Unit 0 AP psych

mr. kunz pls let the test be easy :(

Psychology is 

the scientific study of animal and human behavior

Thought (cognition) + Action (measured behavior 

The ACE’S

Actions, Cognition, Emotions

Actions

observable

Cognition

Mind process

Emotions

“Feelings” and Moods

Describe

what simply exists in the world. Sometimes describing isn’t the goal.

predict

Guesses what will happen in the future

control

attempts to change behavior.

• hard to come out of a hole

• drugs are becoming more accessible and mixed

• the only person you can change is yourself

when you hear horses, don’t look for zebras

dont look for the complicated look for the simple

Confirmation Bias

Finding evidence to confirm our existing beliefs

climate= mood weather= personality

the tendency to search for evidence that supports our beliefs and ignore the contradicting evidence. People exhibiting are motivated by wishful thinking.

group think

where individuals within a group prioritize consensus and harmony over critical thinking. Leads to irrational or dysfunctional decision making

Ingroup Bias

where individuals show favoritism towards members of their own group. While exhibiting prejudice against those outside their group.

Hindsight Bias

the tendency, once the outcome is known, to believe. (“I knew it all along”)

Embodies a combo of memory distortion, false beliefs about objective like likelihoods, and subjective beliefs about one’s own prediction abilities

expecting bias 

the experimenter effect. The researcher allows his or her expectations to affect the outcome of the study. What your expect pushes or shapes the end result. Often the influence as factor that confounds the independent variable. 

False consensus 

the tendency to overestimate the percentage of people who share our beliefs and opinions researchers have identified why this had happened so commonly. 

we try and match our friends and families beliefs. we boost our own self-esteem by finding support and agreement with our own beliefs.

Publication Bias

A concern to current professional publications and journals. When studies exclude or fail to report the negative or counter-hypothetical data, it is withheld from reports, resulting in errors or analysis or false claims of results

(Actor) Observer bias

the tendency to attribute one’s own actions to external causes, while attributing other people’s behavior to internal causes.

Cognitive dissonance 

New information contradicting our existing beliefs

Dunning- Kruger effect

Thinking we know more than we do, or we underestimate what we do know

independent

being manipulated in the experiment

dependent

measured in an experiment

experiment

test behavioral effects of one or more variables

double blind

procedure, neither the research participant nor the experimenter knows which condition the participant is in

Control condition

the treatment absent, used as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

experimental condition

"treatment- present" experiment

random assignment

selection of subjects by chance for different conditions is an experiment

placebo

false or ineffective treatment administered as if it were the real treatment; any chance in behavior would be due to the subject's expectations

Critical Thinking

A form of directed, problem-focused thinking in which the individual tests ideas or possible solutions for errors or drawbacks.

It is essential to such activities as examining the validity of a hypothesis or interpreting the meaning of research results.

Cognitive Biases

To learn biases of thought to apply to scenarios.

Hindsight bias

The tendency, after an event has occurred, to overestimate the extent of which the outcome could have been foreseen. Selective recall of info consists of what the “already know to be true.” Metacognitive misattribution makes it easier to see outcomes if assumed prior similarity or likelihood.

Apply Hindsight bias with romantic relationships

Not stating red flags (manipulation, gaslighting, pet peeve) earlier and then stating those flags after the relationship has ended. “I knew it wouldn’t last” even though in the relationship it would hope it would.

Predictability

I knew it would happen

Inevitability 

It had to happen

Memory distortion

I said it would happen

Overconfidence

A cognitive bias characterized by an overstimulation of one’s actual ability to perform a task successfully.

-By a belief that one’s performance is better than that of others

-Or by excessive certainty in the accuracy of one’s belief

Illusory superiority 

The tendency to overestimate your own qualities and abilities compared to others

Desire to feel good

Overconfidence can be powerful motivator and helps people feel good about their personal lives and relationships

Driving skills

A study found 93% of American drivers believe they are better than the median driver, a statistical impossibility. This inflated sense of ability can lead the risky behaviors like speeding or driving under the influence

Overclaiming knowledge

Researchers have found that when people feel they are experts in a subject, they are also more likely to confidently claim knowledge of concepts that don’t actually exist.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to gather evidence that confirms preexisting expectations. Typically, by emphasizing or pursuing supporting evidence while dismissing or failing to seek contradictory evidence.

Ex: When you search up something and click on the first link you see

Elements of Research Design

To accurately identify the characteristics and components of multiple designs and the methods to collect accurate and reliable psychological findings.

