AP Psych Unit 0

Perspectives in psych

different ways of understanding and explaining human behavior and mental processes

psychodynamic perspective

focuses on unconcious drives, conflicts, and childhood experiences and how they shape behavior

behavioral perspective

focuses on observable behaviors, interactions w the environment, how they’re learned, and the effect of those behavior’s direct consequences

humanistic perspective

focuses on personal growth, self-actualization, and free will

biological perspective

focuses on physiological/anatomical bases of behavior in humans

evolutionary perspective

focuses on how behaviors/mental processes serve as adaptations for survival and reproduction

sociocultural perspective

focuses on how social norms + culural values influence behavior

biopsychosocial perspective

focuses on combining biological, psychological, and social factors to provide a comprehensive understanding of human behavior

mental processes

thinking/everything happening mentally

confirmation bias

tendencry to interpret information in a way that confirms what is already believed

hinsight bias

tendency of people to believe they knew something would happen even if they didn’t predict it beforehand

overconfidence

tendency of people to have too much confidence in their own judgement/abilities

cognitive biases

tendencies that can lead people to distort their thinking and can lead to incorrect conclusions

scientific method

systematic approach to study human behavior and metal processes (in psych)

hypothesis

specific, testable prediction or educated guess about the relationship between the variables/outcomes of the study

falsifiable

able to be proven wrong

peer review

a process in research articleswhere they are evaluated by experts in the field before they are published

replication

repeating/reproducing research, determines reliability

reliability

consistency of results with each other

validity

accurately measures what its trying to

APA

American Psychology Association

Research design

broad framework for how an experiment/study should proceed

research methods

specific techniques used to do studies, tool/methods to gather information

quantitative data

numbers data

qualitative data

non-number data, e.g. smell

likert scale

a measurement tool used in psych surveys to quantify people’s attitudes, perceptions, and opinions. (strongly agree → strongly disagree scale)

structured interviews

predetermined questions are asked of everyone in the same order/manner. standardizes interviews to decrease bias

survey technique

research method in psych used to collect information from participants

wording effect

subtle changes in the wording/phrasing of a question that can influence people’s perceptions/opinions of the question

social desirability bias

tendency of individuals to answer questions in a manner that is viewed favorably by others/conforms to social norms

naturalistic observation

research method in psych where researchers observe and record behavior in real world settings without manipulating variables

case study

research method in psych that involves an in depth examination of a single individual, group, or phenomenon

third variable problem

possibility of a 3rd, unmeasured, variable influencing the relationship between variables

scatterplot

visual representation used in correlational research to display the relationship between 2 variables

correlational coefficient (r )

statistical measurement used in correlational research to quantify tthe strength + direction of the relationship between the two variables

experimental method

used to establish a causational relationship between two variables

confounding variables

something unaccounted for that could influence the result of a measurement

operational definition

how the researcher manipulates/measures a variable, outlines exact procedures/operations used to measure/quantify abstract concepts/constructs, ensures clarity/consistency

experimental group

receives the IV

control group

not exposed to IV

placebo condition

administering a placebo to 1 group (usually the control)

placebo effect

when one’s condition improves simply because they believe they are receiving treatment (even if they are not)

random assignment

ensures experiment is not biased, ensures we can claim causation

experimenter bias

researcher’s expectations/beliefs influencing results

single-blind study

participants are blind to which group (control/lvl of IV) they are in

double-blind study

participants and researchers are blind to who is in which group (control/lvl of IV)

sample

subset of individuals or cases selected from a larger population

representative sample

sample accurately reflects diversity of population

convenience sampling

selecting based on availability/accessibility

random sample

self-explanatory (ensures we can generalize to population)

sample bias

occurs w unrepresentative sample, less generalizable

generalizability

extent to which findings can be generalized to a larger population

statistics

tool use to convert data into information

descriptive statistics

summarize + describe data set

inferential statistics

use data from sample to extrapolate and generalize to population

measures of central tendency

self-explanatory; mean, median, and mode

range

highest point - lowest point

normal curve/bell curve

normal distribution; symmetrical, unimodal, rougly follows empirical rule (we dont care about the last part though)

regression to the mean

extreme scores tend to get closer to average when measured again and again

positive skew

negative skew

standard deviation

how far from the mean the data points are

percentile rank

percent of data equal to and less that a point

bimodal distribution

two peaks/high points on graph