AP Psychology - 1.1-1.5

Research Design

The method chosen by psychologists to study a topic, such as case study, survey, or naturalistic observation, based on various factors like time and ethics.

Ethics

A system of moral standards that guide proper and responsible behavior in research.

Ethical Considerations

Important factors in psychology that influence how information is gathered and discovered, focusing on the well-being of participants.

Harm

The expectation that researchers should take measures to protect participants from physical or psychological harm during studies.

Institutional Review

A set of US federal rules and regulations that oversee research involving human or animal subjects to ensure ethical and scientific standards are met.

Confidentiality

The principle of keeping participant information secret and not disclosing it without consent.

Informed Consent

The process by which a participant agrees to take part in research after being informed about the study's purpose, nature, and potential risks.

Informed Assent

Agreement from individuals who cannot provide informed consent (like minors or cognitively impaired individuals) to participate in research, acknowledging they may not fully understand the implications.

Confederate

An individual who acts as a participant in a study but is actually part of the research team, helping to create specific conditions for the experiment.

Debriefing

The process that occurs after a study where participants are given complete information about the study, including any deception that was used during the research.

Correlation

 a measure of the extent in which two factors vary together, and thus how well either one predicts the other

Why should we be careful with correlations?

• They are not always accurate

• Many factors/variables (environmental) contribute to making something happen

• Correlation does not prove causation…

Variables

measurable factors that change in an experiment; anything that can vary

Independent variable

a condition in a scientific study that is manipulated so that its effect may be observed

Confounding variable

a factor other than the factor being studied, influencing a study's results (aka Third variable)

What can limit confounding variables?

By randomly assigning participants to experimental and control groups, it helps to limit the effects of confounding variables

Directionality problem

a problem that occurs with two variables, where it is unclear which is cause and which is effect

Experiment

a research method that seeks to observe cause and effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors

• Subjects are given a treatment and observed carefully to determine if there is a difference in behavior

Operational definition

a specification of how a particular variable will be quantified and measured

• Often, operationalization involves taking an abstract/vague concept that can't be directly measured and finding a measurable way to indirectly indicate it

An experiment may require the researcher to identify a specific population

(group of interest to be studied)

The people/animals being observed are referred to as a sample

 a segment of the population used in a study/experiment

Representative sample

the degree to which a sample reflects a fair/diverse characteristic of the population being studied; AKA stratified sample

Convenience sampling

subjects are selected for sample participation because they are the easiest for a research to access (proximity/time/expense/willingness factors)

Sampling bias

the sample does not accurately represent the population, thus skewing results

How can you ensure representative samples? What happens when results aren’t random/representative?

• Random sampling. This allows results to be generalized (extended to the population).

• they can only be extended to those people or people similar to them

What do larger sample sizes increase?

accuracy

Experimental group

participants receive a treatment ( the independent variable) in an experiment

Control group

participants who don’t receive the experimental treatment but for whom all other conditions are comparable to those of experimental subjects; used as a comparison for evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment

Placebo

a bogus treatment that has the appearance of being genuine

Placebo effect

results caused by expectation that the substance or condition is real/active

• There may be more than one control group in a study

  • One group may receive the bogus fake treatment

  • Another may receive no treatment at all - study placebo effect

Single-blind study

participants don't know whether they are in the control or experimental group

 

Double-blind study

both participants and experimenters are unaware of who receives the treatment

• The double-blind study may eliminate experimenter bias(treating the controls & experimental groups differently to increase the chance of getting desired results in study)

Qualitative

Collects and evaluates descriptive data (such as words) to understand thoughts, feelings, attitudes, etc.

• Why? Questions

Quantitative

Collects and evaluates numerical data to understand effect/relationship

• How many/much? Questions

Likert Scales

 Provide quantitative data about qualitative aspects such as attitudes!

Psychology

scientific study of the behaviour and mental processes of humans and animals

Cognition

how the mind processes and retains information; “think’

Behaviour

refers to almost any activity that can be observed or measured

Introspection

an objective approach to describing one’s mental content; looking inward to observe one's own psychological process

What did John Locke do in 1689?

 wrote an essay entitled An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

What did John Locke argue in his essay?

the mind at birth is a tabula rasa (blank slate) on which experiences are written.

What year do most historians note as the birth of psychology as a science?

1879

Who established the first psychological laboratory?

Wilhelm Wundt

What did Wundt and his two assistants measure?

the time lag between when people heard a ball hit a platform and when they pressed the key of a telegraph machine

What was Wundt named?

‘the father of psychology”

What happened shortly after Wundt’s experiments?

this new science of Psychology became organized into different branches, or schools of thought

Who founded structuralism?

Wilhelm Wundt (and his student Edward Titchener)

What did structuralism attempt to do?

define the makeup of conscious experience by dividing it into 3 basic elements

What are the 3 basic elements of structuralism?

• Sensations - sight, taste, smell, etc. (objective = real)

• Feelings - emotional responses (subjective = personal; of the mind)

• Mental images - memories and dreams

What are the problems with structuralism?

results are personal -- they vary from person to person and experience to experience

Who founded Functionalism?

William James

What did Functionalism propose? What was James famous for? Fell out of favor but came back as what?

• Proposed that more adaptive behavior patterns are learned and maintained while less adaptive patterns tend to discontinue

• James is also famous for authoring the first Psychology textbook Principles of Psychology (1890)

• This school of thought soon fell into disfavor, but re-surfaced in the later 20th century as evolutionary psychology

Who founded Behaviorism?

