AP Psychology: Scientific Foundations of Psychology

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Rene Descartes

A French philosopher and mathematician well known for his endorsement of mind-body dualism

Mind-body dualism

Maintains that the mind and the body are distinct substances, each operating according to its own set of principles

John Locke

An English philosopher and empiricist who believed that every human mind begins as a tabula rasa, or blank slate, which is shaped by individual experiences to become a unique person

Empiricism

The idea that all knowledge comes from experiences; embraced by philosophers such as Locke and Hume, it also remains influential in contemporary psychology and other experimental sciences

David Hume

A Scottish empiricist and member of the Associationist School who proposed several principles of association

Principles of association

Rules that govern the ways in which the mind connects one idea to another and constructs complex ideas out of simpler ones

Evolution

The idea, developed by Darwin, that species change over time, adapting to their environments in order to maximize survival and reproductive success by means of natural selection

Phrenology

The idea developed by German physiologists Gall and Spurzheim that personal traits could be revealed by measuring the size and location of bumps on a person’s skill; thoroughly discredited by subsequent research

Psychophysics

A subfield of physiology created by the German scientists Weber and Fechner and concerned with the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations they cause

Introspection

A technique used by early scientific psychologists consisting of precise examinations and description of an individual’s conscious experience, typically in response to stimuli presented by the researcher

Structuralism

The theoretical approach developed in the late nineteenth century by Wundt and Titchener, which seeks to uncover the structures of consciousness through detailed descriptions of experience in laboratory settings

Functionalism

Developed by William James in response to structuralism, an approach that emphasized the functions of the mind over its structures and focused on how aspects of consciousness allowed human beings to adapt to their environments

Biological approach

An approach that maintains that all psychological phenomena have a biological basis; emphasizes neuroscience, genetics, and evolution in its explanations

Eugenics

The controversial and discredited idea that the human species can be improved through selective breeding

Behaviorism

A theoretical approach founded on the belief that psychology should only study observable and measurable behavior; behaviorists emphasize the impact of learning and other environmental forces on humans and animal behavior

Gestalt psychology

A response to structuralism developed by Max Wertheimer and others in the early twentieth century that sought to discover principles that organized the whole of perceptual experience

Psychoanalysis

The therapeutic approach invented by Freud, premised on the idea that some symptoms are the results of conflicts and other problems in the unconscious mind

Psychodynamic psychology

The collective term used to describe the approaches of Freud, Jung, Adler, Horney, and similar thinkers, which tend to rely on ideas about the unconscious; influential in the early development of clinical psychology

Humanistic psychology

Developed in the mid-twentieth century by Maslow, Rogers, and others, an approach that emphasizes human freedom and self-development

Cognitive revolution

The ascendance of the cognitive approach in psychology, which sought to investigate a wide variety of cognitive processes, including language, memory, and attention

Sociocultural approach

A perspective that emphasize how social and cultural contexts influence the development of human cognition and behavior

Biological psychology

Biological psychologists and neuropsychologists investigate how the brain and nervous system cause behavior

Clinical psychology

Clinical psychologists specialize in helping people who suffer from psychological disorders

Cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychologists are interested in thinking and other cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, language use, reasoning, and decision making

Community psychology

Community psychologists help build collaborative relationships among community members, organizations, and other groups to solve social problems. They study how individuals relate to their communities and the effect those communities have on the individual

Counseling psychology

Counseling psychologists tend to assist individuals with less severe problems, often helping people look for guidance in navigating through the ordinary difficulties in life

Development psychology

Developmental psychologists focus on human development throughout the course of life

Educational psychology

Educational psychologists investigate how a variety of factors, such as ability, motivation, and classroom setting, affect students

Environmental psychology

Environmental psychologists study the interactions between people and the natural environment and explore issues such as the impact of environmental stress on psychological health and productivity

Experiemntal psychology

Experimental psychologists design and oversee empirical research projects to gain insights into psychological processes

Evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary psychologists understand behavior and cognition through the lens of fitness, adaptation, and other evolutionary concepts

