ap psych unit 1 review

HISTORY AND PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is an independent science. Psychologists nowadays work to gain knowledge and apply what is already known beneficially in many areas of everyday life. Psychology’s designation as a separate science can be traced back to the 19th century and pioneers such as Wilhelm Wundt and William James. There are very few areas of our lives that are not affected by psychology.

Types of Psychology Fields

• Industrial/organizational: scientific solutions to human problems in workplaces
• Psychometrist: administers/interprets objective psychological tests
• Human factors specialists: measure/understand employee performance/productivity
• Developmental: advance knowledge about development across the lifespan
• Social: how people affect/are affected by others and social/physical environments

APA Ethical Guidelines

• Whenever a study includes human or animal subjects, a review board at the institution conducting the study must approve it.
  • For human subjects:
  • Participants must know they are involved in research + give informed consent
  • Participants are told the purpose of the study and can find out the results
  • Researchers will not reveal the identities of the participants
  • Participants can’t be forced into the study OR placed at significant risk in any way
  • For animal subjects:
  • The study must have a definite scientific purpose
  • Animals must be properly cared for
  • Pain and suffering must be kept to a minimum

KEY TERMS

• Animal rights: when experimenting on animals, researchers are expected to adhere to a standardized set of ethical guidelines, including:
  • The study must have a definite scientific purpose
  • Animals must be properly cared for
  • Pain and suffering must be kept to a minimum
• Applied research: applies basic research to solve problems/achieve a specific goal
• Basic research: gathering knowledge for the sake of knowledge
• Behavior genetics: the branch of genetics that examines the genetic and environmental contributions to personality, characteristics and behavior
• Behaviorism: a theoretical perspective that focuses on observable, quantifiable behavior and the relationships between behavior and environmental variables
• Case study: studying one person/situation to gain in-depth information
• Central tendency: either the mean, median or mode of a data set that represents the overall tendency of the distribution
• Clinical: branch of psychology; deals with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
• Cognitive: perspective that focuses on thoughts, short/long term memory, etc.
• Confounding variable: extra unintended variable that may cause a change instead of the independent variable
• Control group: group that is similar to the experimental group but is not given the treatment being tested (independent variable)
• Correlation: when two variables are connected but one does not necessarily cause the other
• Data: set of observations that are collected to gain information or prove hypotheses
• Dependent variable: the variable that is measured after a change is made
• Descriptive statistics: statistics used to describe and/or summarize things that are already known
• Double blind: when both the subjects and the experimenters/administrators are “blind” to which group is receiving the actual treatment and which is receiving the placebo (prevents placebo effect)
• Empirical: facts that can be effectively tested, replicated or scientifically proven
• Ethics: set of guidelines which are generally accepted in order to protect subjects from harm
• Evolutionary: perspective focusing on how natural selection has changed psychology over time
• Experiment: preferred method of data collection - only way in which one variable can be isolated in order to measure its effect on another variable, as well as prove causation and hypotheses
• Experimental condition: the treatment administered to a group (independent variable)
• Functionalism: movement led by William James in which consciousness was studied according to the functions it serves instead of its physical structures
• Humanism: perspective focusing on free will and human desires/emotions
• Hypothesis: educated statement that guesses the effect of one variable on another, backed up by scientific reasoning (null hypothesis = theory that the IV will have no effect on the DV)
• Independent variable: variable that is changed/manipulated to see its effect on another
• Inferential statistics: statistics used to make inferences about a population from a sample
• Informed consent: subjects must be fully informed of everything involved with the study (purpose, side effects, etc.) before agreeing to participate, and they must give their consent to participate
• Interview: a type of survey where subjects are interviewed face-to-face with an interviewer
• Mean: the average of all the data collected
• Median: the data point in the middle of the distribution
• Mode: the most commonly repeated data point in a distribution
• Negative (inverse) correlation: as one variable increases, the other decreases
• Neuroscience: the study of brain/nervous system structure and function
• Observational: a type of study in which researchers observe subjects in their natural environment without having any sort of interaction with or control over them
• Operational definition: a description of something in terms of the procedures by which it could be measured and observed (i.e. anxiety could be based on test scores, nervous system, etc.)
• Percentile: the percentage of data points in a distribution that are above/below a certain point
• Placebo: a fake treatment administered to control groups to prevent the placebo effect (false behavior based on whether the subject believes they received treatment or not)
• Population: a group of people being studied that all have something in common
• Positive (direct) correlation: as one variable increases, the other increases (and vice versa)
• Pseudoscience: something that may follow some steps of the scientific method but not all
• Psychodynamic: movement led by Freud and Jung that focused on unconscious behavior
• Psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• Questionnaire: one type of survey that has subjects answer questions to collect data
• Random assignment: after obtaining samples, subjects are randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (prevents bias)
• Random selection: everyone has an equal chance of being selected for a sample (prevents bias)
• Representative: a sample that represents a population well enough that data from that sample can be used to make inferences about the population
• Research design: a plan for how to conduct the scientific investigation, how the variables will be manipulated/measured, and how the data will be collected/analyzed
• Sample: a group of people chosen to represent a larger population
• Sampling: the process of selecting individuals to collect data from in a sample
• Science: the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained
• Skepticism: a questioning/doubting attitude or the position that certainty in knowledge is impossible
• Standard deviation: the average distance between each data point and the mean
• Statistical significance: the degree to which a research outcome cannot be reasonably attributed to chance or random factors alone (determined by the p-value)
• Structuralism: movement led by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener focused on the functions of individual bodily structures (mind composed of elements acting upon each other)
• Survey: each member of a sample group is asked the same questions to collect data
• Theory: a principle/body of interrelated principles that tries to explain/predict phenomena
• Third variable: a variable that is neither the IV nor the DV that the researcher failed to control or eliminate, damaging the validity of the experiment (see confounding variables)
• Validity: the extent to which evidence can be trusted/relied upon
• Variable: a factor in an experiment that can take on different values and be quantified
• Variance: a measure of the spread or dispersion of scores within a sample or population
• Z-score: standardized score with a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1, helpful for comparing distributions

