AP Psych- Scientific Practices

Approaches/perspectives of Psych,

Evolutionary

Focused on how evolution has shaped the mind and behavior; explain traits such as memory, perception, or language.

Key terms include natural selection, Charles Darwin, adapt, survive, and flourish in various environments over time.

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic

Believe that a person’s behavior is determined by unconscious forces and the traumatic experience of early childhood; the person needs to understand and resolve their childhood issues to get better.

Key terms include Sigmund Freud, unconscious mind, repression, defense mechanisms, hypnosis, dream analysis, word association

Behaviorism

Connection between rewards and behaviors; a person’s behavior is determined by the actions that were rewarded or punished; people then associate certain acts with the response they produce (needs to stop associating with response to break the habit).

Key terms include associative learning, conditioning, stimuli, response, reinforcement, Ivan Pavolv, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura

Humanism

People are in control of their own destiny; one needs to satisfy their basic needs and then strive for personal achievement; self-image and self-worth is important for successes.

Key terms include growth potential of healthy people, personal growth, individual choice and freewill, Roger Maslow, Carl Rogers

Biological

Stress the genetic, medical and neurobiological parts of a person; biological factors influence behavior; hormones, chemicals, and psychological disorders determine a person’s actions and behaviors

Key terms include biological processes, genes, hormones, neurotransmitters, brain, physiological

Cognitive

Mental processing of the individual; a person’s difficulties often come from false perceptions of reality and irrational beliefs; develop incorrect ideas of the world and themselves and then base behaviors on beliefs; need to confront their beliefs and change thinking

Key terms include thinking, knowing, remembering (memory), communicating (language), interpreting, processing

Sociocultural

Importance of the environment and people that a person interacts with; a person’s behavior is a result of the social influence of friends, family and a person’s culture in general.

Key terms include enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next