AP PSYCH UNIT 1

Wilhelm Wundt

"Father of psychology;" set up first psych lab to measure the speed of awareness(reaction times); structuralist (German)

Structuralism

Wundt & Tichener; the study of the most basic elements of the mind; the first major school of thought in psychology; utilized introspection to break down mental processes(explore the structure of the human mind); results had a lack of reliability -focused on WHAT is in the mind

William James

American psychologist, founder of functionalism; studied emotion; wrote first psychology textbook

Functionalism

William James; A school of psychology that focused on HOW our mental and behavioral processes enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish; focused on the purpose of consciousness and behavior; emphasized individual differences; influenced the educational system - what is the purpose or function of a part of the brain?

Mary Whiton Calkins

American psychologist who conducted research on memory, personality, and dreams; first woman president of the American Psychological Association; denied PhD from Harvard

Margaret Floy Washburn

First woman to receive a PhD in psychology

G. Stanley Hall

American psychologist who established the first psychology research laboratory in the United States and founded the American Psychological Association

Max Wertheimer

founder of Gestalt(mind processes things as a whole rather than individual parts) psychology

Evolutionary Psychology (aka sociobiology)

Charles Darwin; natural selection(behavior traits that help us survive get passed down); study of how we evolve

Psychometrics

using statistics to analyze and explain human behavior

Industrial/Organizational I/O Psychology

the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimize human behavior in workplaces; and study how to increase worker satisfaction and productivity. Examples include management styles that motivate workers.

Human Factors Psychology

how machines and products can be made safer and more efficient; a branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use

Political Psychology

manipulating and swaying voters in politics using techniques such as hear

Positive Psychology

science of human happiness

Community Psychology

works to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all

Hindsight Bias

"I knew it all along" phenomenon; tendency to perceive events as being extremely predictable

Overconfidence

a cognitive bias characterized by an overestimation 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 beliefs.

Critical Thinking

a separate intelligence; Differentiate Fact from Opinion;

Hypothesis

testable prediction derived from a scientific theory; states the relationship between two variables.

Operational Definition

a statement of the procedure used to specifically define research variables (SPECIFIC MEASUREMENT; USING NUMBERS) used for replication (each step is CLEARLY stated in order to replicate)

Replication

repeating a research study to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances

case study

study one person/group in depth in hopes to reveal things true of us all

survey

obtaining self reported attitudes and behaviors

population

all those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn

random sample

(surveys) guarantees every member of a population has an equal chance of being picked

sampling bias

a group of participants in an experiment that do not represent the overall population

social desirability bias

people lie to look good when asked things about themselves or their beliefs

naturalistic observation

research conducted in the natural setting of animals or humans; no interaction is done w/ subjects

correlation

measures the relationship between 2 variables; ___ does not show causation

correlation coefficient

a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors relate to each other

negative correlation

as one variable increases, the other decreases

scatterplot

used to show positive and negative correlations

illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship between variables where none exists

third variable problem

a third factor that can be the real relationship (heat and shark attacks)

experiment

a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (IV) to observe/measure the effect of some behavior/mental processes (DV) seeks to identify cause and effect relationships. Hard to generalize in the real world.

random assignment

(only used in experimental method) the process in which subjects are placed into a experimental or control group without bias

double blind procedure

participants and research staff are ignorant about the treatement/placebo given to each subject

placebo effect

results caused by expectations alone; you think that you will experience an effect, therefore you perceive that you have it

experimental group

exposes a participant to treatment 

control group/condition group

Contrast to the experimental conditions; acts as comparison because subject does not receive treatment OR receives a placebo

independent variable

the experimental factor that is manipulated; this is the variable being studied

dependent variable

the experimental factor that is being measured; this may change depending on the manipulations in the independent variable

confounding variable (AKA third party variable)

Any difference between the control condition and the experimental condition other than the independent variable that manipulates/affects the results

Descriptive statistics

numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups. Includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation.

histogram

a bar graph depicting a frequency distribution

measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode)

mean (average), median (middle score), mode (most frequently occurring score)

regression to the mean

scores which are initially outliers will move closer to the average as more data is collected

skewed distribution

a representation of scores that lack symmetry around their average value

inferential statistics

statistical methods that determine if findings can be applied to a larger population

statistical significance

if the difference between the control and experimental groups is not due to chance (a fluke) then we can say that the difference was caused by the IV and the results are _____.

P value

inferential statistics tests yield a ___; ___=or<0.5 it’s statistically significant ← 5% chance results occurred by chance; ___ never 0 ← can never be 100% certain results are not due to chance.

cohort effect

a group of people who share common characteristics or experiences, like their year of birth. A cohort effect occurs when a research result is impacted by the characteristics of the cohort(s) (similar factor(s)) being studied.

informed consent

explain about the research and receive a signature

debriefing

explain to the subject the purpose (even if deceived a little) and results

* CAN deceive the participants in an experiment as long as you debrief at the end

Institutional Review Board

committees that review research involving human subjects. Their purpose is to ensure that research is conducted in accordance with federal, institutional, and ethical guidelines