AP Psychology Unit 1

1.1 - Introducing Psychology

Psychology is a more complex science because people change, so it is hard to study
Wilheim Wundt
- Father of psychology
- Founded the first psychology lab (1879)
- Defined psychology as a separate branch of science
Edward Titchener
- Wundt’s student
- Took Wundt’s ideas back to the US
- Coined the term structuralism
- Studying the mind by trying to look at what it is made of
- The problem with this approach is the research method to study it; introspection
- Introspection is asking a person to observe themselves think
- A person cannot actively pay attention to more than one thing at a time
William James
- Wrote the first psychology textbook
Functionalism - attempt to study what the mind does or its function
Structuralism vs. functionalism
How to approach a multi-sided subject?
- Many ways to study it; perspectives & approaches
- Psychodynamic approach
  - Many people think of this
  - Lying on a couch, hypnosis, dream analysis
  - One of the oldest approaches
  - Developed by Sigmund Freud
  - Aka psychoanalytic theory
  - unconscious
- Behavioral approach
  - Observing behaviors and reflexes
  - Ivan Pavlov
  - Studied digestion in dogs and discovered their reflex that they would salivate at something other than food if that thing was served routinely before food
  - reflexive/classical conditioning

If a reflex can be associated with anything with any random stimulus, then any reflex can be associated with anything, even if it isn’t normally scary

Operant conditioning

Focused on behavior

Every behavior has a consequence; might be a reward or punishment

Cognitive approach
- Focuses on thoughts
- Everything in the world is related to thoughts
- problem - many thought processes are flawed and based on shortcuts, emotions, and limited experience
How to approach a complicated subject?
- Perspectives & approaches
- Biological approach
- (more in unit 2)
- Mind is what the brain does
- You can’t have thoughts and emotions without the brain doing something
- Chemical and electrical signals being sent/received
Humanistic approach
- Focuses on how people are unique and special
- Optimistic approach, strengths of an individual
- Rejects pessimistic idea that unconscious is in conflict with society’s beliefs and that people should be trained with rewards and punishments
- freewill
Sociocultural approach
- We all come from somewhere
- Family, religion, neighborhood, culture, society
- Your likes/dislikes exist because of what you are surrounded by and the media you consume

1.2 - Research Methods In Psychology

Research is not done in the same way
methods of research
- Surveys
- Questionnaires to gather data
  - Data is raw and has to be processed to be useful
Naturalistic observation
- Go to people’s environments and observe them
Case study
- Gather lots of deep data about a specific group/individual
Experiments (in next video)
Different ways to do these methods
- Longitudinal
- Follows one group
- Long time of data collection
- Can data be generalized?
- Cross-sectional
- Compares different groups
- Gathers data at one point in time (snapshot), doesn’t give full picture
These methods are correlational, not causal
Could have third or fourth variables or other confounding variables

1.3 - Defining Psychological Science: The Experimental Method

Experimental method
- Experiments are the only way to find a causal relationship (one thing causes another)
- One thing (independent variable) causes a change in something else (dependent variable)
- Independent variable is what you do, dependent variable is what you get
Hypothesis
- A prediction; if, then statement
- If we manipulate the independent variable and hold everything else constant, then the dependent variable will change because of the independent variable
Experimental control
- Holding everything else constant
Placebo effect
- Change because of the belief in the independent variable
Placebo
- Something that is close to the independent variable as possible but it is missing something important

1.4 ~ Selecting a Research Method

participant/subject bias
- consciously/unconsciously behaving in a way to ensure research outcome fit their expectations of whatever the researcher wants to find
single-blind procedure → to prevent participant bias
- Subjects are not aware if they are in the control or experimental group
experimenter/researcher bias
- consciously/unconsciously conducting research that ensures the outcome fits the expectations
Double-blind procedure → to prevent experimenter bias
- Neither researcher or subjects know if subject is in control of experimental group
Hawthorne effect
- A study to identify what conditions would boost worker productivity
- independent variable - length of rest periods, work day, work week
- dependent variable - productivity
- Results:
- Productivity increased with increase of rest periods
- But when workers returned to original schedules, productivity was the same
- dependent variable stayed the same because subjects were being observed

1.5 ~ Statistical Analysis in Psychology

Quantitative data
- Deals with numbers
Qualitative data
- Deals with descriptive data
Descriptive statistics
- Organizing and describing data
inferential statistics
- Predicting how data and independent variable relates to larger population
frequency distribution table
- Way to organize data and determines how often data occurs
Discrete data
- Data which can be counted
- Nominal scale
- Data without any structure or order
- Ordinal scale
- Count and order but not measure
Continuous data
- Data which can be measured
- Interval scale
- Degrees of difference but not the ratio between them
- Ratio scale
- Meaningful measurement with 0 value
Dichotomy scale
- Two categories when organizing data
Trichotomy scale
- Three or more categories
Central tendency
- Identifying an estimated center of the distribution of data
Mean
- Average of the data set
Mode
- Most occurring value in the data set
Median
- Score found at the exact middle of the data set
Range
- Difference between highest and lowest values
standard deviation
- Allows researchers to indicate average from the mean for a set of scores
- Higher standard deviation → less similar the score
Normal distribution/bell curve
- symmetrical distribution is produced
Positive skew
- When scores pull mean toward higher end of the score
Negative skew
- When scores pull the mean toward lower end of scores
Correlational studies DO NOT imply causation, but allows researchers to determine relationships between variables
Correlation coefficient
- Strengthen of two variables
- The closer the value is to +1 or -1, the stronger the relationship
Positive relationship
- 0 → +1
- Both variables or increasing or decreasing together
negative relationship
- 0 → -1
- One variable is increasing while other is decreasing
No correlation
- No relationship between variables and data is scattered
Statistical significance
- Likelihood data collection is a result of manipulation of independent variable and not left to chance

1.6 ~ Ethical Guidelines in Psychology

American Psychological Association was first established in 1892
Principle A: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
- Researchers must conduct experiments that are helpful to others and doesn’t harm
Principle B: Fidelity and Responsibility
- Cultivate a positive atmosphere and a scientific environment built on trust, accountability, and ethical consideration
Principle C: Integrity
- Psychologists must engage trust and transparent practices within all aspects of psychology
- Exception → can deceive subjects when conducting social psychology experiments
Principle D: Justice
- Must prevent unjust practices by remaining aware of their biases, level of competence, and areas and limits of expertise
Principle E: Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity
- Subjects have informed consent and rights to privacy
Ethical codes for animals
- Researchers must acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals in accordance to federal, state, and local laws