Scientific Foundation of Psych

Structuralism (Wundt)

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

Functionalism (James)

A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.

Psychoanalytic/dynamic

unconscious, childhood

Behavioral

learned, reinforced

Humanistic

free will, choice, ideal, actualization

Cognitive

perceptions, thoughts

Evolutionary

genes

Biological

Brain, NTs

Sociocultural

society

Biopsychosocial

Combination of biological, psychological, and social causes

Mary Calkins

First female president of the APA

Margaret Floy Washburn

first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology

Charles Darwin

natural selection and evolution

Dorothea Dix

Reformed mental institutions in U.S.

Stanley Hall

First president of the APA

Basic research

purpose is to increase knowledge (rats)

Applied research

purpose is to help people

Psychologist

research or counseling - MS or PhD

Psychiatrist

prescribe medications and diagnose - M.D.

EXPERIMENT- adv

researcher controls variables to establish cause and effect

EXPERIMENT- disadv

difficult to generalize

Independent Variable

variable that is manipulated

Experimental Group

received the treatment

Control Group

the group that does not receive the experimental treatment.

Placebo Effect

the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior

Dependent Variable

The measurable effect, outcome, or response in which the research is interested.

Double-Blind

when neither researchers nor participants are aware of who's in the experimental or control group

Single-Blind

only participant blind - used if experimenter can't be blind (gender, age, etc)

Quasi-experimental design

compares two groups that already exist in the population

Operational Definition

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study

Confound

error/flaw in study

Random Assignment

randomization. fair

Random Sample (selection)

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

Representative Sample

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

Stratified Sampling

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

CORRELATION-Adv

identify relationship between two variables

CORRELATION-Disadv

no cause and effect

Positive Correlation

both variables move in the same direction

Negative Correlation

as one variable increases, the other decreases

The stronger the \#

the stronger the relationship REGARDLESS of the pos/neg sign

Stronger relationships

tighter clusters on graph

3 rd variable problem (lurking variable)

different variable is responsible for relationship (breast implants and suicide)

Illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship where none exists

Social desirability

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

Wording effects

wording can change the results of a survey

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION-Adv

real world validity (observe people in their own setting)

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION-Disadv

no cause and effect

CASE STUDY-Adv

Studies ONE person (usually) in great detail - lots of info

CASE STUDY-Disadv

no cause and effect

DESCRIPTIVE STATS

shape of the data

Measures of Central Tendency

the ways of calculating averages

mean

average

Median

middle

Mode

most frequently occurring score

Skews

Created by outliers

Neg skew \= left skew

Pos skew \= right skew

INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

establishes significance (meaningfulness)

STATISTICAL SIGNIFANCE

results not due to chance

Confidentiality

Respecting the privacy of both parties and keeping details secret

Debriefing

the post-experimental explanation of a study

Deception

purposely misleading experiment participants in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment