Ap Psychology

🧑‍🏫 Cultural Norms, Expectations, and Circumstances

When studying experiments, individuals, groups, and situations, there are a few things to consider. It's easier to understand the impact of these concepts by reviewing a scenario:

Emma wants to pursue a career in engineering, a field predominantly occupied by men in her society. When Emma tells her family and friends about her aspirations, she finds that they are less than supportive. In fact, she ends up facing resistance as people continuously tell her she should focus on more appropriate roles for women, such as teaching or nursing.

Cultural Norms

Cultural norms are shared rules and guidelines within a community that dictate appropriate and acceptable behaviors in society.

In Emma's community, jobs such as engineering are traditionally for men, while jobs that focus on care are traditionally for women. This could indicate that this Society has more traditional cultural values and norms.

Cultural Expectations

Cultural expectations are the anticipated behaviors and roles individuals are expected to fulfill based on cultural norms.

When Emma went against the expectations that were put on her, she faced pushback as individuals sought to try and pressure her to focus on the expectations over her wants.

Circumstances

Circumstances refer to the situations in which individuals find themselves, often including socioeconomic factors, historical events, and the person's geographical location.

Emma's Community might have limited opportunities for women in STEM fields and lack support for women pursuing non-traditional careers, which would ultimately influence Emma's behaviors since she may not be able to pursue certain actions due to her circumstances that were outside of her control. By understanding cultural norms expectations and circumstances we can gain insight into different factors that influence an individual's behaviors and mental processes.

None of us exists in isolation, we are constantly being influenced by external factors, so it's important that we spend time understanding how these factors can influence us as individuals.

🤔 Cognitive Biases

It's important to be on the lookout for our own biases, which can impact how we view different events, individuals, groups, and also impact different experiments, research, and studies. Cognitive biases such as the confirmation bias, hindsight bias, and overconfidence can impact our thoughts and actions.

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out information that aligns with our point of view while at the same time dismissing information that challenges our beliefs.

This bias tends to cause an individual to more easily believe evidence that supports their views and reject evidence that contradicts their perspective.

For example, let's say you're talking with one of your co-workers about work ethic. Your co-worker strongly believes that the younger Generations today are not as hardworking as previous generations. One day at work your co-worker notices a young employee taking a short break and immediately comments saying see this is exactly what I'm talking about young people today just don't want to work hard. However, later that same day another young employee stays late to finish a project and your coworker doesn't comment on this at all, instead focuses on other things.

In this example, your coworker is exhibiting confirmation bias by paying attention to the behavior that confirms their belief while ignoring the evidence that contradicts it. Generally speaking, confirmation bias can lead to polarized thinking and prevent individuals from considering new information that might challenge their beliefs.

Hindsight Bias

Hindsight bias is the tendency to think that one could have anticipated the outcome of an event or experiment after it already occurred.

Essentially, hindsight bias is the tendency to think that information is less surprising once you knew it. Generally, this bias happens because once our brains learn something we start making connections to all of the other information that we know and start to see patterns. Hindsight bias can distort memories and affect how individuals learn from past experiences. It also may result in individuals overestimating their ability to predict future events.

Overconfidence

Overconfidence is the tendency to overestimate one's knowledge, the likelihood of being correct, or an individual's ability to perform certain tasks.

For instance, a student who consistently gets A's in their High School classes might become overconfident in their ability to perform well on challenging exams in college. The student may underestimate the need for them to study and prepare for the exam. As a result, they may not study, which may result in them struggling in their college exams. Over confidence can lead an individual to make poor decisions or engage in Risky behaviors since individuals may take on tasks that they are not prepared for.

⚠ Applying Psychological Concepts and Theories

If psychological Concepts or theories are applied to situations or individuals in an inappropriate manner or in a discriminatory way, it can have significant ethical social and practical implications. For instance, misdiagnosing a mental health condition due to cultural biases or relying on outdated stereotypes could lead to ineffective or harmful treatments.

For example, some intelligence tests have been criticized for being used in incorrect ways to justify certain stereotypes of different cultural groups. William H. Tucker a professor of psychology at Rutgers University highlights this in this issue of the UN Chronicle stating:

For the first quarter of the 20th century there was particular concern over the results of early intelligence tests, which supposedly demonstrated that Southern and Eastern Europeans were not only intellectually inferior to their Northern counterparts but were also unfit for self-rule.

