Unit 0 AP Psychology 2024-2025

Georgia's curriculum

Biological (Neuroscience) Perspective

All your feelings and behaviors comes from brain: genetics, body chemistry (hormones, neurotransmitters), brain’s structure. Examples of how a psychologist might look at disordered behavior.

Evolutionary Perspective

Focuses on Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest, natural selection. We behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors. Mental processes exist because they serve an evolutionary purpose – they aid in survival, reproduction

Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Perspective

Originated with Sigmund Freud, focuses on the unconscious mind (memories, feelings, urges). We repress many true feelings, not consciously aware of them. Early childhood experiences, interpersonal relationships explain human behavior. May delve into the person’s unconscious and discover childhood abuse. Abuse may have caused fear in getting close to others.

Behavioral Perspective

Focuses on observable, measurable behaviors put feelings aside, how behaviors are learned and reinforced (rewarded or punished). We behave because we have been conditioned too. To change behaviors, psychologists have to recondition the client

Humanistic Perspective

Peaked in the late 1960’s and 70’s, but, might be making a come back….so it focused on spirituality and free will. Emphasizes role of motivation, free will, potential for growth. We strive to be the best we can be, “self-actualization”. Happiness is defined by the distance between our “self-concept” and “ideal self”.

Cognitive Perspective

Focuses on how we think (or encode information) and our mental processes: memory, thinking, problem solving, language and decision-making. How do we see/interpret the world? These types of Therapists attempt to change the way you think.

Social-Cultural Perspective

Your behavior and feelings are dictated by your culture, religion, ethnicity, gender, community, even income level. How does our culture influences our thinking and behavior? EX: Some cultures kiss each other when greeting, some bow, others shake hands.

Biopsychosocial Perspective

Late 20th century, George Engel created a model of explaining illness and treatments by examining a patients biology, personality and social influences. Recognizes diseases are both biological and physiological but the perception of the illness or condition is social. This has allowed for medical doctors and psychiatrists see patients as a whole being”.

Hindsight bias

Refers to the tendency of people to perceive events as having been more predictable than they actually were, after the events have occurred. "knew it all along"

Confirmation Bias

People overestimate the degree to which others share their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. They only look for things that fit their pre-existing beliefs.

Overconfidence

Individuals have an excessive degree of confidence in their own abilities or in the accuracy of their judgments

Perceiving order in random events

Human tendency to seek out patterns or connections in events that are actually random or without any underlying pattern.

Control Group

The responses of this group are compared to the responses of the other experimental groups because….No treatment or placebo given, Serves as basis for comparison, Serves to eliminate any alternative explanations

Experimental Group

This group is exposed to the treatment. In the ice cream experiment, this group was given the bigger bowl. In a drug trial, this group would receive the active agent, or drug. In the 1^st day of class experiment, this group viewed the negative teacher video and was given an ungraded homework assignment the first day.

Placebos

In drug trials, these are often given.  They are inert and have no active agents.  They are often referred to as “sugar pills”.

The Placebo affect

Also called the placebo response.  A remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo -- a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution -- can sometimes improve a patient's condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful.

Independent Variable

specifically manipulated by experimenter, usually the focus of the study. The “IF” of the hypothesis

Dependent Variable

Measured or observed, influenced by I.V., in psychology, it is usually a behavior or a mental process. The “then” part of an if/then statement.

Random Assignment

every participant having an equal chance of being in either the experimental group or the control group.

Correlation

a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things: Researchers determine if there is a relationship between two variables DO NOT involve manipulation of variables as in an experiment. 

Disadvantages of Correlation

Cannot determine cause and effect relationship. May be done as part of larger research before conducting an experiment, Correlation does not equal causation, Third Variable Problem - another variable can cause both other variables to increase or decrease. 

