AP Psych Unit #0

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes in both humans and animals.

Philosophy and physiology

Nature

Biology and evolutionary

All the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are

Nurture

All environmental variables that impact who we are

Social-cultural and behavioral

John Watson was a believer of this

Tabula Rasa “Blank Slate”

The first modern perspective is behavioral psychology

At birth, the human mind is a “blank slate” and skills, capabilities, etc are filled overtime

Epigenetics

Nature and nurture

Genes and environment exert equal influence

Biological perspective

Focuses on physical things inside of you

Buzzwords: DNA, hormones, genetics, chemicals, hereditary, the brain

Most popular way of looking at psychology

Evolutionary perspective

Focuses on natural selection and how it favors survival

Buzzwords: instincts, survival, fight or flight, natural selection

Psychodynamic perspective

Focuses on things that happen as a kid

Buzzwords: childhood trauma, trigger, unconscious, subconscious, events

Sad and negative, the past

Behavioral perspective

Focuses on observable behaviors

People/animals are controlled by conditioning and reinforcement

Buzzwords: reinforcement, modeling, observation, punishment, reward

Cognitive perspective

Focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, language, learning

Emphasizes how a person perceives or thinks things

Buzzwords: perceive, thought process, feel, think, interpret

Humanistic perspective

Emphasizes choice and growth

Positive outlook to reach full potential

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Buzzwords: self-actualization, free will, subjective experience, holism, unconditional positive regard

Socialcultural perspective

Focuses on society and culture in terms of behavior and shaping cognition

Buzzwords: norms, social customs, values, language, common, accepted, identity, environment

Biopsychosocial perspective

Overarching medical approach

Many factors can influence a combination of perspectives.

Buzzwords: genetics, evolution, brain structures, and nervous system

Is psychology a science?

Yes, because it uses real and empirical data, and it uses the scientific method

Psychology’s goals as a science

Prediction, description, control, understanding, improve

Believe, think, change

Critical thinking

To not blindly accept the things people tell you

To utilize research to figure things out

Scientific Method

A step by step process to prove something

1st - to question

2nd - to make a theory

3rd - to make a hypothesis

4th - to test

(must be incredibly objective)

Theory

Your belief/idea

“I got a hunch”

Hypothesis

A testable prediction to prove your theory

A specific, objective statement

Replicate “Repeat”

Repetition of the methods used in a previous experiment to see whether the same methods will yield the same results

Increases confidence

Descriptive research

Mostly about collecting large amounts of “unfiltered data”

Taking notes

Less concerned with conclusions about human behavior than describing and understanding

Case study

An in-depth understanding of a single person, group, or phenomenon

Uses interviews, observations, or records

Downside: might not be generalizable for a larger population

Survey method (technique)

A questionnaire or interview to ask a large # of people questions

Starts with 2 small questions (it’s quick and easy)

Downside: bias or ppl can lie, sampling errors

Naturalistic observation (technique)

Careful observations in natural environment

Does not manipulate data or any variables

Downside: can’t control any variables

Observer Effect

People/animals being watched don’t behave normally

Observers should be hidden

Observer Bias

Observers overemphasize behavior they expect to find and miss other behaviors.

Correlational studies

Where you determine the relationship between two variables

You make connections and determine to what degree they are related

Correlation does not equal causation

Correlation coefficient (r)

The numerical value of the relationship of the two variables studied

Similar to slope

Numerical range from +1.00 to -1.00

Strong relationship: closer to +1.00 or -1.00 (-0.99 and 0.99 are equally as strong)

Illusory Correlation

A perceived but nonexistent correlation

No empirical link between variables

Experimental method

Test a hypothesis

Allows researchers to determine cause and effect relationships

The only research method that allows this

A test controls and manipulates the factors/variables

Operational definitions

Describing/defining your variables and procedures CLEARLY, consistently, objectively

Carefully worded procedure that is very objective and clear

Clarity, objectivity

Variable

Measuring or manipulating a variable

Independent variable

The factor that the experimenter controls and manipulates

The cause of interest or change

Dependent variable

The variable that researchers measure

The then part of the hypothesis

The outcome of the experiment

Confounding variable

The third variable

Only found in experiments

Any variables that we failed to control

Variables that can mess up our data

Population

All individuals who can potentially participate in the study

Then generalize to all people

Representative sample

Has characteristics that are similar to the population

Random sample

Same chance of getting into the sample as any other member

Sampling bias

An error in the sample that doesn’t represent the population

Random assignment

Ensures all members have an equal chance of being placed in either control or experimental groups

First you sample, then you assign

Control group

Gets the placebo

No treatment or same kind of treatment with no effect

Gets a replacement from the real independent variable

Experimental group

Gets the independent variable

Descriptive statistics

Techniques for organizing and summarizing data sets

Mean, median, mode

Frequency distribution table

Show how often something occurs and analyzing data becomes manageable

Histogram

Visual representation of a frequency distribution

Bar graph

Mean

Average # in a data set

To find: Add all the #’s in a data set, then divide by how many #’s there are

Sensitive to extremes or outliers

Median

The # in the middle

To find: put all #’s in order, and pick the one in the middle. If you have an even set, add the two #’s in the middle and divide by 2

Median is best for skewed data

Mode

The # that occurs the most

Bi modal: there can be two modes

Range

Biggest value subtracted by the smallest value

Represents the span of the scores in a data set

Standard deviation

How far away from the normal (the mean) am I?

Normal distributions

Looks like a bell curve

Meta analysis

Combining statistics from multiple studies into one, and creating an argument/theory based on that collected data

Longitudinal study

A type of research where a cohort of participants is followed for a long period of time

Cross-sectional study

Type of research that studies different groups of people

Effect size

Tells us how much one variable is affecting our other variable

Statistical significance

Measure to determine if the results of your study are significant, or due to chance.

A p value of 0.05 or less is better.