AP PSYCHOLOGY VOCAB — SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Gestalt Psychology

How the brain organizes and structures our perceptions of the world; we typically perceive organized patterns or wholes— NOT pieces

Behavioral Approach

John Watson: Only environments molds behavior; psychology should only study observable behaviors without references to mental processes

Operant Conditioning/Reinforcements

B.F. Skinner: Behavior is shaped by reinforcements and punishments

Classical Conditioning/Reinforcements

Ivan Pavlov: When person/animal associates specific stimulus with response; if a stimulus occurs before another, personal/animal may associate it with the response

Biological/Neurobiological Approach

How genetics, hormones, brain structures, etc. influence a person’s thinking and behavior

Examples: bad eyesight, ADHD, fight or flight response

Cognitive Approach

How we process, perceive, store, and recall info (memory); language developments and use, decision-making, and learning are observed

Examples: study methods, underdeveloped language, dyslexia

Humanistic Approach

How people pursue their goals that give their lives a sense of meaning and purpose; focuses on need for love, acceptance, and self-fulfillment

Examples: happiness with friends, acceptance from them

Socio-Cultural Approach

Study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking

Examples: cultural punishment, being in the wrong crowd, parents fighting

Evolutionary Approach

Behavior reflects inherited pre-dispositions or tendencies that increase the likelihood of ancestor’s survival; traits passed down for survival and reproduction

Darwin’s natural selection: traits can influence animal structures and behaviors

Psychodynamic Perspective

Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysts look for impulses/memories pushed into the unconscious mind through repression

Sigmund Freud

Developed the psychoanalytic theory

B.F. Skinner

A leading behaviorist who studied how rewards and consequences influence behavior, especially through his analysis of rodents in an electrified box

Ivan Pavlov

Studied classical conditioning experiments

Clinical Domain

Helps those with psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, etc.

Psychiatrist

• Medical doctor

• Can use drugs to treat

• Uses psychotherapy

Psychologist

• No medical degree

• Can’t prescribe drugs

• Uses psychotherapy

Counseling Domain

Helps those going through difficult times in life with coping strategies; doesn’t help with mental illnesses

Biological Domain

Studies how structures of the brain and human anatomy influence behavior and thought processes

Developmental Domain

How people change and grow in their lifetime; studies topics like changes in cognition, linguistics, motor or moral development, etc.

Educational Approach

How people learn and process information; for teachers implementing effective teaching

Experimental Domain

Researching spectrum of human behaviors, mental processes, orders, etc. to expand psychological scientific knowledge base

Industrial-Organizational Domain

How to maximize employee performance at work

Personality Domain

How it affects the way people navigate the world

Psychometric Domain

The creation and implementation of tests to study behavior and mental processes

Social Domain

How culture, religion, family, peers, income, and environment shape beliefs, goals, and behaviors

Positive Domain

Broadening the number of people that psychology helps to help them live their best life

Applied Research

• Scientific study that aims to solve or help people with specific problems

• Clinical, counseling, industrial-organizational, positive, educational domains

Basic Research

• Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

• Focuses on the big picture

• Biological, experimental, psychometric, social, cognitive, personality, and developmental domain

Stratified Sampling

Requires close to/equal amount of people in different groups; each subgroup is a “strata”, each one being grouped by a characteristic; once grouped, each subgroup is randomly sampled

Cross Sectional Study (Adj.)

A study of people with different ages compared to one another; results may not be accurate

Longitudinal Study (Adj.)

Research where the same period are restudied and retested over a long period of time; costs a lot of money

Scientific Method

• Question + Theory

• Hypothesis: If → Then statement

• Reliable Experiment

Reliable Experiment

Results can be replicated by someone else; experiments need to be written down with every single step taken with precise and detailedness for it to produce exact results

Operationalize

A definition of something in terms of the operations (procedures, actions, processes) which it can be observed and measured; if variables aren’t operationalized, the experiment can’t be replicated

Good Operational Definition:

• Amount

• Time/Duration

• Change

Validity

Extent of which a test/instrument measures what the researchers set out to measure; if inaccurate, conclusions can’t be drawn

Confounding Variable

An extraneous variable that impacts the variables studied so the results produced don’t reflect the actual relationship between independent and dependent variables