Case Study

Observational data collection technique, an individual or group is studied in great depth to identify behavioral, emotional, and/or cognitive qualities. Often include face-to-face interviews, paper and pencil tests to gather as much data about participants as possible

Meta-analysis

objective examination of published data from many studies of the same research topic identified through a literature search. Through the use of rigorous statistical methods, it can reveal patterns hidden in individual studies and can yield conclusions that have a high degree of reliability. It is a method of analysis that is especially useful for gaining an understanding of complex phenomena when independent studies have produced conflicting findings.

Naturalistic Observation

Humans or animals are observed in their own setting and do not know they are being observed. Researcher allows behavior to occur without interference, interaction or intervention.

Hypothesis

A statement about the relationship between two or more variables. Must be testable and refutable. What is the expected outcome Instead of proving the hypothesis, science often tries to disprove a null hypothesis.

Operational Definitions

set of precisely outlined steps which allows for the repetition of an experiment.  

Confounding Variable

may unintentionally affect the dependent variable

Sample

SUBSET OF THE POPULATION SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN A STUDY, ALL PARTICIPANTS IN A STUDY MAKE UP THIS.

Population

ALL INDIVIDUALS WHO CAN POTENTIALLY PARTICIPATE IN THE RESEARCH

Random Sample

EVERY  SINGLE MEMBER OF THE POPULATION  HAS AN = CHANCE OF BEING INCLUDED IN THE STUDY

Representative Sample

one technique that can be used for obtaining insights and observations about a targeted population group

Convenience Sampling

a non-probability sampling method where units are selected for inclusion in the sample because they are the easiest for the researcher to access

Sampling Bias

occurs when some members of a population are systematically more likely to be selected in a sample than others.

Sample Size

the number of participants or observations included in a study.

Generalizability

a measure of how useful the results of a study are for a broader group of people or situations

Single Blind

subject unaware of assignment - control group or experimental group?

Double Blind

subject and experimenter unaware of placement, eliminates experimenter bias

Measurement Tool

standardized measures of a particular psychological variable such as personality, intelligence, or emotional functioning.

Peer Review

the quality and potential contribution of each manuscript is evaluated by one's peers in the scientific community.

Replication

reproducing a study to see if you get the same results

IRB -Institutional Review Boards

federally-mandated, locally-administered groups charged with evaluating risks and benefits of human participant research at their institution

Informed Consent

process by which researchers working with human participants describe their research project and obtain the subjects' consent to participate in the research based on the subjects' understanding of the project's methods and goals.

Protect from harm

ensuring their physical safety, emotional well-being, privacy rights, dignity preservation during any psychological research or interventions.

Confidentiality

information between a patient and a therapist cannot be shared with anyone.

Deception (Confederates)

the act of misleading research participants about an experiment's purpose, conditions, or procedures or otherwise manipulating an experiment to control the behavior of the participants with the goal of producing better research results.

Debriefing

encourages the participant to ask questions about the study, and allows the researcher to address any harm to the participant that may have resulted from their participation in the study.

Animal Ethics

a branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated.

Data Interpretation

the method of using different analytical processes to review data and come to informed conclusions

What axis is the independent variable on

x axis

What axis is the dependent variable on

y axis

Mean

the average value in a set of data. Mean is also known as ''the average''. It is calculated by adding up all the scores and then dividing this total by the number of scores.

Median

the middle of a set of numbers. It is determined by arranging the numbers in ascending order to find the middle score.

Mode

Most occurring number in a data set

Range

the space between the highest and biggest number… take the biggest number and subtract the smallest number together

Normal Curve

A symmetrical spread of numbers that form a bell shaped curve.  In a normal distribution the mean, median and mode are equal

Positive vs Negative Skew

Positive pokes the right side, Negative pokes the left side.

Standard Deviation Percentages

1 standard deviation = 68%, 2 standard deviations = 95%, 3 standard deviations = 99%

Correlation Coefficient

This is a measure of the direction (positive or negative) and extent (range of a correlation coefficient is from -1 to +1) of the relationship between two sets of scores.

Interpretation of Results

Placing measurement data in a context, or making sense of test scores.

Statistical Significance

used by research psychologists to indicate whether or not the difference between groups can be attributed to chance or if the difference is likely the result of experimental influences.