AP Psych_Unit 1_Review Sheet

Wilhelm Wundt

the founder of psychology)
Established the first research journal in psych/opened up the first psychology research lab.
Modeled his research after chemistry and physics.
Defined the subject of research as consciousness.

William James

the leader of the functionalist school of thought.
was an advocate of programmatic psychology.

Mary Whiton Calkins

first woman to serve as president of the APA (American Psychological Association)
was denied her PhD from Harvard even though she fulfilled all the requirements.

Margaret Floy Washburn

first woman to receive a PhD in Psychology.
Her book, The Animal Mind, influenced what would soon be behaviorism.
second president of the APA.

Sigmund Freud

had a huge (yet very controversial) influence in psych.
unconscious: His philosophy is built around his treatment of disorders. (ex. irrational fears, obsessions, and neuroses)
psychoanalytic theory (psychoanalysis): Freud attempted to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior through psychoanalytic theory of psychoanalysis.

Dorothea Dix

upset by the treatment of the mentally ill.
promoted reform by advocating for the use of asylms and hospitals.
she reported on how prisoners and the mentally ill were treated.

G. Stanley Hall

first (ever) president of the APA.
introduced Freud to America & psychoanalysis.
Known as “the music man”

William James

Leader of functionalists school of thought.
Advocate of programmatic psychology.

Jean Piaget

Described child development as a series of developmental stages.
- Object Permenance
Observed his own kids as they grew up.

Structuralism

research mainly focused on sensation and perception.
introspection: the contents of consciousness were explored through introspection.(careful observation of one's self-conscious experience)

Functionalism

a psychology based on the assumption that all mental process are useful to an organism in adapting to the environment.
implemented mental testing and investigated the aging of intellectual psych.
much higher rates in female participation than structuralism.

Behaviorism

an approach to psychology that emphasizes observable measurable behavior.
John B. Watson: He took psych into a thoroughly scientific realm through behaviorism.
Behavior: is an observable response by an organism.
BF Skinner: believed that the internal state of mind couldn’t be studied scientifically.
Ivan Pavlov: demonstrated that learning occurs with classical conditioning in his experiments with dogs.

Humanism

the emphasis of the unique qualities of humans.
psychologists pushed the idea that humans can make their own choices.
Carl Rogers: a clinical psychologist, believes human behavior is individualistic or guided by “self-concept”.
Abraham Maslow: famous for his “Hiearchy of Needs” and the concept of self-actualization.

cognitive psychology

an approach to psychology that emphasizes internal mental processes

biological perspective

attempts to determine the function of brain structures.

evolutionary psychology

examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive values.
Charles Darwin: Not a Psychologist but important because of his Theory on Natural Selection.
- evolution occurs through natural selection
- as population faces changes in the environment, those with adaptive mutations will pass on their mutated genes.

positive psychology

focuses on the positive events and influences in life.
Ex. Positive Experiences, States, and Traits.

socio-cultural perspective

considers the way that different individuals interact with their social groups and how these social groups influence different individuals.

psychometrics

a branch of clinical or applied psychology dealing with the use and application of mental measurement.

hypothesis

a testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables or a proposed explanation for some observed phenomenon.

operational definitions

means defining the variable as it exists in the present study.

naturalistic observation

a researcher engages in careful observation of behavior without intervening directly with subjects.

case study

an in-depth investigation of an individual subject.

surveys

when researchers use questionares/interviews to gather info about specific aspects of participants personal life.

longitudinal study

studies the same feature in the same participants over the course of many years/decades.

cross sectional study

a snapshot at the same point in time that allows for comparison of participants in different age groups to one another.

population

the number of inhabitants in a given place

sample

the process of selecting a representative group from the population under study.

independant variable

indep. variable=x
a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable.

dependant variable

dep. variable=y
the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable.

confounding variables

occurs when two variables are linked in a way that makes it hard to sort out specific effects.

extraneous variables

occurs when two variables are linked in a way that makes it hard to sort out specific effects.

random sampling

the selection of a random sample; each element of the population has an equal chance of been selected

random assignment

Occurs when all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to any group/condition in the study.

experimental group

Consists of the people who get special treatment in regards to the ind. variable.

control group

Consists of similar people who don’t get special treatment.

sampling bias

the possibility that some participants are more likely to be included that others.

placebo effect

any effect that seems to be a consequence of administering a placebo; the change is usually beneficial and is assumed result from the person's faith in the treatment or preconceptions about what the experimental drug was supposed to do

social desirability bias

the way that respondents may alter their answers if those responses help them appear more socially desirable.

halo effect

Parts of the study that are unintentionally affected by other parts of the study.

experimenter bias

bias introduced by an experimenter whose expectations about the outcome of the experiment can be subtly communicated to the participants in the experiment

double-blind procedure

an experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment

correlational studies

A correlation exists when two variables are related to eachother.

replication

The repetition of a research study, generally with different situations and different subjects.

IRB

A group of individuals designated to review and monitor research that involves human subjects.

informed consent

to inform the participants of the info of the experiment before it occurs.

right to withdraw

The right to leave an experiment at any time.

debrief

Informing the participants the true information regarding the experiment.

mean

The sum of all the scores divided by the number of scores. Sx/N=xbar

median

After putting scores in order, the middle number(s) is the median.

mode

The score that occurs with the greatest frequency.

range

biggest x-smallest x

standard deviation

average difference of x from the mean.
sqr of S(x-xbar)^2

percentage in 1st, 2nd, 3rd standard deviations

68,95,99.7

statistical signifigance

a statement that indicates the likelihood that the results were due to chance.

p-value

p < .05 = significant
p > .05 = not significant

positive skew

Where the tail points to the positive end.

negative skew

Where the tail points to the negative end.

correlation coefficient

The # that indicates how strong the correlation is.
r will be between 0 and + or - 1
if r=0=no relationship

meta-analysis

a statistical method that comnines the quantitative results of multiple studies to describe a single effect size.