He continues by pointing out that in the last half century the controversy over intellectual and moral traits has focused primarily on the differences between blacks and other races which were often cited by those seeking to preserve white minority rule in South Africa and legal separation in the United States.

When looking at intelligence tests we can see how the work of certain individuals has been taken and used in incorrect ways to judge and categorize other people. Alfred benette created an intelligent scale which later became the Stanford Benet IQ test to help identify French children with developmental disabilities who needed extra support in school. benette warned against using his test to label children and adults on a fixed scale of intelligence. However, Henry Godard an American eugenicist ignored benet's warnings and translated the test into English and push for it to be used in the United States using it to rank people into different mental categories. Goddard would later use this test to argue that Society should prevent people that were found to be feeble-minded from having children either through sterilization or isolation.

It is important to make sure that:

We check for our own cognitive biases

We consider the different cultural factors that may be at play

We make sure that we correctly apply different psychological Concepts and theories to different individuals experiments treatments and situations in the correct way

🧠 Psychological Perspectives

AP Psychology can be broken up into five different units, but it's important to first familiarize yourself with scientific practices and research methods that act as the foundation of the course.

💡 Psychodynamic Perspective

Developed by Sigmund Freud.

Originally called psychoanalytic theory.

Focuses on the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences.

Believes personalities are shaped by unconscious motives.

Understanding the subconscious can be achieved by analyzing dreams and accessing oppressed memories/feelings.

Free Association: A word or image triggers another idea, word, or picture inside our head.

Often used to explore deep-seated emotional issues, unresolved conflicts, and the impact of early experiences on adult personality.

🧪 Behavioral Perspective

A rejection of the psychodynamic approach.

Key psychologists: John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner.

Focuses on observable behavior.

Believes psychology should be an objective science.

Emphasizes the role of the environment in shaping behavior through reinforcement and punishment.

Observing and modeling behavior off of others' actions and consequences.

Used in therapy and education to modify behaviors through conditioning techniques.

🌍 Social Cultural Perspective

Focuses on a person's experiences and influences in their life.

Seeks to understand how culture shapes an individual.

Observes how cultural norms guide behaviors within a group.

Cultural Norms: Shared expectations and rules that often guide behaviors within a group.

Aims to understand how individuals' behaviors are shaped by societal expectations.

Provides insight into different behaviors across different cultures.

🌱 Humanistic Perspective

Emphasizes the potential of humans to grow as individuals.

Key psychologists: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Believes behaviorism is too limited and should focus on the potential growth of a person.

Focuses on Free Will.

Optimistic approach that focuses on the differences of people and their growth and development.

Emphasizes Free Will and a person's desire to move toward self-actualization.

Self-Actualization: When an individual is motivated to strive to reach their full potential.

Often used in therapy to help individuals achieve personal growth and improve self-esteem.

🧠 Cognitive Perspective

Focuses on how individuals interpret, process, and remember information.

Emphasizes how people process and store information and how that influences a person's behavior.

Faces the challenge of trying to study thought processes in an objective and observable manner.

Often used in cognitive behavioral therapy.

🧬 Biological Perspective

Seeks to understand the links between biological and psychological processes.

Focuses on the brain, neurotransmitters, hormones, and the nervous system's role in influencing thoughts and actions.

Explores how behaviors and mental processes are influenced by our nervous system.

Allows us to better understand different neurological conditions, mental disorders, and the effects of medication on behaviors.

🤝 Biopsychosocial Perspective

Focuses on the interconnectedness of the biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding behaviors and mental processes.

Combination of the sociocultural and the biological perspective.

Used in treatments as it encourages individuals to consider not just the biological aspects of a disease but also the patient's emotional state and social environment.

evolution Evolutionary Perspective

Looks at how natural selection and adaptation influence behavior.

Proposed by Charles Darwin.

Argues that our behaviors and bodies were shaped through natural selection.

Helps us understand where certain behaviors, such as fear responses, come from.

