All Barrons AP Psychology Flashcards

Wilhelm Wundt

Set up the first psychology laboratory in his apartment near the university at Leipzig, Germany
Trained subjects in introspection. Subjects were asked to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simply stimuli

Introspection Technique

used by Wilhelm Wundt who asked subject to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli
Through this process, Wundt hoped to examine basic mental processes

William James

Published THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY, the science's first textbook
Established the Theory of Functionalism: How mental processes function in our lives

Functionalism Theory

described by William James
Examines how the mental processes described by Wilhelm Wundt function in our lives.

Max Wertheimer

Gestalt psychologist
Argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures
Gestalt psychology tries to examine a person's total experience because the way we experience the world is more than just an accumulation of various perceptual experiences
Gestalt theorists demonstrated that the whole experience is often more than just the sum of the parts of the experience

Sigmund Freud

Believed he discovered the unconscious mind--a part of our mind over which we do not have conscious control over that determines, in part, how we think and behave
Propese that we must examine the unconscious mind through dream analysis, word association, and other psychoanalytic therapy techniques if we are to truly understand human thought and behavior
Has been criticized for being unscientific and unverifiable

Margaret Floy Washburn

First woman to receive a Ph.d in psychology

John Watson

Declared that psychology must limit itself to observable phenomena, not unobservable concepts like the unconscious mind, if it is to be considered a science
Wanted to establish behaviorism as the dominant paradigm of psychology
Behaviorists maintain that psychologists should look at only behavior and causes of behavior--stimuli (environmental events) and responses (physical reactions)--and not concern themselves with describing elements of consciousness

Ivan Pavlov

Performed pioneering conditioning experiments on dogs
These experiments led to the development of the classical conditioning model of learning

B.F. Skinner

Expanded the basic ideas of behaviorism to include the idea of reinforcement and punishment--environmental stimuli that either encourage or discourage certain responses
Helped establish and popularize the opernat conditioning model of learning
Skinner's intellectual influence lasted for decades

Mary Whiton Calkins

Student of William James
Became president of the American Psychology Association
Completed her doctoral studies but Harvard refused to award her a Ph.D because, at the time they did not grant doctoral degrees to women

Humanist Perspective

The humanists, including Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, stressed individual choice and free will. This contrasts with the deterministic behaviorists who theorized that all behaviors are caused by past conditioning
Humanists believe that we choose most of our behaviors and that these choices are guided by physiological, emotional, or spiritual needs

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Described by Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysts believe that the unconscious mind--a part of our mind that we do not have conscious control over or access to--controls much of our thoughts and actions
Psychoanalysts would look for impulses or memories pushed into the unconscious mind through repression
Psychoanalysts think we must examine our unconscious mind through dream analysis, word association, and other psychoanalytic therapy techniques in order to understand human thought and behavior

Biopsychology (or Neuroscience)

Perspective Biopsychologists explain human though and behavior strictly in terms of biological processes
Neuroscientists believe that human cognition and reactions might be caused by effects of our genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters in the brain or by a combination of all three

Evolutionary (or Darwinian) Perspective

Evolutionary psychologists (also sometimes called sociobiologists) examine human thoughts and actions in terms of natural selection
Natural selection in this context refers to this idea that some psychological traits might be advantageous for survival and that these traits would be passed down from the parents to the next generation
Similar to (and in some ways a subset of) the Biopsychology Perspective

Behavioral Perspective

Behaviorists explain human thought and behavior in terms of conditioning (learning)
Behaviorists look strictly at observable behaviors and what reaction organisms get in response to specific behaviors
Dominant school of thought in psychology from the 1920s through the 1960s

Cognitive Perspective

Cognitive psychologists examine human thought and behavior in terms of how we interpret, process, and remember environmental events
Cognitive psychologists believe that the rules or methods we use to view the world are important to understanding why we think and behave the way we do

Social-Cultural (or Sociocultural) Perspective

Social-cultural psychologists look at how our thoughts and behaviors vary from people living in other cultures
Sociocultural psychologists emphasize the influence culture has on the way we think and act
For example, social-cultural psychologists are interested in the emphasis some cultures place on the value of the group (collectivism) or the individual (individualism)

Hindsight Bias

Tendency upon hearing about research findings (and many others) to think that they knew it all along
After an event occurs, it is relatively easy to explain why it happened. The goal of scientific research, however, is to predict what will happen in advance
An example of hindsight bias: Someone reads a study indicating that married people tend to live longer. This person says, "That's obvious! Everyone already knows that!"

