AP Psychology Unit 1

Wilhelm Wundt:

established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany

G. Stanley Hall:

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

Edward Titchener

Student of Wilhelm Wundt; founder of Structuralist school of psychology.

Structuralism

early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind

William James

founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

Functionalism

early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function- how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

Mary Whiton Calkins:

First female president of the APA

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female to be awarded a PhD in psychology; 2nd president of the APA (1921)

John B. Watson

founder of behaviorism

B.F. Skinner

Rejected introspection, studied how consequences shape behavior

Behaviorists

science is rooted in observation, cannot observe a sensation but you can observe and record people's behavior as they are conditioned - as they respond to and learn in different situations

Sigmund Freud

Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation; founded psychoanalysis.

Freudian Psychoanalysis

emphasized the ways our unconscious mind and childhood experiences affect our behavior

Psychodynamic Approach

how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

Humanistic Psychologists

emphasize a positive, optimistic view of human nature; goodness and potential for growth

Carl Rogers

Led humanistic psychologists, found behaviorism and Freudian psychology too limiting, focused on our potential for personal growth

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist known for his "Hierarchy of Needs" and the concept of "self-actualization"

Cognitive Psychology

how we perceive, process, and remember information and of how thinking and emotion interact in anxiety, depression, and other disorders

Empiricism

the idea that what we know comes from experience, and that observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge

Introspection

Looking inward to observe one's own psychological processes

Experimental Psychologists

use science to explore the processes behind human and animal behavior, scientific study of behavior, motives or cognition in a laboratory or other controlled setting, work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes.

Cognitive Neuroscience

studies the brain activity underlying mental activity

Behavior

anything an organism does - any action we can observe and record (yelling, smiling, blinking, sweating, talking, and questionnaire marking)

Mental Processes

are the internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior - sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings

Ivan Pavlov

Russian physiologist best known in psychology for his discovery of classical conditioning. During his studies on the digestive systems of dogs, Pavlov noted that the animals salivated naturally upon the presentation of food

Jean Piaget

Studied children's behaviors

Charles Darwin

Evolutionary theorist who worked with William James

What is the nature vs. nurture debate

The on-going debate that asks were we naturally born with certain things or by nuture and life do we learn them

What is the general conclusion of the nature vs. nurture debate?

Both nature and nurture affect and play a role on human's intelligence, personality, and behavior

What are the different levels of analysis of psychology?

Biological, cognitive, and sociocultural

Define the biopsychosocial approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis

Behavioral

How we learn observable responses

Biological

How the body and brain enables emotions, memories, and sensory experiences; how genes combine with environment to influence individual differences

Cognitive

How we encode, process, store and retrieve information

Evolutionary

How the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one's genes

Humanistic

How we meet our needs for love and acceptance and achieve self-fulfillment

Psychodynamic

How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

Social-cultural

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

Psychometrics:

the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits

Basic research:

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

Applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

Explain the difference between psychiatrists and psychologists

Psychiatrists are medical doctors licensed to prescribe drugs and otherwise treat physical causes of psychological disorders. Psychologists on the other hand cannot prescribe medication and focus on providing therapy to help patients and study mental processes.

How did Dorothea Dix contribute to psychology

Pioneer in the therapy module, reformed treatment of those with psychological disorders, founded and expanded 30 hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill, leading figure in national and international movements that challenged the idea that people with mental disturbances could not be cured or helped.

Who is Martin Seligman?

Martin Seligman is the "father of positive psychology, leading researcher in the fields of positive psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism and pessimism

What is positive psychology

the scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive

Cognitive psychologists

psychologists who study the way people think, remember, and mentally organize information

Developmental psychologists

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

Educational psychologists

Psychologists who study methods by which instructors teach and students learn and who apply their results to improving those methods

Psychometric psychologists

design and evaluate tests

Social psychologists

Psychologists who study how people influence one another's behavior and mental processes, individually and in groups

Forensic psychologists

Psychologists who assist in jury selection, evaluate defendants' mental competence to stand trial, and deal with other issues involving psychology and the law

Health psychologists

Psychologists who study the effects of behavior and mental processes on health and illness, and vice versa

Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychologists

psychologists who study people's behavior at work

Neuropsychologists

psychologists who study relationships between the brain and behavior

Rehabilitation psychologists

researchers and practitioners who work with people who have lost optimal functioning after an accident, illness, or other event

School psychologists

psychologists who evaluate and assist children with learning problems or other special needs

Sport psychologists

Psychologists who explore the relationships between athletic performance and such psychological variables as motivation and emotion

Clinical psychologists

Psychologists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and everyday behavioral problems.