🔬 Research Methodologies

Experimental Methodology

A systematic approach carried out under controlled conditions to test a hypothesis and establish a causal relationship between independent and dependent variables.

Aims to explain behaviors.

Non-Experimental Methodologies

Used when controlled experiments are not possible or ethical.

Focuses on describing behaviors rather than explaining them.

Cannot establish causal relationships.

Includes:

Case Studies

Correlational Studies

Meta-Analysis

Naturalistic Observation

📝 Non-Experimental Methods

Case Studies

Examines an individual, group, event, or situation to provide detailed information and insight into a topic.

Risk of the Hawthorne effect: subjects alter behavior when aware of being observed.

Correlational Studies

Gains insight into the relationship between two variables.

Determines the strength of the relationship.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Risk of the third variable problem: an outside variable impacts the study.

Meta-Analysis

A statistical technique that combines the results of multiple studies on the same topic to reach a conclusion.

Studies studies, rather than studying participants.

Naturalistic Observations

Researchers observe individuals in a real-world setting to gather authentic data.

Issue: Observers may lack proper context depending on observation length.

⚙ Designing a Study

Stating the Hypothesis

A specific, testable prediction about the relationship between two or more variables.

Must be falsifiable: capable of being proven wrong.

Theory: Supported by data from completed research, explains a question, thought, or phenomenon, and is often based on tested hypotheses.

Operational Definitions

Outlines the exact procedures used in the study and how variables are measured or manipulated.

Allows for study replication under the same conditions.

Variables

Independent Variable: Manipulated or controlled by the researcher (cause).

Dependent Variable: The outcome being measured (effect).

Confounding Variables: Factors other than the independent variable that could impact the dependent variable.

The more control there is in the study, the less confounding variables there will be.

Inauthentic environments can create new confounding variables.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Participants

Population vs. Sample

Population: The entire group that the research is studying.

Sample: A selected group of individuals from a population to represent the population in the study.

Sampling Methods

Random Sampling: Each individual in a population has an equal chance of participating.

Stratified Sampling: Population is divided into subcategories, and a random sample is taken from each subcategory.

Sampling Bias

Occurs when the sample group does not accurately represent the entire population.

Convenience Sampling: Individuals are selected based on their availability.

Can introduce sampling bias.

Limits the generalizability of the results.

🧑‍🎓Research Studies

Generalizability

Generalizability refers to the extent to which the findings of a study can be applied to the larger population.

Experimental and Control Groups

When researchers pick a sample group, they will need to set the experimental and control group.

The experimental group receives the independent variable.

The control group gets a placebo.

The control group is sometimes referred to as the placebo group.

A placebo is as close as possible to the independent variable but is missing a key component of the independent variable.

The placebo does not impact the participants and does not let the participants know that they are not receiving the actual IV.

Researchers use random assignment to determine who is put in the experimental and control group.

Random assignment is when participants are randomly assigned to be part of the control or experimental group.

Do not confuse random assignment with random selection.

Random selection is when participants are randomly selected to be part of a study.

Representation of Participants

It is crucial for experiments and studies to have appropriate representation of participants.

A study that has appropriate representation has a sample that accurately reflects the demographics and characteristics of the population being studied.

This can increase the chance that the results of the study are more likely to be valid, generalizable, and reduce the chance of bias impacting the study.

Quasi-Experiment

There are times when it is not ethical or possible to have participants be randomly assigned in an experiment or study.

For instance, researchers cannot randomly assign participants to become depressed or not.

Instead of doing a traditional experiment, researchers would have to run a quasi-experiment.

A quasi-experiment is an experiment that does not include the random assignment of participants.

A quasi-experiment cannot determine cause and effect.

This is because differences between groups are not controlled by random assignment.

The experimental method must use random assignment and will always involve independent and dependent variables.

The non-experimental methods will not always use random assignment.

🙈 Blind Procedures

Single Blind Procedure

A single blind procedure is when the participants in the study do not know whether they are in the experimental or control group.

This helps prevent the social desirability bias and placebo effect.

The social desirability bias is when participants skew their answers to create a more favorable impression of themselves, often when an individual thinks a study is supposed to reach a certain conclusion.

The placebo effect is when an individual's physical or mental state improves after taking a placebo because the individual believes they are taking the real drug or substance.

