AP Psych Unit 1

psycho dynamic perspective

what happened in the past to cause (a behavior now)

• emotional repression

• motives, past experiences

• a kid’s parents got divorced, causing commitment issues as an adult

• unconscious

behaviorism

objective, observable influences on behavior

• conditioning, punishment, reinforcement

• learned behaviors

• stimuli and response

• we don’t touch hot stoves more than once because we learned through experience to not do it again

humanistic

trying to reach our best selves

• believe in free will

• the hippie movement was all about love and positive feelings in order to become a better human

cognitive

thinking about thinking

• memories, thoughts

• information, mental processes

• being afraid of water after having a traumatic experience with water (thinking about that past expierence, not repressed)

biological

biological processes that explain behavior

• genes, nervous System, neuroscience, hormones

• When people experience emotions, certain parts of the brain are activated

• brain

evolutionary

Sense, thoughts, ect. that are hard wired into our brain through evolution

• adaption, survival, reproduction

• fight or flight

• We have a sense of smell because we used to be able to smell danger

• survival

sociocultural

How social interaction/expectations/ cultural influences impact our behavior

• gender, race, class

• People in a poorer environment experience less brain development than people in richer environments

• society

biopsychosocial

combines biological, psychology, and social

• provides a comprehensive understanding of behavior

• psychologist prescribes medicine, therapy to get to the root of the issue, and makes sure their patient is surrounding by good people

• 3 perspectives combined

psychology

the scientific study of mental processes and behavior

confirmation bias

people tend to look form interpret or remember information in a way that confirms what they already believe

• A friend who judges/ only looks for negatives in their friend’s relationship and when they break up that person’s belief that the relationship was bad is confirmed

• blinders (only see what you want to see)

hindsight bias

People believe they already knew something was going to happen after it has already happened

• When someone breaks up and I say I knew they were going to break up all along

• I knew it all along phenomenon

overconfidence

we tend to think we know more than we do

• almost all drivers consider themselves to be in the top 30% of drivers

• algebra 1 - took a test where I thought I knew everything and I didn’t

Empirical evidence

information that is obtained through observation, experimentation or measurement

• avoiding bias

• comparing how fertilizer effects plant growth, heights of flowers are empirical evidence

• data

scientific method

systematic approach to study human behavior and mental processes

• generates empirical evidence

• scientists create a hypothesis and then test it through experimentation in hopes of turning it into a theory

• a cycle

hypothesis

specific, testable prediction

• identifies relationship between variables

• based on existing observations/ research

• increased cell phone use is associated with increased levels of depression

• educated guess

falsifiable

can be tested and possibly proven false through observation

• has to be proven wrong for it to be falsifiable

• the hypothesis men have better reaction times was proven falsifiable because data collection was not valid

peer review

experts who review research before publication

• assesses validity, quality, reliability

replication

process of repeating a research study

• needs to be replicated to be valid

• an experiment about the attraction between electrons and protons should yield the same results when repeated

• repeat

reliability

a study is reliable if it produces consistent results when repeated

• measuring a cup of rice 3 times and getting the same amount each time = reliable

• RRR- repeated, reliable, results

validity

is it measuring what it needs to measured?

• testing efforts for money for grades (not valid —> how can effort be measured?)

• measuring weight with miscalibrated scales

the American Psychological Association (APA)

organization dedicated to advancing psychology

• promoting psychology application to increase human welfare

• created a book on all the different psychological disorders

research design (overall structure)

a blueprint for how you will answer a research question

• what you want to find out will impact how you will gather information

methodology (techniques)

tools and methods used to collect data

• surveys, interviews, questionnaires, etc.

quantitative data

number based information gathered from surveys, test, or experiments

• helps us understand patterns

qualitiative data

not numbers

• deeper insights

• observations

likert scales

measurement tool to assess people’s attitudes, opinions or perceptions

• indicates their level of agreement or disagreement

• - personality tests

structured interviews

pre-determined questions asked to all participants in the same order

• allows consistent data collection

• facilitates easy and accurate comparison

• fairness

• used when interviewing

• same

survey technique

when often random people answer questions

• self reported attitudes, opinions or behaviors

• random sample

• want to know how people feel

• questionnaire

wording effect

subtle changes in wording influences participants interpretation and therefore response

• could lead to inaccuracy

• different questions can provoke more emotional responses

Social desirability bias

the tendency of people to respond in a manner that conforms to social norms rather than being answered truthfully

• if a math teacher asks their student who their favorite teacher is

naturalistic observation

observing and recording in a natural environment

• no manipulation

• doesn’t impact human’s behavior

• Jane Goodall

case study

1 person or situation observed in depth

• in depth analysis

• trying to seek patterns and causes for behavior

• goal is to generalize but really can’t

• Genie Wiley

• deep dive

Hawthorne effect

the action of selecting individuals to participate in a study can impact their behavior and performance

• when the principal comes in to observe teachers and they act completely different

correlational research

scientific method to examine relationship between 2 or more variables

• NOT causation (only correlation/ association)

• are shoe size and height correlated?

