AP Psychology Placement Exam

A\Section 1: History of Psychology

● Psychology: science of behavior and mental processes.

● Behavior: Any action a person makes that you can observe (smiling, crying, jumping, and sleeping).

● Mental processes: Private thoughts, emotions, feelings that others cannot observe.

● Goals of Psychology:

1. Describe- information gathered through research to help describe something (surveys).

2. Predict- future behavior (SAT scores).

3. Understand- explain why things happen to help us understand behavior and mental processes.

4. Influence- intentionally influence behavior in positive ways (to study harder, to lose weight).

● Aristotle: - Interested in learning about the nature of life (reproduction, actions of people, learning, speaking).

- Psyche- essence of life.

- Psychology- psyche + logos (study of).

- Believed one must observe (look at, listen to, touch) what is being studied.

● Wilhelm Wundt: Established the first psychology laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. He introduced structuralism, which aimed to break down mental processes into their basic components through introspection. He is often referred to as the "father of psychology."

● Edward Titchener: - Student of Wundt, expanded his work.

- They wanted to identify the basic element of conscious behavior.

● Introspection: (Experimental psychology) Wundt/Titchener

- People described their thoughts as they looked at something.

- Self-observation and reporting inner thoughts, desires, sensations (describe the sensation of the apple= sour, grainy)

● Structuralism: (Experimental Psychology) Wundt/Titchener

- Basic elements of conscious experience will provide the scientific basis for understanding the mind.

● William James: Developed functionalism, which opposed structuralism and emphasized how mental processes help individuals adapt to their environment. He wrote Principles of Psychology, one of the first psychology textbooks, and introduced the idea of the "stream of consciousness."

● Hermann Ebbinghaus: wrote about memory.

- Experiment: sat with a metronome and every time the metronome clicked, he recited a nonsense syllable (KEZ) and when it clicked again, he tried to remember the syllable.

- Found that more meaningful memories are not forgotten the same way as unimportant ones (nonsense syllables).

● Mary Whiton Calkins: A pioneering psychologist who conducted extensive research on memory. She gave her subjects a series of numbers that were each paired with a different color. Later showed subjects the colors alone to see how many numbers they would recall (paired association). She was the first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA) but was denied a Ph.D. from Harvard due to gender discrimination.

● Margaret Floy Washburn: The first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. She contributed significantly to the study of animal behavior and the development of motor theory.

● G. Stanley Hall: The first APA president and a key figure in the development of educational psychology. He focused on child development and evolutionary theory and established the first psychology lab in the U.S. at Johns Hopkins University.

● Max Wertheimer: Emphasized holistic perception rather than analyzing individual parts. He believed that people tend to perceive objects as part of a greater whole, leading to the development of Gestalt principles such as figure-ground, proximity, similarity, and closure.

● Gestalt Psychology- (Gestalt = whole)

- Gestalt psychology- modern study of perception; people tend to view objects and events as a whole rather than the pieces that make the whole.

- Phi Phenomenon- the whole is different than the sum of its parts (motion pictures- you do not look at the movie slide by slide. You look at it as a whole, slides moving very quickly).

● Functionalism: thought that thinking, feeling, learning exists only because they helped us survive as a species (because we can think, we are better able to find food, avoid danger, care for children).

● Alfred Binet: developed a way to measure intelligence; based on providing extensive education for “intelligent” children and vice versa.

● Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (intelligence, job aptitude, personality to determine education in children).

● Psychometrics- Measuring mental functions.

● Cognitive Psychology: - Cognition- term referring to all intellectual processes (perceiving, thinking, believing, remembering, knowing, deciding).
● Ivan Pavlov: Conducted experiments on classical conditioning, demonstrating how dogs could be trained to associate a bell with food. His work laid the foundation for the study of learned behavior.

- Dog experiment- paired metronome with meat powder so that every time the dog hears the metronome he would salivate, expecting to be fed.

- Conditioning- inherited reflex (salivating) is triggered by a stimulus that has nothing to do with the stimulus (metronome).

● John B. Watson: Coined the term Behaviorism after Pavlov’s work. He conducted the "Little Albert" experiment, demonstrating that fear could be conditioned.

- Behaviorism: learning based on overt behavior from the past.

● B.F. Skinner: Expanded on behaviorism with operant conditioning, introducing concepts such as reinforcement (positive and negative) and punishment to shape behavior. He developed the "Skinner Box" to study animal behavior.

