Unit 1: History-Perspectives-Research Methods-Stats

psychology

science of behavior and mental process

reasons to study psychology

helps us better understand why we act the way we do and how experiences shape us

Structuralism

* focuses on different parts of the human mind


* self-reflection
* analyze feelings/sensations

Wilhelm Wundt

* father of modern psychology
* established 1st psychology laboratory in Germany
* focus on consciousness, how mental/behavioral processes function

Edward Titchener

* structuralist
* encouraged introspection

empiricism

knowledge originates from sensory experiences, so science should rely on observation and experimentation

introspection

* self-reflection
* recollections vary from person to person

Functionalism

* focused on the whole mind
* down-to-earth emotions, streams of consciousness

William James

* functionalist
* investigated mental testing, patterns of development, effective educational practices, etc.

Behaviorism

* focus on how behavior is learned/reinforced, NOT thoughts
* Edward Thorndike- Law of Effect
* John B. Watson, BF Skinner, Ivan Pavlov
* ex. therapists

Psychoanalytic school

* unconscious mind/childhood/relationships explain behavior
* Sigmund Freud
* ex. not doiminant today

Sigmund Freud

* unconscious thought process and emotional response to childhood experiences affect behavior
* dream analysis
* sexual urges were important

unconscious

mental activity outside of our awareness

Humanism

* role of motivation in thought and behavior
* encourage personal growth and self-actualization
* what drives us to change
* ex. positive psychology

Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow

* humanists
* emphasized growth potential of people
* current environmental influences can nurture or limit growth potential

Biological approach (neuroscience)

* physical and biological bases of behavior
* feelings/behavior come from brain, body, chemistry, neurotransmitters
* ex. MRI/PET scans show researchers effects of brain damage/drugs/disease

Cognitive approach

* focus on mental processes like memory/thinking
* change in thoughts can change behavior
* Jean Piaget, Albert Bandura

Evolutionary approach

* how theory of evolution explains physiological processes
* adaptations ensured ancestors survive
* aids in human survival/reproduction

Charles Darwin

* inspiration for evolutionary approach
* Darwinism- how organisms change and adapt due to natural selection

Sociocultural approach

* how cultures/environments influence our thoughts/behavior
* ex. in China, collective cultures work harder when part of a group

eclectic approach

method that applies various approaches/techniques

nature-nurture

debate on whether the human mind is born the way it is or if our environment influences our thoughts/behaviors

biopsychosocial approach

includes biological, psychological, and socio-cultural influences

basic research

explores questions that you may be curious about, but no

applied research

clear, practical applications

industrial-organizational psychologists

* study relationship between people + working environment
* develop new ways to increase productivity, improve personal selection, and promote job satisfaction
* places of work include businesses, industry, government, college/university

human factors psychologists

studies psychological aspects of how people interact with their surroundings

counseling/clinical psychologists

* promote psychological health in individuals, groups, and organizations
* treat either specific or a range of disorders
* places of work include a private practice, mental health service, schools, counseling, etc.

psychiatrists

medical doctors licensed to prescribe drugs and treat physical causes of psychological disorders

positive psychology

* focus on finding meaning and purpose in life
* goal to achieve happiness and fulfillment

psychometric psychologists

* study methods and techniques used to acquire psychological knowledge
* administer, score, and interpret tests
* places of work include colleges, testing companies, research firms, gov agencies

hindsight bias

tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that you knew it all along

PROBLEM- not using data

overconfidence

we tend to think we know more than we do

PROBLEM- assumptions do not match data

Barnum effect

tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterizations of themselves and take them to be accurate

ex. personality test results

confirmation bias

people notice and remember events that confirm our beliefs, ex. when you dislike a food because of how it looks, astrological signs

theory

hypothesis tested w/ lots of data

hypothesis

* a testable prediction, implied by a theory
* statement between/among variables
* ex. participating in class leads to better grades, when sleep deprived, people will remember less

replication

if a result is true, it should show itself over and over with different people in different situations

REPLICATED → RELIABLE

generalizability

the degree that results of a study can be applied to the population

scientific method

consists of formulating a hypothesis and carrying out observation and experimentation

descriptive research methods

describe behaviors with case studies, surveys, or naturalistic observation

naturalistic observation (pros & cons)

* observing and recording behavior in natural environments as it naturally occurs
* pros: no lab bias, relatively cheap/easy
* cons: little control, cofounding variables, biased observations, ethical concerns

Hawthorne effect

alteration in behavior of the subjects in a study due to their awareness of being observed

laboratory observations

* pros: allows more control, use of sophisticated equipment
* cons: allows researcher only control, may be biased, no cause/effect conclusions, behavior may differ from natural environment

case studies (pros & cons)