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes

Nature-Nurture Issue

The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors

Natural Selection

The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. AKA the l-knew-it-all-along phenomenon

Critical Thinking

Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

Theory

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations; something that’s already tested and researched

Hypothesis

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory that expresses a relationship between two variables

Replication

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances

Case Study

An observation technique in which a person or small group is studied in depth

Survey

A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them; people can skew the results

False Consensus Effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Population

All the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study; except for national studies, this does not refer to a country's whole population

Random Sample

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion; allows for generalization

Naturalistic Observation

Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation; DESCRIBES behavior, not study; can’t use surveys

Correlation Effect

A statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other

Does NOT equal to causation due to third variable problem, which only applies to correlational studies

Scatterplot

A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables; the slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two variables

The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation (little scatter indicates high correlation)

Illusory Correlation

The perception of a relationship where none exists

Experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable); by random assignment of participants, the experiment controls other relevant factors

Only this can prove cause and effect as it can

• Manipulate variables

• Control the setting

Downside: Can be too artificial and doesn’t always replicate real world

Double-Blind Procedure

An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo; commonly used in drug-evaluation studies

Placebo Effect

Experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which is assumed to be an active agent

Experimental Condition

The condition of an experiment that exposes participants to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable

Control Condition

The condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment

Random Assignment

Each participant has an equal chance of being placed into either experimental or control group so that comparisons can be made; helps eliminate confounding variables

Mode

The most frequently occurring score in a distribution

Statistical Significance

A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

Mean

The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores

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

Standard Deviation

Measure of spread; how close the values in a data set are to the mean

Culture

The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

Objective

Based on quantifiable things; facts

Subjective

Personal opinions, beliefs, assumptions

Empiricism

Knowledge stems from experience

Directionality Problem

When two variables correlate and might actually have a casual relationship, but it’s impossible to conclude which variable causes changes in the other

Falsifiability

Finding evidence that refutes the hypothesis; this makes a good hypothesis

Extraneous/Lurking Variable

Any variable not being investigated that has the potential to affect the outcome of a research study

Sampling Bias

Statistical error that occurs when the sample selected to collect data is NOT representative; can lead to inaccurate results and conclusions due to segments of the population being excluded

Convenience Sample

Researchers use subjects who are easy to contact for participation in their study; can’t generalize findings from this

Self-Report Bias

People not giving answers that are fully correct, either because they do not know the full answer or because they seek to make a good impression

Social Desirability Bias

Example: How often do you attend a religious service?

Frequency Distribution

Plotting how often certain pehnomena occur

Negatively Skewed

Measure of central tendency: Median

Normal (No Skew)

Measure of central tendency: Mean

Positively Skewed

Measure of central tendency: Median

Z-Scores

Measures the distance of a score from the mean in units of standard deviation

Percentile (Rank)

Indicates the % of scores that fall below a specific score

Z-Score of -3

0.13%

Z-Score of -2

2.28%

Z-Score of -1

15.87%

Z-Score of 0

50%

Z-Score of 1

84.13%

Z-Score of 2

97.72%

Z-Score of 3

99.87%

Single-Bind Experiment

Doesn’t disclose if people are in control/experimental group; prevents participant bias

Pseudo-Psychology

An approach to understanding or analyzing the mind or behavior that uses unscientific or fraudulent methods

Regression Toward the Mean

In any event where luck/chance is involved, extreme outcomes tend to be followed by more average ones (closer to the mean) the second time around

Descriptive Statistics

Organizing and summarizing data using…

• Measures of variability

  • Range, variance, and standard deviation

• Frequency distribution

  • How often something occurs

• Central tendency

  • Mean, median, mode

• Normal, positive, and negative distribution

Inferential Statistics

• Taking findings and “inferring” (generalizing) characteristics from your sample onto the population

• Uses probability to determine confidence of conclusions being correct

• Guaranteeing that a sample is 100% representative of a total population is IMPOSSIBLE due to sampling error

P < 0.5

Statistically significant

P > 0.5

NOT statistically significant

Effect Size

Magnitude of difference between the experimental and control group; practical significance

Practical Significance

Shows that the effect is large enough to be meaningful in the real world; effect size

Statistical Significance

There’s a high probability that the independent variable caused changes to the independent; results of study did not occur by chance