● Albert Bandura: Developed social learning theory, which emphasized the role of observational learning, modeling, and cognition in behavior. His Bobo doll experiment demonstrated how children imitate aggressive behavior from adults, contributing to the understanding of media and violence.

- Social Learning Theory: states that behaviors are learned from other people in society (family, friends).

● Sigmund Freud: Austrian physicist. Introduced the concept of the unconscious mind and its influence on human behavior. He developed psychoanalysis, which emphasized repressed thoughts, childhood experiences, and dream analysis. His theories introduced concepts like the id, ego, and superego and the psychosexual stages of development.

- Unconscious mind- mental activity which we are unaware of.

- Thought the roots of people’s psychological problems were innate motives, especially sexual and aggressive ones.

- Unconscious motives and thoughts influence our behavior (even though we do not know about them).

Section 2: Psychological Perspectives Humanist Perspective

● Abraham Maslow: Developed the hierarchy of needs, which suggests that individuals must fulfill basic physiological needs before progressing to higher-level psychological needs, culminating in self-actualization.

● Carl Rogers: Emphasized self-concept, unconditional positive regard, and client-centered therapy. He believed that individuals strive for personal growth when provided with a supportive environment.

● Believed that humans determine their own fate through conscious decisions they make.
● Believed that unconscious mind defeats efforts to make decisions

● Self-concept: our own view of what we are like. Psychoanalytic Perspective

● Focuses on unconscious processes, early childhood experiences, and repressed thoughts. It suggests that behavior is influenced by unresolved conflicts from childhood, which can manifest in adulthood. Biopsychology (Neuroscience) Perspective

● Interested in the structures of the brain that play roles in emotion, reasoning, speaking (Santiago Ramon Y Cajal)

- Study chemical substances in the brain that carry messages, drugs, and hormones.

- Neurons- cells that make up the brain and nervous system.

● Examines how biological processes, such as neurotransmitters, hormones, brain structures, and genetics, influence behavior and mental processes. This perspective is closely linked to advancements in neuroscience and brain imaging. Evolutionary (Darwinian) Perspective

● Explains behavior through the principles of natural selection, adaptation, and survival advantages. It examines how inherited traits enhance the ability to survive and reproduce.

● Psychological characteristics of human and nonhuman animals arose through natural selection.

● Natural selection- “Survival of the Fittest”; takes place through spontaneous changes in genes, known as mutations.

Behavioral Perspective

● Focuses on observable behavior, emphasizing learning through reinforcement, punishment, and conditioning. It dismisses the role of internal mental states in shaping behavior.

Cognitive Perspective

● Jean Piaget: Studied cognitive development in children, outlining four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational) that describe how thinking evolves over time.

● This perspective focuses on internal mental processes such as perception, memory, problem-solving, decision-making, and how people process and store information.

Social-Cultural (Sociocultural) Perspective

● Investigates how culture, social norms, and peer influence shape behavior and thinking. It examines how societal expectations affect cognitive development, behavior, and mental health.

● Everything is learned from others; it is necessary to fully understand one’s culture (patterns of behavior, beliefs, values).

● Ethnic group- composed of a group of descendants from a particular country or area.

● Ethnic ID- each person’s sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group and sharing those groups’ beliefs, attitudes, music, and traditions.

● Gender ID- one’s view of oneself as male or female (learning what it means to be male or female in society from family, friends) for example: blue color for boys and pink for girls.

● Cultural relativity- viewing cultures, groups, genders as different from each other rather than inferior to one another.

Biopsychosocial Perspective

● Integrates biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors to provide a comprehensive understanding of behavior. This approach acknowledges that multiple influences contribute to mental health and behavioral outcomes.

Basic Psychology

● Focuses on research only; 20% of psychologists work in basic areas.

Organizational Psychology

● Job satisfaction: an employee’s happiness and comfort level at work, an employee’s understanding of job expectation and qualifications for it.

Modern Psychology

● Incorporates various perspectives rather than adhering to a single approach. This eclectic view integrates biological, psychological, and social influences to better understand behavior and mental processes.

The Difference between Psychiatrist and Psychologist

- Psychiatrist: Has a medical degree (M.D.) and can prescribe medication.

- Psychologist: - No need for medical school - More broad than psychiatry

- Clinical psychology is most similar to psychiatry, but still cannot prescribe medication. - Has a Ph.D.