Applied Research

Research that psychologists conduct to solve practical problems, such as investigating how people can best resolve personality conflicts at work
Research that has clear, practical application

Basic Research

Research that explores questions that are of interest to psychologists but are not intended to have immediate, real-world application
An example of basic research is an investigation into which areas of the brain are involved in seeing color

Hypothesis

A statement that exposes the relationship between two variables
In an experimental hypothesis, the dependent variable depends on the independent variable
In testing a hypothesis, researchers manipulate the independent variable and measure the dependent

Theory

Aims to explain some phenomena and allows researchers to generate testable hypotheses with the hope of collecting data that supports the theory
Hypotheses often grow out of theories

Operational Definitions

An explanation of how variables are measured
Ex. What programs will be considered violent? What behaviors will be considered aggressive?

Validity

Good research is both valid and reliable
Cannot be valid if it is not reliable
Research is valid when it measures what the researcher set out to measure; it is accurate

Reliability

Good research is both valid and reliable
Research is reliable when it can be replicated; it is consistent
If the researcher conducted the same research in the same way, the researcher would get similar results

Sampling

The individuals on whom the research is conducted are called participants (or subjects), and the process by which participants are selected is called sampling
The goal in selecting a sample is that it represents a larger population

Population

The group from which a sample is selected
The population includes anyone or anything that could possibly be selected to be in the sample

Random Selection

A method of selecting a sample from a population
Every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected. Random selection increases the likelihood that the sample represents the population and that one can generalize the findings of the larger population

Stratified Sampling

A process that allows a researcher to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria, such as age or race
Ex. 500 of the 1000 students in a school are Caucasian, 300 African American, 200 Latino
Sample of 100 students, researcher would want to have 50 Caucasians, 30 African American, and 20 Latino

Experiment

The only research method that can show a causal relationship
Allows the researcher to manipulate the independent variable and control for confounding variables
Experiments compare at least two groups: an experimental group and a control group that differ based on the independent variable

Confounding Variables

Any difference between the experimental and control conditions (such as time of day), except for the independent variable, that might affect the dependent variable

Assignment

The process by which participants are put into either an experimental or a control group
Random assignment means that each participant has an equal chance of being placed into any group. It limits the effects of confounding variables based on differences between people

Experimenter Bias

The unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypothesis
Experimenter bias is not a conscious act. If researches consciously distort their data. it is called fraud, not experimenter bias

Double-Blind

Procedure Method followed such that neither the participants nor the researcher are aware of who is in the experimental or control groups while the experiment is going on
Double-blind procedures control for both experimenter bias and participant bias

Participant Bias (also called Response Bias)

Tendency for subjects to behave in certain ways based on their perception of the experiment
Can be controlled for using a single-blind procedure or a double-blind procedure

Hawthorne Effect

Being selected to be in a group of people to participate in an experiment will affect the performance of the group, regardless of what is done to those individuals
Just selecting a sample of people and including them in an experiment will affect the performance of the sample, as the chosen participants will try to please the researcher

Correlation

A statistical measure of a relationship between two variables
Correlation does not imply causation: Just because two variables are correlated does not meant that one variable causes the other
Can be either positive (presence of one variable predicts the presence of the other) or negative (presence of one variable predicts the absence of the other)
The strength of a correlation is expressed by a number called a correlation coefficient, which ranges from -1 to +1

Scatter Plot

A graph of correlated data
Graphs pairs of value, one on the y-axis and one on the x-axis
The closer the points come to falling on a straight line, the stronger the correlation

Survey Method

Involves asking people to fill out surveys
Often used to gather opinions or attitudes and for correlational research

Naturalistic Observation

Research method that involves observing participants in their natural habitats without interacting with them
The goal is to get a realistic and rich picture of the participants' behavior
Cannot establish cause and effect relationship between variables

Case Study

A research method used to get a full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants
Allows researchers to get the richest possible picture of what they are studying, but the focus on a single individual or small group means that the findings cannot be generalized to a larger population

Descriptive Statistics

Ways of describing a set of data
Measures of central tendency are a common descriptive statistic
Three common ones are the mean, median, and mode

Measures of Variability

A type of descriptive statistical measure that attempts to depict the diversity of the distribution
Range, variance, and standard deviation are measures of variability

Normal Curve

A bell-shaped curve that represents a distribution of scores that is normally distributed

Inferential Statistics

Statistics that can determine whether or not findings can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was selected

Statistical Significance

Scientists have decided that 5 percent is the cutoff for statistically significant results. This means that in a statistically significant experimental result, there is less than a 5 percent chance that the results occurred by chance