John B. Watson

What did Behaviorism define psychology as? Years?

• Defines 'Psychology' as the objective study of observable behavior and the study of relationships between stimuli and responses, without reference to mental processes

  • In the 1920s, behaviorism began to overpower introspection, and remained the model of psychology until the 1960s

Stimuli

a feature in the environment that is detected and leads to a change in behavior; triggers a response

Response

a movement or observable reaction to a stimulus

Reinforcement

a stimulus that follows a response and increases the frequency of the response

Who founded Gestalt Psychology?

Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler

What did Gestalt Psychology emphasize?

• Emphasizes the tendency to organize perceptions into wholes (greater than the sum of its parts).

Insight

the sudden reorganization of perceptions allowing the sudden solution of a problem

Who founded Psychoanalytic Psychology?

Sigmund Freud

What does Psychoanalytic (Freudian) Psychology emphasize? What the contemporary approach to Freud’s theory called?

• Emphasized the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior

• The contemporary approach using Freud’s theory is referred to as psychodynamic thinking - the notion that underlying forces of personality determine our thoughts, feelings, and behavior

Who founded Humanistic Psychology?

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

What does Humanistic Psychology state?

Says people are motivated by the conscious desire for personal growth

Name the six schools of psychology.

Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, Psychoanalytic Psychology, & Humanistic Psychology.

Eclecticism

the process of making your own system by borrowing from two or more perspectives

The Biopsychosocial Perspective

(What does it combine? What does it say?)

• Combines three major facets of and individual

  • Biology

  • Psychology

  • Socio-cultural Interactions

• Says not only can mind and body influence social interactions, a persons social interactions can influence mind and body.

The Behavioral Perspective

• Focuses on studying observable behavior and the principles of learning

The Biological Perspective

(Emphasis and study)

• Emphasizes behavior as a product of biological responses…made possible by the nervous system, the brain, is involved in a particular behavioral process

• Studies the influence of genes on personality traits, psychological health, and various behavior patterns

The Cognitive Perspective:

• Focuses on the role of thinking in deterring behavior

The Evolutionary Perspective

• Focuses on the evolution of social behavior and mental processes

The Humanistic Perspective

(Views in general and thoughts on personal experiences)

• Views behavior as reflection of self-awareness, including personal goals and internal growth

• Humanists consider personal experiences to be the most important aspect of psychology

The Psychodynamic Perspective

(Views and what psychodynamic psychologists try to understand)

• Views the individual as a product of both conscious and unconscious forces

• Psychodynamic psychologists try to understand what kinds of perception, thinking, and memory go on below our level of awareness

The Sociocultural Perspective

(View and result)

• View behavior as influenced by rules and expectations of social groups or cultures

• Because of this, cultural values vary from society to society

What is the difference between a psychiatrist and psychologist?

• They both focus on mental/behavioral health, but differ on training and treatment approaches

  • Psychiatrists are medical doctors who can prescribe drugs

  • Psychologists can develop treatments plans, but CAN NOT prescribe drugs

Name the eight perspectives of psychology.

Biopsychosocial Perspective, Behavioral Perspective, Biological Perspective, The Cognitive Perspective, Evolutionary Perspective, Humanistic Perspective, Psychodynamic Perspective, & Sociocultural Perspective.

Hindsight bias

viewing an event as more predictable than it really is; "I knew it all along"

Self-fulfilling prophecy

prediction that results in behavior that makes the prediction come true

What is the first step of the Scientific Method?

Identify a Research Question

Research questions are best directed at observable behavior, because it can be measured directly

What is the second step of the Scientific Method?

State the hypothesis of the research scenario

A prediction about behavior that is tested through research

What is the third step of the Scientific Method?

Testing the hypothesis

Use carefully controlled methods of observation

Must be testable and falsifiable

What is the fourth step of the Scientific Method?

Analyze Results

Look for patterns or relationships in the data

What is the fifth step of the Scientific Method?

Replication

For findings to be confirmed, the study must be repeated and the same results must be produced

Meta-Analysis:

• A procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

Case-study Method:

• A carefully detailed/in-depth investigation of an individual or small group

Naturalistic - Observation (Field Study):

• Organisms are observed in their natural environments

Survey Method:

• A method of scientific investigation in which a large sample of people is questioned about their attitudes or behavior

  • Information may not be reliable because people may not be honest in their responses

self-report bias

Asking people about their thoughts/feelings/behaviors as opposed to directly observing and measuring them

Social desirability bias

The tendency for respondents to answer questions in a manner that would be viewed as favorable by others

Longitudinal Method:

• Observing selected participants over a long period of time (usually at periodic intervals)

  • These studies are extremely time-consuming and often expensive, scientists tend to use other methods

Cross-Sectional Method:

• Instead of following a group over a number of years, researchers select a sample that includes people of different ages and then compare behavior

  • This information is less reliable

What are the six forms of Non-Experimental Methodology?

Meta-Analysis, Case-Study Method, Naturalistic Observation (Field Study), Survey Method, Longitudinal Method, & Cross-sectional Method .

Laboratory-Observation:

Takes place in a laboratory - a place in which theories, techniques, and methods are tested and demonstrated

A Study or Experiment:

Takes place using independent variables(s) and random assignment of groups

What are the two forms of Experimental Methodology?

Laboratory Observation or A Study/Experiment