
The human mind needs to look for patterns even in random events
John Locke [PSP] = Empiricism
The mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) informed by experiences
Wilhelm Wundt
Established the first psychology laboratory
William James
Wrote the 1st psychology textbook, Principles of Psychology
Big Debate
Nature vs. Nurture
Operational Definition
Carefully worded statements about the procedures used in the study (should allow for the theory to be replicated based on the info)
Case Study (Descriptive Research Method)
examines one individual or group in depth in the hopes of revealing things that are universal about the population
Naturalistic Observation
Records behavior in natural environments/settings, without interfering or controlling by the researchers
Survey
look at many cases in less depth (use a representative random sample)
Random Sample
Each member of the group has an equal chance of participating
Sampling Bias
 when an unrepresentative sample is used which leads to the survey’s results being flawed.
Experiment
Investigator manipulates and isolates the independent variable to see the effect on the dependent variable
Independent Varible
factor that is being manipulated
Dependent Variable
The outcome as a result of the independent variable
Confounding Variable
Another factor that can affect the outcome of the experiment
The Experimental Group
Participants who are exposed to the independent variable
Control Group
Do not get exposed to the variable
Random Assigment
Participants are randomly assigned to the two groups, in order to equalize them
Placebo Effect
Participants’ expectations; given a fake treatment and they end up having a reaction
Double-Blind Procedure
Researchers and participants are ignorant about whether the participants have received the treatment or placebo
Validity
Weather the experiment tested what it was supposed to test
Correlation
The extent to which two variables change each other
Correlation Coefficient
The statistical index of the relationship between two variables (closer to -1.0 to -1.0 mean strong correlation)
Positive Correlation
Two sets of variables rise or fall together 
Negative Correlation
one variable goes up, the other goes down
Scatter Plots
A graphed cluster of dots used to reveal patterns of correlation
illusory Correlation
We think there is a relationship where none exists.
Descriptive Statistics
 Includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation.
Central Tendency
Single score that represents a whole set.
Mode = most frequently occurring score,
Mean= arithmetic average,
Median= middle score
Measures of Variation
How diverse the data is
Range = gap between the highest and lowest score
Inferential Statistics
Data that allows us to generalize/infer the probability of something being true for a larger population
Statistical Significance
How likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance (If something is statistically significant, it did not occur by chance)
Standard Deviation
Shows how much the scores vary around the average score (forms a normal “bell” curve)
Note 
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