Community psychologists:

a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups

Counseling psychologists

Psychologists who specialize in the treatment of everyday adjustment problems.

What are the three reasons that we can't rely solely on intuition and common sense?

Misremembering: failing to remember an event or the correct details of an event, Hindsight Bias: the "I-knew-it-all-along" phenomenon, tend to believe, after learning about an outcome, that we would have foreseen it (e.g., we knew the answer to the jeopardy question only after it was answered), Overconfidence: we tend to think we know more than we actually do.

What is critical thinking?

Approach by skepticism and thoughtful analysis of statements and arguments, thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Scientific method

a self-correcting process for evaluating ideas with observation and analysis (e.g., put slices in a toaster but nothing happens, observe that the toaster won't toast)

Theory:

an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events, testable explanations for sets of facts or observations...it is NOT just a speculation or a guess (e.g., theory of gravity, why apples fall from trees and astronauts float in space.)

Hypothesis:

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory (e.g., when sleep deprived, people will remember less from the day before, caffeine helps keep high school teachers alert and happy)

Operational definitions:

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study. Precise definitions of a variable being observed so that it is measurable and manageable. (e.g., human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures, sleep deprived may be defined as "x hours less" than the person's natural sleep.

Replicate

action of copying or reproducing, repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced.

Descriptive methods

scientific tools used by researchers and psychologists for gathering information and describing the specifics of behaviors, patterns, and other phenomena. These methods focus on the who, what, and where, versus the why or how. (e.g., surveys, case studies, observational studies)

Correlational methods:

looking for relationships between variables. (e.g., a researcher might be interested in knowing if users' privacy settings in a social networking application are related to their personality, IQ, level of education, employment status, age, gender, income, etc.)

Experimental methods:

manipulating one variable to determine if this causes changes in another variable. This method relies on controlled research methods and random assignment of study subjects to test a hypothesis.

Advantages of Case Studies

1.Useful when something is new, complex. Or fairly rare

2.Provide valuable material for further research and serve as testing ground for new treatment, training programs and other applications of research.

3.Ability to see a relationship between phenomena, context, and people.

4.Flexibility to collect data through various means.

5.Ability to capture the context and lived reality of participants.

6.Flexibility to be used at various points in a research project, including pilot research.

Disadvantages of Case Studies

1.May contain evidence that a certain research thought to be important.

2.Are unlikely to be representative of people in general.

3.Case study results can be difficult to replicate.

4. Case studies can be expensive and time-consuming.

5.Researchers can allow their own feelings to influence the case study, known as researcher bias.

6.Case studies can lack scientific methods and rigor to protect the accuracy of data collected.

Advantages of Naturalistic Observation

1.Valuable where other methods are likely to be disrupting or misleading.

2.flexibility, external validity, and suitability for topics that can't be studied in a lab setting

Disadvantages of Naturalistic Observation

1.If people know they are being observed, they tend to act differently than they normally would (ethically you have to tell people you are observing)

2.Observations can be distorted if observers expect to see certain behaviors.

3.lack of scientific control, ethical considerations, and potential for bias from observers and subjects.

Advantages of Surveys

1.Can be used as part of the operational definition within experiments.

2.Great way to gather LARGE amounts of information

3.High Representativeness. Surveys provide a high level of general capability in representing a large population.

Disadvantages of Surveys

1.Validity of data depends on how questions are worded, or representatives of the people surveyed.

2.Willingness of people to honestly complete the survey.

3.People may say what they believe they should say about an issue.

People who have one or more hobbies report more job satisfaction than people with no hobbies, Survey Case Study or Naturalistic Observation?

Survey

Conjoined twins are stared at by younger children more often than by adults, Survey Case Study or Naturalistic Observation?

Naturalistic Observation

Unmarried cab drivers talk more with their customers than do married cab drivers, Survey Case Study or Naturalistic Observation?

Naturalistic Observation

More men than women report fantasies of making large sums of money, Survey Case Study or Naturalistic Observation?

Survey

Describe an example of the wording effect in surveys

If a survey question asks if people agree that "Welfare helps people to get back on their feet," then people are more likely to support welfare. However, if the question is worded as "Welfare pays people who don't work," then it's more likely to result in a negative response.

What is a sampling bias?

a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample

What happens if you have a sampling bias in a survey (or even an experiment)?

Can only be generalized to populations that share characteristics with the sample.