Forensic psychology

Forensic psychologists are usually trained in both psychology and the law; they can provide valuable expertise within the judicial system, assessing defendants and inmates, advising judges and conducting research on issues relevant to the justice system, such as jury behavior and eyewitness testimony

Gerontological psychology

Gerontology is the study of aging and the elderly; functioning in older people and assist in determining how much assistance an older person needs on a daily basis, as well as conduct research and teaching

Health psychology

Health psychologists examine health and illness in the context of biological, psychological, and social factors

Human factors psychology

Human factors specialists, also known as engineering psychologists, typically investigate how human beings can work safely and effectively with machines

Industrial and organizational psychology

Industrial and organizational psychologists apply psychological principles and research methods to the workplace and are interested in improving productivity, health, and the quality of work life

Personality psychology

Personality psychologists investigate how our personalities develop and how they affect the ways in which we think, feel, and act

Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguists study language acquisition and other psychological processes that involve language

Psychometrics

Psychometricians study the theories and techniques of psychological measurement. Some design tests that measure intelligence, attitudes, personality, traits, and other psychological characteristics

Rehabilitation psychology

Rehabilitation psychologists work with people affected by injuries, disabilities, and other medical conditions, helping clients adapt to their new situations, including adjusting to work and pain management

School psychology

The majority of school psychologists work for school systems and provide a wide range of services, such as diagnosis, assessment, intervention, prevention, health promotion, and program development

Social psychology

Social psychologists study group behavior, as well as the impact of other people on the behavior of individuals

Sport psychology

Sport psychologists are generally knowledgeable in the areas of psychology, physiology, and kinesiology. These specialists focus on optimizing the performance of athletes

Alfred Adler

Austrian medical doctor and psychotherapist who was one of the first practitioners of family counseling and an advocate of the psychodynamic approach

Jerome S. Bruner

American cognitive psychologist who developed a theory of cognitive growth; influential in educational psychology

Mary Whiton Calkins

Student of William James best known for self-psychology, an introspective psychology that understands the self as a conscious organism that functions and has experiences and drives

Noam Chomsky

Linguist and cognitive psychologist who views language acquisition as an innate human characteristic and argues for a universal grammar underlying all language

Charles Darwin

British naturalist whose scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies. He influenced both the early functionalists and more contemporary evolutionary psychologists

Dorothea Dix

Best known for investigating and xposing the atrocious conditions suffered by the mentally ill in state institutions and spearheading a reform movement for the human treatment of mental patients

Gustav Fechner

One of the founders of psychophysics, he examined quantitative relations between sensations and the stimuli producing them

Leon Festinger

American social psychologists best known for cognitive dissonance theory and other work in social psychology

Sigmund Freud

Austrian founder of psychoanalysis, a form of therapy that focuses on the unconscious. He also developed the structural model of personality that distinguishes between id, ego, and superego, and a stage theory of psychosexual development

Franz Joseph Gall

Founder of phrenology who maintained that different functions were localized in different parts of the brain

G. Stanley Hall

First president of the American Psychological Association and student of William James; also influential in the study of child development

Hermann von Helmoltz

Conducted research on the nervous system, eye, and ear; advanced the trichromatic theory of color vision; and was the first to measure the speed of a nerve impulse

William James

A founder of functionalism known for the James-Lange theory of emotion. He established one of the first psychological laboratories in the United States and wrote the first psychology textbook, The Principles of Psychology (1890)

Carl Jung

Psychodynamic thinker best known for developing the theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious, as well as the distinction between introverted and extraverted personalities

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist best known for his hierarchy of needs

Ivan Pavlov

Russian physiologist most famous for his work on classical conditioning, who influenced the behaviorists

Jean Piaget

Swiss psychologist best known for his stage theory of cognitive development

Carl Rogers

Humanistic psychologist who developed client-centered therapy

B.F. Skinner

American behaviorist best known for operant conditioning theory and the “Skinner box,” an apparatus used in learning experiments

Edward Titchener

Student of Wundt, credited with bringing structuralism to the United States; instrumental in the establishment of experimental psychology