Sample Questions

• Compare the explanations that a psychoanalyst, a behaviorist, and a humanistic psychologist would offer to help us understand why a person would run a marathon.
  • A psychoanalytic psychologist might argue that a person would run a marathon because they have some sort of unconscious desire to do so. For whatever reason, marathon running may appeal to some part of that person’s brain without them even realizing it, or perhaps they had some unconscious need for the kind of high-stress bodily movement and discipline that comes with running marathons. Maybe they were lacking stimulation in some area of their brain related to exercise and they unconsciously sought out ways to find that stimulation. A behavioral psychologist might say that the person was influenced by their environment to run a marathon. This could involve peer pressure or even jealousy. Maybe they grew up with parents or other family members who were marathon runners, or just experienced jealousy from the fitness of others around them. These influences could have caused this person to want to run a marathon themselves, mimicking the behavior of those surrounding them. A humanistic psychologist might take a similar approach to that of the psychoanalytic psychologist. They would argue that the person had a desire or even a passion for running long distances. This could stem from a variety of things. Maybe they were always passionate about running. Maybe they had an internal desire for freedom and they expressed that through running. Either way, they would say it came from a desire or passion of some sort.
• List 4 modern perspectives in psychology and give an example of a typical question or problem that would be investigated within each.
  • One modern perspective in psychology is behaviorism. Behaviorism is focused on the influence of a person’s environment on their behavior. An example of a problem that would be investigated by behaviorists might be whether children who grew up with parents or older siblings who had eating disorders would be more or less likely to develop an eating disorder themselves - it would study how the external influence of the relatives’ disorders affected the development of similar behavior in those around them.
  • Another modern perspective in psychology is the evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary psychologists study the influence of natural selection on human behavior and biology over time. An example of a problem that would be investigated by evolutionary psychologists might be how a certain human behavior such as mating has remained the same and/or changed over time, going all the way back to the first humans or our biological ancestors.
  • Yet another modern perspective in psychology is the cognitive perspective. Cognitive psychologists study thinking and learning, and how thoughts affect behavior and emotions. An example of a problem that might be studied by cognitive psychologists could be how different teaching methods affect the behavior of elementary students. It would show the connections between different ways of teaching/learning/thinking and the behavior that results from it.
  • Finally, another modern perspective in psychology is the humanistic perspective. Humanistic psychologists study psychology through the lens of the emotions and desires of humans. An example of a problem that would be studied by humanistic psychologists could be the performance of students or employees with varying passions in school/the workplace. For instance, a student who intends to go into academia might be more inclined to try harder in school than a student who is passionate about construction.
• Describe the tasks that might be included in the typical workday of a school psychologist.
  • Since school psychologists work on such a wide range of activities day-to-day, it is hard to describe one “typical” workday for a school psychologist. Some tasks that school psychologists may complete would include diagnosis of learning disabilities and making accommodations for such situations. They may also provide assistance for students who are having issues of many sorts at home or can’t afford necessary supplies, as well as counseling and academic assistance.

