AP Psychology Test 1

Psychology

scientific study of behavior and mental process

What does mental process include?

Thoughts, feelings, and dreams.

What does a 2-year certificate give?

Psychology technician and working under the supervision of a liscenced psychologist/counselor

What does the Bachelor’s of Arts (4-year certificate) give?

School counselors, nurses, or regional centers.

What does the Master’s of Arts (6-year certificate) give?

Social workers, psychiatric nurse, conducting research, and teaching

What does the PH.D. (8-10 year certificate) give?

Can work in clinical settings, research, or teaching at a college level

What does the Medical Degree (10-year certificate) give?

Can perform medical procedures and prescribe medication.

What is required to become a Psychoanalyst?

An M.A. (6-yrs) or PH.D. (8-10 yrs); and two additional years of Freudian training

Clinical Psychology (Clinician)

diagnosing and treating abnormal problems, usually in hospital settings

Couseling (Counselor)

deals with more common issues such as adjustment issues, usually in a private practice setting

Experimental Psychology

involves conducting basic research in psychology, usually faculty members at colleges and are referred to as research psychologists

Educational Psychology

the study of how we learn, creating standardized testing and focusing on the relationship between learning and environments

Social Psychology

explores behaviors, feelings, and beliefs which are influenced by communicating

Developmental Psychology

studying the growth of the lifespan from womb to death; applying research in age-related behavioral changes as time goes by

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

study/advise on the behavior in the workplace; they select/train employees (focuses on comunerism)

Forensic Psychology

combines law and psychology to legal issues; analyzes crime scenes, assists law enforcements with evidence, testimony, and jury selection

Sports Psychology

combines biomechanic, physiology, kinesiology, and psychology; study on how psychological factors influence performances/particiation; not just sports

What disciplines does Psychology root from?

Medicine, Philosophy, Biology, and Chemistry

What is the APA (American Psychological Association)?

A scientific and professional organization that represents U.S. psychologist, responsible for academic citation format

Who is Wilhelm Wundt?

A German Physiologist/Philosopher who is considered the Founder/Father of Psychology

Who opened the first psychology lab in 1879?

Wilhelm Wundt

Where was the first psychology lab?

Leipzig, Germany

What is considered the beginning of the field of Psychology?

The first psychology lab in 1879

What did Wilhelm Wundt use?

Introspection

Introspection

describing ones’ conscious experience, careful examination of ones’ mental experience

What is Wilhelm Wundt the first to do?

Using a scientific method to study consciousness

Who is Edward Titchener?

An English Psychologist and the founder of Structuralism

Structuralism

the theory that the structure of conscious experience could be understood by analyzing the basic elements of thoughts and sensation

What did Edward Titchener do?

break the consiousness into smaller pieces to analyze it

Who is William James?

The first American Psychologist and author of the First Psychology textbook; founder of functionalism

Functionalism

the theory that emphasizes on the functions of the consiousness or the ways which it can help people adapt to their environment

Who is Max Wertheimer?

A psychologist who created Gestalt Psychology in response to Structuralism

Gestalt Psychology

the psychological perspective that emphasizes on our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

What is the famous saying of Gestalt psychology?

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Phi Phenomenon

motion is percieved when there is nothing more than a rapid sequence of individual sensory events

What are some examples of Phi Phenomenon?

X-mas lights, flip books, the wave in cheering crowds

Who is Sigmund Freud?

The founder of Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis

a therapeutic technique that attempts to provide insights into thoughts and actions by exposing and interpreting the underlying unconscious motives and conflicts

Who is John Watson?

The founder of Behaviorism

Behaviorism

the theory that psychology should restrict its efforts to studying observable behaviors, not mental process

Who is B.F. Skinner?

An American Behavioral Psychologist who developed fundamental principles and techniques of operant conditioning and devised ways to apply them to the real world; developed the focus on learning through rewards and observation

Who is Abraham Maslow?

A Humanistic Psychologist who proposed the heirarachy of needs with self-actualization as one of the ultimate psychological needs

Who is Carl Rogers?

A Humanistic Psychologist who developed client-centered therapy and the importance of acceptance, genuiness, and empathy in fostering human growth

Humanistic Psychology

focuses on the study of consciousness experience, the individual’s freedom to choose, and the capacity for personal growth

What does the Humanistic Psychology consists of?

1. stresses the study of conscious experience and an individual’s free will

2. healthy individual should strive to reach their full potential

3. rejected the idea that behavior is controlled by rewards and punishments

Who is Jean Piaget?