Lev S. Vygotsky

Russian psychologist who advocated for the sociocultural approach and is known for the zone of proximal development and other ideas about cognitive development

Margaret Floy Washburn

First woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology; best known for her book The Animal Mind (1908), which advocated for the scientific study of mental phenomena (contrary to the behaviorists)

John B. Watson

Founder of behaviorism, known for his contributions to classical conditioning theory and his Little Albert experiment

Ernst H. Weber

One of the founders of psychophysics, he is known for the concept of the just-noticeable difference

Max Wertheimer

Founder of Gestalt psychology, who emphasized the study of perception as a whole

Wilhelm Wundt

German structuralist who founded the first psychological laboratory; widely recognized as the “father of psychology”

Quantitative research

Research that uses operational measurements and statistical techniques to reach conclusions on the basis of numerical data, such as correlational studies and experiments

Qualitative research

Research that does not rely on numerical representations of data, such as naturalistic observations, unstructured interviews, and case studies

Correlation coefficient

A number (symbolized by r) between -1 and +1, which represents the strength and direction of the correlation between two variables. The closer the coefficient is to -1 or +1, the stronger the correlation between the variables

Positive correlation

An r value above 0, which indicates that two variables have a direct relationship: when one variable increases, the other also increases

Negative correlation

An r value below 0, which indicates that two variables have an inverse relationship: when one variable increases, the other decreases

Naturalistic observation

A research method, typically qualitative in nature and usually covert and undisclosed, that attempts to document behavior as it spontaneously occurs in a real world setting

Structured observation

A type of observational research typically conducted in a laboratory setting, where the researcher can control some aspects of the environment

Coding

The classification of behaviors into discrete categories, used especially in structured observations to achieve a level of consistency in recording and describing observations

Inter-rater reliability

A statistical measure of the degree of agreement between different codings of the same phenomena

Participant observation

A mostly qualitative research method in which the researcher becomes a member of a studied group, either overtly or covertly

Hawthorne effect

A phenomenon in which research subjects tend to alter their behavior in response to knowledge of being observed

Longitudinal study

A research design that examines how individualsCross develop by studying the same sample over a long period of time

Cross-sectional study

A research design conducted at a single point in time, comparing groups of differing ages to arrive at conclusions about development

Case study

A research design involving an in-depth and detailed examination of a single subject, or case, usually an individual or a small group

Survey

A mostly quantitative research method involving a list of questions filled out by a group of people to assess attitudes or opinions

Nonresponse bias

A distortion of data that can occur in surveys with a low response rate

Surveyor bias

A distortion of data that can occur when survey questions are written in a way that prompts respondents to answer a certain way

Experiments

Deliberately designed procedures used to test research hypotheses

Hypothesis

A proposes, testable explanation for a phenomenon, often constructed in the form of a statement about the relationship between two or more variables

Controlled experiement

A research design for testing a causal hypothesis, in which all aspects of the study are deliberately controlled and only independent variables are manipulated to isolate their effects on dependent variables

Field experiement

Experiments conducted out in the real world, with fewer controls than would be found in a lab

Natural experiment

An experiment that does not involve the direct manipulations of variables, in which researchers rely on natural variations and advanced statistics to draw conclusions

Independent variables

Factors manipulated in an experiment to test their effects on one or more dependent variables

Dependent variables

The factors measured as outcomes or results in an experimentContr

Control variables

Those factors present in an experiment that are kept constant between control and experimental groups

Confounding Variables

Factors other than the independent variable(s) that influence dependent variables or that alter the effects of independent variables on dependent variables

Control group

A group of participants in an experiment that represents a standard to which experimental groups are compared

Experimental group

A group of participants in an experiment that is exposed to some variation of the independent variable (other than the control value)

Placebo effect

A psychological phenomenon in which a person’s mere belief that he or she is receiving treatment causes the treatment to work

Placebo

An inactive imitation of a treatment, such as a sugar pill

Single-blind experiment

An experiment in which the researches know whether participants are in a control group or an experimental group, but the participants themselves lack this information