* pros: in depth info, unusual examples can shed light on situations that are unethical/impractical to study in other ways
* cons: vital info missing, may not be typical, limits generalizability

surveys (pros & cons)

* pros: large amount of info on lots of people, cheap, easy, anonymous, most common
* cons: if non-representative or biased it may be impossible to generalize results, people respond how they think the researcher wants, wording bias, low response rate

social desirability bias

people respond to questions based on how their response will be interpreted by others rather than how they would respond truthfully

framing

how a survey is worded can influence the results

population

total group of individuals (N)

sample

subset of a population who is actually IN the study (n)

sampling bias

error in sampling process that allows some members of a population to be more or less likely than others to be included in a study

cross-sectional studies

different groups compared at one time

longitudinal studies

same group compared at different times

correlational research

determines if a relationship exists between two things, how strong the relationship is & if it’s positive or negative

\*\***CORRELTION DO**

correlation coefficient

* represented as *r*
* describes the strength and direction of the relationship

positive correlation

* aka direct
* shows variables that either rise or fall together
* ex. # of homework assignments turned increases, a person’s grade in AP Psych also increases

negative correlation

* aka inverse
* shows variables that o in opposite directions
* ex. # of hours watching Netflix increases, a student’s GPA decreases

illusory correlation

* suspected relationship that doesn’t empirically exist
* ex. a few short students got A’s on the last test, therefore, short kids must be smarter

third variable (cofounding)

* other variable that may affect the results of a study
* ex. positive correlation between murder rates and ice-cream sales → weather is the variable that cofounds this relationship

experimental research (pros & cons)

explores cause/effect relationships

independent variable

condition that is manipulated or changed

dependent variable

condition measured

null hypothesis

hypothesis you reject if p-value is lower than .05

operational definitions

* definition of behaviors or qualities *in terms of how they are measured/assessed*


* explain what you mean in a hypothesis

experimental group

participants exposed to the treatment variable/manipulation

control group

participants not exposed to the treatment variable/manipulation

random selection

selecting participants from a population

random assignment

sorting the sample into experimental and control groups

cofounding variable

interference by a third variable that distorts the association being studied between two other variables

placebo

* action or substance given to members of the control group
* fake treatment that has no benefit, but is administered as if it does

placebo effect

* influence of performance due to the subject’s beliefs about the results
* ex. subject may feel better simply because they THINK they are going to

experimenter bias (experimenter expectancy effect)

phenomenon that occurs when a researcher’s expectations about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained (may not even be aware they’re doing this)

demand characteristics (participant bias)

clues the participants gain about the study suggesting how they should “respond”

Clever Hans

* horse that “learned” how to do math
* read humans’ cues to determine whether or not he had reached the correct number or not
* illustrates experimenter bias, even if it was not intended
* even when made aware, humans still are unable to supress these subtle cues

single blind studies

experimenter knows who is in which group and participants do not

double blind studies

neither experimenters nor participants know who is in which group, eliminating any experimenter bias

standardization

same set of instructions and procedures used so the experiment is exactly the same for everyone

replication

* MUST be able to REPRODUCE experiment using different subjects and experimenters but same procedures and how CONSISTENTLY individuals score on a test or research study and manipulations
* MUST yield same/similar results in order to be considered reliable

reliability

how CONSISTENTLY individuals score on a test or research study

validity

extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure

internal validity

how well constructed was the experiment to control for cofounding variables?

content validity

learning history of psych and research methods, test questions on this content and NOT abnormal psych and treatment

external validity

how well do the results of the experiment translate to other settings or participants?

inferential statistics

numerical data allowing one to generalize/infer the probability of something being true of a population from a sample of data

statistical statistics

* statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
* indicates likelihood that a result will happen by chance
* says nothing about importance of results

p-value

• determines the statistical significance of a set of data

• lower the p-value, less likely results were due to chance

• P greater than .05 = results could be due to chance and therefore NOT statistically significant

descriptive statistics

provide simple information about the sample, like mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation

frequency distribution

how often something happens

histogram

when you have continuous data and no spaces

measures of central tendency

mode, median, mean

mode

most frequent score

bimodal vs. multimodal

two distinct peaks vs. more than two distinct peaks

median

middle score (half above and half below)

measures of variance

range, standard deviation

range

highest score minus the lowest score

standard deviation

shows the extent to which scores vary relative to the mean

variance

how similar or diverse scores are

normal distributions

have typical variance that we can predict

positively skewed distributions

• aka right skew

• most scores in the low range

• outlier pulls the mean to the right

negatively skewed distributions

• aka left skew

• most scores in the high range

• outlier pulls mean to the left