Double Blind Procedure

A double blind procedure is when both the participants and researchers do not know who is in the experimental group or controlled group.

This helps counter both the experimenter bias and social desirability bias.

The experimenter bias occurs when the researcher's expectations, preferences, or beliefs influence the outcome of the study unknowingly.

📏 Measurements

Qualitative Measures

Qualitative measures collect non-numerical data that provide detailed descriptive insights into participants' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

For instance, structured interviews, where researchers ask open-ended questions that allow the participant to provide an in-depth answer about their perspective and experiences.

Qualitative measures often produce information that is descriptive and subjective.

The data can provide insight into participants' experiences but is Up For Debate and is hard to replicate.

Quantitative Measures

Quantitative measures collect numerical data that can be statistically analyzed to identify different relationships, patterns, and differences.

For instance, researchers can use the Likert scale to gain insight into a particular topic.

The Likert scale has participants rate their agreement with statements on a scale to provide the researcher with quantifiable data on the participants' attitudes or opinions.

Quantitative measures often produce information that is more objective and focuses on measuring variables in a numerical form, ultimately allowing statistical analysis to occur and allowing the study to be replicated.

🛡 Protecting Participants

Informed Consent

Informed consent means that participants have to understand the necessary information to make an informed decision. They must also understand the risks of the study and be free to choose whether or not they want to participate.

Researchers must give adequate information to their participants so they understand the risks of the study and can make a rational decision.

Informed Assent

Informed Assent is when the participant is not legally able to provide full consent on their own, typically because they are a minor.

In these cases, the participant must agree to the study along with the parent or guardian of the participant.

It is important that researchers set their studies up in an ethical manner.

Ethical studies make sure they create a positive environment for the subjects where the participants can trust the researcher.

This way, the participants can be assured that they will not be harmed and that the study will have a net benefit for society.

Researchers also need to make sure that the study has integrity and are transparent with participants, including debriefing participants at the end of the study.

Ethical Standards

In 1892, the American Psychological Association was established as the governing board to study behavior.

In 1947, the APA created the first ethical committee to create standards that all psychological research must follow.

In 1974, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) was created to protect human participants.

All colleges and universities use the IRB to conduct any experiments or research studies in Psychology.

Institutional review boards look at proposed research studies that have human participants.

If the IRB does not believe that people participating in the study are being protected, they will reject the study.

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) regulates and oversees animal care and research, teaching, and testing with animals.

The APA has created ethical standards that must be followed by all researchers in order to protect their human and animal subjects.

Researchers who create ethical studies will make sure that the studies respect people's rights and dignity.

👯 Conclusions

Peer Review

Peer review is where other experts in the field assess the study's methodology, data, and conclusions before it is published.

Replication

Replication involves other individuals conducting the study again.

This allows others to check the original findings and verify the results.

Peer review and repeated replication allow scientific research to evolve and helps make sure that the standards of the experiment remain high.

📊 Data Interpretation

Data Types

Quantitative Data: Numerical facts and information that is not open to interpretation.

Example: Population of a city or median income of a town (from census data).

Qualitative Data: Data found in word form from surveys and interviews, which is open to interpretation.

Example: Ratings of school lunch or opinions on the president's performance.

Descriptive vs. Inferential Statistics

Descriptive Statistics: Organizing and describing data.

Inferential Statistics: Making predictions about data and independent variables.

Used to determine if data from a sample can be applied to a population.

Helps researchers test a hypothesis and determine if there was bias in a study or if the results are statistically significant.

Hypothesis Types

Null Hypothesis: A claim that there is no effect or difference between variables; serves as the baseline for testing.

Alternative Hypothesis: A claim that there is an effect or difference between variables; often what the study is trying to prove.

P-Value Interpretation

Ranges from 0 to 1 and indicates the statistical significance of a study's results.

If P value ≤ 0.05: Results are statistically significant, meaning they are likely not due to chance.

Reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis.

If P value is large: Results are likely due to chance or luck.

Reject the alternative hypothesis and accept the null hypothesis.

P-Value Interpretation

≤ 0.05 Results are statistically significant; reject the null hypothesis.

Close to 1 Results likely due to chance or luck; reject the alternative hypothesis.