APA Ethical Guidelines for Human Research

Any type of research must first propose the study to the ethics board or institutional review board at the institution
Guidelines: Coercion, Informed consent, Anonymity/Confidentiality, Lack of risk, Debriefing procedures

APA Ethical Guidelines for Animal Research

Have a clear scientific purpose, Care for and house animals in a humane way, Acquire animal subjects legally, Design experimental procedures that employ the least amount of suffering feasible

neuroanatomy

the study of the parts and function of neurons

neurons

individual nerve cells that make up our entire nervous system

dendrites

rootlike parts of the nerve cell that stretch out from the cell body; grow to make synaptic connections with other neurons

cell body (soma)

contains the nucleus and other parts of the cell needed to sustain its life

axon

wirelike structure ending in the terminal buttons that extends from the cell body

myelin sheath

a fatty covering around the axon that speeds neural impulses

terminal buttons

also called: end buttons, terminal branches of axon, synaptic knobs
the branched end of the axon that contains neurotransmitter

neurotransmitters

chemicals contained in terminal buttons that enable neurons to communicate

synapse

the space beween the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrites of the next neurons

action potential

the local voltage change across the cell wall as a nerve impulse is transmitted

function of acetylcholine

motor movement

lack of acetylcholine

Alzheimer's disease

function of dopamine

motor movement and alertness

lack of dopamine

Parkinson's disease

overabundance of dopamine

schizophrenia

function of endorphins

pain control; involved in addictions

function of serotonin

mood control

lack of serotonin

associated with clinical depression

afferent neurons

neurons that take information from the senses to the brain

interneurons

in the brain or spinal cord, neurons that take messages and send them elsewhere in the brain or spinal cord

efferent neurons

neurons that take information from the brain to the rest of the body

Central Nervous System

consists of the brain and spinal cord; nerves encased in bone
compare: Peripheral Nervous System

Peripheral Nervous System

consists of nerves not encased in bone
Divided into two categories: somatic and automatic nervous system
compare: Central Nervous System

Somatic Nervous System

controls voluntary muscle movements
compare: Autonomic Nervous System

Autonomic Nervous System

controls the automatic functions of our body
divided into two categories: sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
compare: Somatic Nervous System

Sympathetic Nervous System

part of the Autonomic Nervous System
mobilizes our body to respond to stress
compare: Parasympathetic Nervous System

Parasympathetic Nervous System

part of the Autonomic Nervous System
slowing body down after a stress response
compare: Sympathetic Nervous System

Phineas Gage

a railroad worker involved in an accident that damaged the front part of his brain

lesioning

the removal or destruction of part of the brain
example: frontal lobotomy

frontal lobotomy

type of lesioining that was used to treat mentally ill patiens

electroencephalogram (EEG)

detects brain waves, used in sleep research

Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT)

a sophisticated 3D X ray of the brain

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

a sophisticated 3D magnetic field image of the brain

Portion Emission Tomography (PET)

measures how much of a certain chemical parts of the brain is using

Functional MRI

combination of MRI and PET

hindbrain

structures in the top part of the spinal cord, controls basic biological functions that keep us alive

medulla

part of hindbrain
controls blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing

pons

part of hindbrain
connects the hindbrain with the midbrain and forebrain, involved in the control of facial expressions

cerebellum

part of hindbrain
looks like smaller version of brain stuck onto the underside of brain, coordinates fine muscle movements

midbrain

coordinates simple movements with sensory information
contains reticular formation

reticular formation

a netlike collection of cells throughout the hindbrain that controls general body arousal and he ability to focus our attention
if it does not function, you will fall into a coma

forebrain

controls thought and reason
contains thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus

thalamus

part of forebrain
located at top of brain stem
receives sensory signals from spinal cord and sends hem to the appropriate areas in the rest of the forebrain

hypothalamus

part of forebrain
controls several metabolic functions, including body temperature, sexual arousal, hunger, thirst and the endocrine system

amygdala and hippocampus

hippocampus- arms surrounding the thalamus
amygdala- structures near the end of each hippocampal arm
involved in processing and perceiving memory and emotion

limbic system

made up of thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus
deal with aspects of emotion and memory

fissures

wrinkles in the cerebral cortex

contralateral control

each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body

brain lateralization/hemispheric specialization

specialization of function in each hemisphere

corpus callosum

the nerve bundle that connects the two hempisheres; cut in split-brain patients

split-brain patients

patients whose corpus callosums have been cut