• relationship

third variable problem

possibility that a 3rd variable may be influencing the relationship between the variables of interest

• ice cream sunburn (not correlated) (third variable is heat)

scatterplot

graph compromised of points generated by values of 2 variables

• amount of scatter indicates strength

• slope indicates direction

correlation coefficient

measure of the extent to which 2 factors are associated

• how well one predicts the other

• closer to 1 (+ or negative) = stronger relationship

• closer to 0= weaker

no correlation

when r=0

• no relationship

• the number of friends a teenager has and their favorite color

positive correlation

r= +1

• perfect positive relationship

• as one variable increases, the other variable increases

• as one variable decreases, the other decreases

negative correlation

r= -1

• perfect negative relationship

• inverse (as one increases, the other decreases

experimental method

research method used to investigate cause and effect relationships between variables

• isolates cause and effect

• backbone of science

• manipulated

independent variable

variable that the researcher manipulates in an experiment

• amount of fertilizer

• manipulated

dependent variable

the variable that is being observed and measured for changes

• the variable that always changes sunflower growth

• measured

confounding variable

any variable that has an unwanted influence in an experiment and bias the results

• amount of sun exposure

• unwanted

operational definition

specifies how a researcher will measure and manipulate variables

• defines abstract concepts

• ensures that experiments can be repeated

• happiness - how many times someone smiles

• has to be quantifiable

experimental group

group receiving treatment or exposed to the variable

control group

group not exposed to treatment/ variable

• comparison group

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance

• pulling names out of a fish bowl

placebo effect

when people believe they are getting the real treatment and experiencing it when they are not

• sugar pill

• confounding variable

• fake

experimental bias

researcher’s expectations or beliefs about the outcome of a study influences the results

• confirming own beliefs

• confounding variables

• clever Hans the horse

• what you seek is what you tweak

single blind study

participants are unaware of if they are in the control or experimental groups

• researchers are aware

double blind study

both the participants and researchers are unaware of who belongs to which group

placebo condition

a group will be given a placebo (control)

• sugar pill

sample

a subset of individuals selected form a larger population for study

representative sample

a sample that represents the population of interest

• have to consider race, gender, etc.

• mini me of the majority

random sample

ensures that each participant has an = opportunity to be included

• decreases bias

• increases generalizability

• name in a hat just like that

sample bias

when the sample is NOT representative of the larger population

• only polling a specific group

• excluding the average

generalizability

can the findings of a study on a sample be generalized/ applied to the larger population

• study on only GI students cannot be applied broadly to all HS students in America

statistics

a large amount of data that is collected

• making sense of the data

descriptive statistics

numerical measures used to describe characteristics of a distribution of data (mean, mode, unimodal, etc.)

• characteristics

inferential statistics

uses a sample to draw conclusions about a larger group

• a pharmaceutical company creates a pill for allergies but can’t test it on the global population who suffers from allergies so they test on a sample and then infer their success rates for the population

measures of central tendency

used to describe the central or average value

• mean, median, mode

mean

usual, average

median

middle value

mode

the numbers that appear the most

range

the largest value minus the smallest

• max - min

normal/ bell curve

when the majority of the data falls near the center of the distribution

regression to the mean

extreme scores tend to get closer to the average when measured again

• extreme behavior are not consistent over time

• - someone has a bad day and fails a test but the next time they get an 80% (normal)

positive skew

majority of the data clusters on the left side

• goes towards high values (tail)

• pulls the mean higher

negative skew

majority of data clusters on the right

• values go lower

• pulls mean down

standard deviation

measures how spread out or close together the data is

• higher = more spread out

• lower = less spread out

• deviation is the distance (from the mean)

percentile rank

indicates the percentage of scores in a distribution that are = or below a particular value

• SAT score in the 85th percentile —> scored above or equal to 85% of the nation

bimodal distribution

there are two high peaks

• data has 2 modes

• represents two distinct groups

statistical significance

If there is a difference observed between two groups

• measure of how much the relationship is due to chance

• less than .05 (5%) - there is a statistically significant difference (little possibility the difference is due to chance)

• p> 0.05 no statistical significance (due to chance)

effect sizes

evaluating the strength of a statistical claim

• larger the effect —> stronger the relationship

• smaller the effect —> weaker relationship

• impact

meta analysis

stats analysis of multiple research studies on the same topic to draw overall conclusions

• increases sample size

• different trials pool data to come to a generalizable conclusion

Institutional review Boards (IRB)

reviews ethics of experiments before it is conducted

• protects participants

• assesses ethics

• forgets no hidden risks

• evaluates experiments

Protect participants form harm

particpants can’t be placed at significant mental or physical risk

• no long term mental or physical issues

• allows temporary discomfort\

informed Consent

participants have to be made aware before and after

• has to be told information that is close enough to the truth

informed assent

applies to research involving minors or people with limited cognitive abilities

• unable to give consent

• have to ask guardian

confidentiality

no identities revealed (anonymous), protect privacy

• participants in studies are called subject 1, etc.

deception

purposefully misleads participants

• can only be used when necessary and sparingly

• researchers have to prove there are no negative long term effects

• use of confederates

confederates

people who are “in” on the experiment but are involved in the study

• guy getting shocked in the Milgram study

• undercover

debriefing

providing participants information about the truth of the study after

• reveals deception

• undoes stress

• treating participants with respect

• handling lingering questions

Big 5 research methods

experiment - manipulate something to see what happens (control, experimental, cause and effect)

correlation - relationships between variables

case study - researchers study one person/group in depth

naturalistic observation - watch behavior without interfering

meta analysis - researchers combine results from many studies

ethical guidelines

protection from harm

informed consent

informed assent

IRB must approve

confidentiality

debriefing