Using the scientific method

psychologists make systematic and precise observations to generate ideas about behavior and to test theories and hypotheses

Hypothesis

A specific, testable prediction about the relationship between variables in a study: people with high-stress levels will be more likely to contract a common cold after being exposed to the virus than people who have low-stress levels.

What is falsifiability?

The possibility to demonstrate something is inaccurate or false through testing. It’s possible to find evidence to prove the hypothesis is wrong. (Null hypothesis)

Drives scientific progress

by focusing on disproving theories, science can eliminate weak or incorrect ideas and develop more robust explanations for observed phenomena

avoids pseudoscience

Hypotheses that cannot be falsified are not considered scientific because they cannot be tested or refined through evidence

Precise claims

falsifiability demands precise predictions, which helps in designing experiments that yield clear, interpretable results

Operational

A process by which a psychologist defines how a concept/ variable is. Has to be measurable in quantitative. Specific and well defined

Why is it important to operationalize within a study

the study can be replicated

Outcomes

To determine the appropriate representation of participants, i. e validity and reliability, and the study can be generalized

reliability

does it measure what it should over time?

Validity

Does it measure what is being tested?

Generalizability

The extent to which a study’s findings from a specific sample population can be applied to a larger, broader population or different situation

population

everyone in the group is being studied

Sample

a small part of an overall group is being studied

Sampling

how the sample is found

Sampling bias

a flawed sampling process that produces a representing sample

convenience sampling

pick people because it’s easy (risk of sampling bias)

representative sample

a group that accurately reflects the larger group

random sampling

a sample that accurately portrays the group because every member has a chance of being picked

why is it crucial to have a representative sample?

people use this information based off the surveys, so if the data is wrong, then it sends misinformation.

Qualitative research

stats for clear results/ non-numerical 

Quantitative research

numerical data

how can surveys be used in other types of studies?

can be used to see how accurate what we think is to the truth

Pros of survey method

easy way to estimate

Cons of survey method

people may report wrong. self-report bias, social desirability bias

self-report bias

people may unknowingly report wrong

social desirability bias

people may report what they think people want to hear and not what to truly think

Peer review

evaluation by members in the field

replication

n experiment being done multiple times

why is replication important?

makes sure that there were not mistakes in the experiments

Non-experimental research

to determine if a study had experimental or identify specific forms of non-experimental design

what benefit can non-experimental research have within psychological science?

Lacks manipulation and controls of variables and groups. Measures variables as they occur “naturally”

case study

in-depth investigation of an individual or small group who may have a highly unusual trait

pros of case study

details of subjects, unique quality or situation-examines “zebras, not horses”, leads to hypotheses for further research

cons of case study

risk of hindsight or confirmation bias- inflate importance of events or observations. No generalizability - one individual per case, time-consuming 

what limitation does all non-experimental research have?

lacks control. No cause and effect conclusion

Meta-Analysis

the statistical combination of results from two or more separate studies 

pros of meta-analysis

accuracy over multiple examples, pose and answer questions over a broad range of repeated observations, utilizes combined effect size into a distribution, summarizes body of literature/ concepts studied

cons of meta-Analysis

Applicability limits- no minimum number of participants needed, or maximum studies to limit. Not all studies are designed in same way or copy procedures the same. (apples to oranges)

Naturalistic observation

observing and recording NATURAL BEHAVIOR

pros of naturalistic observation

ecological validity

cons of naturalistic observation

No manipulation

correlation

to extent to which two variables are related

pros of correlation

predict behavior

Cons of correlation

directionality problem 

what is the name for these graphs that demonstrate correlation"?

correlational coefficient

correlational coefficient

statistical measures of the relationship between two variables

simply stated, what does a correlational coefficient tell us?

the strength of relationship 

the first thing to look at to determine the value of a correlational coefficient and why?

Calculate the covariance between the two variables.

The second thing to look at to determine the value of a correlational coefficient & why:

sample size

correlation  ≠ causation 

incorrectly inferring causality from correlation

directionality problem

difficulty in determining the casual relationship between two variables, making unclear which variable influences the other.

third variable problem

an undiscovered causative variable

regression toward mean

the tendency of outliers to be followed by data points that are closer to the mean

experimental methodology

cause and effect

independent variable

random assignment

what sets the experimental method apart from the other types of research methods?

only research method that allows a cause-and-effect relationship to be established

experimental group

involved both independent and dependent variables. Receives treatment

control group

foes not receive treatment or receives a treatment or presumed to be ineffective.

serves as the basis for comparison of results from the experimental group.

Allows from comparison of a treatment condition to a non-treatment condition to determine if the independent variable affected the dependent variable.

Independent Variable

Manipulated. Hopes to bring about change. In an experiment, if there is a drug, the drug is almost always the independent variable