AP PSYCH Unit 1

structuralism

a theory of consciousness that seeks to analyze the elements of mental experiences, such as sensations, mental images, and feelings, and how they combine

functionalism

explores how mental and behavioral process function, mainly how they enable organisms to adapt, survive, and flourish

psychoanalyitic

emphasizes unconscious mental processes

behavorial perspective

how we learn observable responses

biophysocial perspective observation

analysis of the impact of biological, pyschological, and socio-cultural factors

clinical psychologists

a branch that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

psychiatrist

deal with patients who have psychological disorders, sometimes providing medicinal treatments as well as therepy

critical thinking

thinking that uses resources, information, and data before reaching a conclusion

theory

an explanation using an integrated set of principales that organizes and predicts behaviors or events

hypothesis

a testable prediction

operational definition

a statement of the procedures used in a study

replication

repeating a research study with different people in different situations, to see if the basic findings spread across all experiments

random sample

a sample taken from a population where each member has equal value

correlation coefficent

a statistical index of the relationship between two things

scatterplot

a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables

confounding principal

a factor other than the indepent variable that may produce an effect on the experiment

mode

the most occuring score in the data

mean

average of data

nature-nurture issue

controversy over the contributions that genes and experiece make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors

psychodynamic

how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

bioloigcal perspective (neuroscience)

how our brains and bodies enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences, and how new genes combine with the environment to influence individual differences

evolutionary perspective

how the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes

cognitive perspective

how we recieve, process, store, and retrieve information

socio-cultural perspective

how behavior and thinking varies across cultures

humanistic psychology

draws attention to ways that current enviornmental influences can nurture or limit our growth potential, and to the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have forseen it

case study

a study where one individual or group is studied in depth to reveal what is studied for

survey

look at many cases at once in less depth and sometimes includes random sample

popualtion

all those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn

correlation

how closely two things vary together or how one predicts the others

illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship where none exists

experiment

an investigator manipulates 1 or more factors to observe the effect on behavior or mental porcesses

random assignment

randomly assigning participants to experimental and control groups

double-blind procedure

an experiment where participants and researchers are "blind" about the participants who have recieved treatment

placebo effect

the experimental results are caused by expectations; any effect on behavior caused by administration which they assume is an active agent

experimental group

the group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested

control group

the group that does not receive the experimental treatment.

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

dependent variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

median

the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it

range

the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution

informed consent

an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

debriefing

the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants

introspection

examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

Wilhelm Wundt

set up the frist psychological labaratory in an apartment and trained subjects in introspection

who published The Principales of Psychology (1st textbook)?

William James

William James examined. . .

how these structures Wundt identified function in our lives and his theory is functionalism

Mary Whiton Calkins

studied with James and became president of American Psychological Assocation

Margert Floy Washburn

was the 1st woman to earn a pHD in psychology

G. Stanley

pioneered the study of child development and the 1st president of the American Psychological Association

Gestalt Psychology

a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts

Gestalt tried to examine. . .

a person's total experience cause the way we experience the world is more than just an accumulation of various perceptual experiences

Sigmund Freud

revolutionized psychology with his psychoanalyisis theory

what did Frued believe?

he believed that he uncovered the unconscious mind

unconsious mind

a part of our mind over which we don't have consious control that determines how we think and behave

John B Watson

observable behavior

what did Watson declare from his research?

he declared that for psychology to be considered a science, it must limit itself to observable phenomena, not unobservable

what do humanists stress

free will and individual choice

what do humanists believe most of our behaviors and choices are guided by?

psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs

psychoanalytic perspective believes

that the unconsious mind controls much of thought & action and would look for impulses pushed into unconsious mind through repression

biopsychology perspective explains thought and behavior in. .

terms of biological processes and human cognition and reactions are caused by the effect of genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters (can be a combo of all 3)

evolutionary perspective believes that

traits that have advantages are passed down

biophysocial perspective agree with the influence of how we remember and interpret events, but. . .

points out that biological and social influences are equally responsible for our decisions

how many waves are there

5

what are the 7 perspectives?

1. humanist
2. psychoanalytic
3. biological
4. evolutionary
5. behavioral
6. cognitive
7. socio-cultural

what is the goal of scientific research?

to predict what will happen in advance

why do we conduct research?

to solve practical problems

applied research

the scientific study and research that seeks to solve practical problems

basic research

explores questions that are of interest to psychologists but aren't intended to have immediate, real-world applications

process by which participants are selected

sampling

stratified sampling

is a process that allows a reasearcher to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria

field experiment

conducted out in the word, REALISTIC

what is a lab's main advantage

controlled

participant-relevant confounding variables

when groups are not randomly assigned during an experiment; increases the chance of participants in the two groups differ in any meaningful way

group matching

control for individual difference by matching similar subjects or groups with each other

single blind

occurs when only participants don't know which group they are assigned

hawthorne effect

merely selecting a group of people on whom to experiment has been determined to affect the performance of that group, regardless of what is done to individuals

counterbalancing

sometimes using participants as their own control group is possible

order effects

different orders in which the questions are presented may infleunce respondant's answers

ex post facto study

a type of design that contrasts groups of people who differ on some variable of interest to the researcher

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

which can perscribe medications and is a medical doctor

psychiatrist

which cannot percribe meds

psychologist

3 things that block critical thinking

1. hindsight bias
2. overconfidence
3. perceiving patterns in random events

random sequences don't often. . .

look random

methods for searching

1. descriptive
2. correlational
3. experimental

3 types of descriptive research

1. naturalistic observations
2. case study

what is naturalistic observations weakness?

An independent variable is not isolated, subjective, can't determine cause and effect

case study weaknesses

misleading, can't be generalied, can't determine cause and effect

surveys weaknesses

response bias, wording effects can skew outcomes, aquiring random samples are difficult, can't determine cause and effect

correlational research

relationship between 2 variables but does NOT prove causation

positive correlation

direct relationship

negative correlation

inverse relationship

correlation does NOT equal

causation

extraneous varibles

factors that affect dependent variables that aren't the inepdent variable

descriptive statistics

simply describe a set of data

frequency distribution

a graph or data set orgaznied to show the frequency of occurrence of each possible outcome of a repeatable event observed many times

central tendency

a summary measure that attempts to describe a whole set of data with a single value that represents the middle of distribution

outliers

distort the data

positively skewed

a distribution that trails off to the right