Pioneered the study of developmental psychology who introduced a stage theory of cognitive development that led to a better understanding of children’s thought process

Cognitive Perspective

school of thought that focused on how people think- how we take in, process, store, and retrieve information; emphasizes on how people think about and interpret different situations

Biological Perspective

school of thought that focuses on the physical structures and substance underlying a particular behavior, thought, or emotion

What is behavior explained by?

Brain chemistry, genetics, glands, etc.

Behavioral Perspective

suggests that the keys to understanding development are observable behavior and stimuli in the environment

What does Behavioral Perspective focuses on?

our observable responses

What do Behavioral Psychologists believe we learn our responses through?

Rewards, punishments, and observation

Cognitive Perspective

the belief that the brain is the most important connection to how an individual operates

What does Cognitive Perspective focuses on?

how we think, take in, process, store, and retrieve information

Psychodynamic Perspective

the belief that behavior is explained through unconscious motivation and unresolved inner conflicts from ones’ childhood

What does Psychodynamic Perspective focus on?

how behavior is affected by unconscious conflicts and drives

What is the Psychodynamic Perspective the modern version of?

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Humanistic Perspective

the belief that behavior is explained by sastisfying a need through motivation, with the goal of reaching ones’ full potential

What does Humanist Perspective focus on?

How healthy people strive to reach their full potential

What need should be satisfied based on the Humanistic Perspective?

Safety, hunger, thirst, etc.

Research and Research Methodology

method of asking questions then drawing logical supported conclusion

Basic Research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

What is the purpose of research?

to find new information

Applied Research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

What is the purpose of applied research?

To use psychology to better the world

Case Study

research technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

What is the flaw of case study?

it’s open to bias and is difficult to apply data from one person to everyone

Longitudinal Study

research technique that follows the same group of individuals over a long period

What are the pros and cons of longitudinal study?

Pros: Rich source of data

Cons: Can be expensive and difficult to accomplish

Cross-Sectional Study

research technique that compares individual from different age groups at one time

What are some pros and cons of cross-sectional study?

Pros: Cheaper and easier than longitudinal study

Cons: Groups differences can be more than just developmental

Social-Cultural Perspective

a school of thought that focuses on how our thinking or behavior changes in different situations or as a result of cultural influences

Evolutionary Psychology

school of thought that focuses on the principles of natural selection to study the roots of behavior and mental process

What does Evolutionary Psychology combine?

Biological, psychological, and social aspect of human behavior

What is Evolutionary Psychology explained by?

How our ancestors have survived

Naturalistic Observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without manipulating or controlling the situation

Laboratory Observation

observing and recording in a laboratory environment which enables control/manipulation of the situation

Correlational Study

research project strategy that investigates how much two subjects correlate

What is important in a Correlational Study?

to NOT imply a cause and effect relationship

Survey Method

research technique that questions students, in order to collect information about their character

What’s good about the Survey Method?

usually very efficient and inexpensive method

Scientific Method

learning about the world through the application of critical thinking and tools such as observation, experimentation, and statistical analysis

Why is psychology considered science?

Scientific Method

Experiment

the researcher manipulates and controls certain variables to observe the effects on other variables

What is the only way to determine a cause-effect relationship?

Experiment

Hypothesis

testable prediction of the outcome of the experiment or research

Random Sample

a sample that fairly represents a population because each person in the population has the chance of being included

If a sample is NOT random, it’s considered to be?

Biased

Random Assignment

procedure for creating groups that allows the researcher to control individual differences among participants

Control Group

participants in an experiment who are not exposed to the independent variable

Experimental Group

participants in an experiment who are exposed to the independent variable

Operational Definition

an explanation of the exact procedures used to make a variable specific and measurable for research purposes

Indendent Variable

the variation which researchers manipulate actively, if the hypothesis is correct, the dependent variable will be affected

Dependent Variable

the variable that should show the effect of the independent variable

Confounding Variable

a variable other than the independent variable that could change the dependent variable

What can eliminate the variables?

Random Assisgnment

What are some examples of confounding variables?

Temperature, light, noise levels, distractions, etc.

Single Blind Procedure

experimental procedure where the research participants are ignorant to the purpose or expected outcome of the experiment

Double Blind Procedure

research procedure where both data collectors and the research participants do not know the expected outcome of the experiment

Replication

repeating the essence of a research study to see whether the results can be reliable reproduced