Research Methods

• Psychology is a science.
• Experimental and other psychologists who do research strive to formulate testable hypotheses. They seek empirical evidence to support or reject conclusions.
• Each type of research has its advantages and disadvantages.
  • For instance, experiments are the best way to determine cause-and-effect relationships, but may not always be ethical or feasible to carry out.
  • Non-experimental studies don’t usually have ethical problems but cannot determine causation like experiments can.
• Example Questions
  • List the major ethical issues raised in the process of doing research with humans/animals.
  • The biggest ethical issue that applies to both human and animal research subjects is potential physical harm done to the subjects. For instance, if a medicine is being tested on humans, they have to make sure that the medicine will not have any major negative effects on the test subjects. This applies to animals too, albeit to a lesser extent as it is often hard to know the medical backgrounds and sensitivities of these nonhuman creatures. This is why informed consent of human subjects is so important - they have to know what they are getting into so that they can choose whether or not to participate in the study based on their own situation. This is also why it’s important that any study involving animals has a definite scientific purpose so that any pain or suffering (which should be kept minimal) is at least for a good cause in the end. In any case, a review board must review every study at their institution against ethical guidelines such as these.
  • Define the term “informed consent”.
  • Informed consent is the process of informing human research study participants of the risks, details, purpose, etc. of the study they intend to participate in before they are involved in the study in any way. At that point, when they have been made aware of anything that could potentially cause them to back out of the study, they must either explicitly give or withdraw their consent to be in the study. If consent is not given, participants cannot be forced into the study.
  • Design a true experiment to test the effectiveness of a new medication to alleviate social anxiety.
  • First, identify the exact population you want to study. In this case, I’ll say the study is on U.S. residents of both biological sexes who are ages 18-24 and have some level of diagnosable social anxiety. Then find a sample. In this case, I want the sample to represent the entire U.S. population ages 18-24, so I’ll randomly select 4 individuals (2 females and 2 males) that meet the aforementioned criteria from each U.S. state. After selecting my sample, I would obviously inform all of the participants of the study’s details/risks/etc. and obtain their informed consent before proceeding. Then I would randomly assign participants to either the experimental group or the control group to eliminate any gender/racial/other bias. The experimental group would receive a dose of the medication as often as it required, and the control group would receive the placebo at the same times, with the same frequency. Neither the administrator nor the participants would know which group they are in and who is receiving which pill. This double blind would help eliminate potential bias. I would have the participants record their levels of social anxiety in a short survey every day in which the medication/placebo is supposed to be helping them. Then I would organize the data into a distribution for analysis.
  • Explain why “correlation does not equal causation”.
  • When someone says that “correlation does not equal causation”, they mean that a relationship between two variables does not mean that change in one variable is caused by the other. For instance, let’s say (hypothetically) that people with green eyes tended to score higher on the SAT last year. While these two variables seem to be related somehow, it doesn’t mean that having green eyes causes higher scores on standardized tests across the board. Correlation means that two variables are merely related, while causation signifies that one variable is causing the other.
  • Explain why it would most likely not be possible to design an experiment to determine whether or not smoking causes gradual memory loss in humans.
  • It would likely not be possible to design an experiment of this sort because of ethics. The American Psychological Association’s ethical guidelines state that participants can’t be placed at significant risk in a study. There is no way that this guideline could be adhered to in this experiment. If we assume that the researcher’s hypothesis that smoking causes gradual memory loss in humans is correct, forcing participants to smoke and causing them to have memory loss is obviously a significant risk. Even if the researcher’s hypothesis was incorrect and smoking does not cause memory loss, smoking has already been proven dangerous in and of itself, with side effects such as nicotine addiction and lung cancer. Since it has been specified that this study has to do with human memory loss, an experiment like this would have to use human participants, and this cannot be done ethically in this scenario. The researcher may want to consider a correlational study instead, as there is no further harm in observing people who already chose to smoke of their own volition. It cannot prove causation like an experiment could, but it is the most ethical way to prove that the two variables are even related.

Basic Statistics

• While descriptive statistics are used to describe information that is already known, inferential statistics are used to test hypotheses and make inferences.
• It is possible to do statistics correctly and still be wrong about a population.
• Sample Questions
  • Describe what is meant by the term “representative sample”.
  • A representative sample is a sample that is representative of the population that is being studied. For instance, if the entire U.S. population is being studied, a sample that only includes white males would not be representative of the population. A representative sample in that particular case would include people of every race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc.
  • Define the term “statistical significance”.
  • Statistical significance is the likelihood that the results of an experiment occurred due to chance alone. If findings are statistically significant, it means that it is likely that they did not occur due to chance. We use statistical significance (determined by probability value) to determine whether to accept or reject our null hypothesis, which states that there is no causation between the variables being tested.
  • Describe how a researcher might maximize his or her chances of obtaining a representative sample.
  • The researcher must be specific about the population they want to study and then make sure that every major factor in that population is represented somehow in the sample. For example, if they want to study a particular town that has varying levels of socioeconomic status in its population of 3,000 African-American residents and 100 white residents, different socioeconomic levels must be represented equally, but African-American participants should outnumber white participants because that is how the town population is proportioned.
  • Give an example in which median or mode might be the appropriate way to express central tendency in a population.
  • Median or mode would be preferable in situations where there are major outliers in the data set because they are resistant to outliers, unlike the mean. For instance, if the age of a population is being studied and everyone in the population is between 18-45, and one person has somehow lived to 110. The age of 110 would offset the mean, but the median and mode would be relatively unaffected, especially since the rest of the data points are closer together.
  • What does the standard deviation tell us about a sample or population?
  • The standard deviation is a measure of the average distance between each data point and the mean. This is useful for showing percentiles of a sample or population that are “below average”. For example, finding out that 60% of the population is “below average” could signify either a major problem or success depending on the context.