Effect Size

Indicates the strength of the relationship between variables.

A large effect size means there is a substantial difference between groups.

A small effect size indicates a minor difference.

Example: A therapy with a P-value of 0.05 may have a small effect size, meaning the improvement is minimal in practical terms.

Effect size tells us how much the results matter in real life, while statistical significance shows us if the results matter at all.

Data Display Methods

Frequency Distribution Table: Shows how often sets of data occur.

Frequency Polygon: Visual representation of a frequency distribution table.

Histogram: Bar graph showing frequencies through vertical columns.

No space between the bars, unlike regular bar graphs.

Pie Chart: Data divided into sections of a circle, each representing a proportion of the whole.

📐 Measures of Central Tendency

Mean

The average of the data set.

Calculated by taking the sum of all values and dividing by the number of values.

Mean= Number of values/ Sum of values

​

Regression Toward the Mean

Occurs when outliers are followed by results closer to the average.

Example: A basketball player who usually scores 15 points scores 30 points in one game due to skill and luck, but then returns to scoring around 15 points in subsequent games.

Mode

The value that occurs most often in a data set.

Median

The value in the exact middle of the data set when the data is ordered from smallest to largest.

If there is an odd number of values, take the middle value.

If there is an even number of values, average the two middle values.## 📏 Measures of Variability To understand how data is spread, we use measures of variability:

Range: The difference between the highest and lowest values in a data set.

Calculation: Highest Value - Lowest Value.

Example: If the highest value in a data set is 210 and the lowest is 95, the range is 115.

Standard Deviation: Indicates the average distance from the mean for a data set.

You don't have to calculate this for AP Psychology, but you need to understand what it means.

📊 Distributions

Normal Distribution

A symmetrical bell-shaped curve where:

There is one mode.

The mean, median, and mode are located at the center (zero point).

68% of scores fall within one standard deviation of the mean in each direction.

95% of scores fall within two standard deviations of the mean in each direction.

99% of scores fall within three standard deviations of the mean in each direction.

Skewed Distributions

Positive Skew: Scores are low and clustered to the left of the mean.

Negative Skew: Highest scores are clustered on the right of the mean.

Bimodal Distribution

A distribution with two modes, causing two peaks.

📉 Z-Scores and Percentiles

Z-Score

A numerical measurement describing how many standard deviations a score is from the mean.

A positive z-score is higher than the mean.

A negative z-score is lower than the mean.

Z-scores allow us to compare different data as long as they are normally distributed.

Percentile Rank

The percentage of scores at or below a particular score. The median is the 50th percentile.

Example: If you are in the 73rd percentile for height, 73% of people are shorter than or equal to you in height.

➗ Coefficients and Correlational Studies

Correlational Studies

Seek to determine the relationship between two variables.

Allow us to make predictions.

Correlation does not equal causation!

Correlation Coefficient

Positive Correlation (between 0 and 1): As one variable increases, the other increases.

Plotted on a scatter plot, it shows an upward trend.

Negative Correlation (between 0 and -1): As one variable increases, the other decreases (inverse relationship).

Plotted on a scatter plot, it shows a downward trend.

No Correlation: No relationship between the variables.

Data points on a scatter plot are scattered randomly.

📝 Practice 4 Argumentation Review

This section reviews argumentation, a concept that will frequently appear throughout the course, especially in FRQs. Many of the topics covered here are task verbs you'll encounter on unit tests and the AP National exam. The goal is to develop and justify psychological arguments using evidence.

🤔 Proposing a Defensible Claim

A defensible claim is a statement or argument supported by logical reasoning or evidence, making it suitable for debate or discussion.

A defensible claim involves a statement or argument that is supported by logical reasoning or evidence, allowing it to be supported in a debate or discussion.

To propose a defensible claim:

Clearly state your position on the topic.

Avoid vague language.

Don't over complicate your position.

Ensure your claim is supported by evidence, not just your opinion.

Consider potential counterarguments or opposing evidence to strengthen your claim.

Example:

Claim: "Exposure to Violent media increases the likelihood of aggressive behaviors in children"

Evidence: Social learning theory and research demonstrate that repeated exposure to violent content desensitizes children to aggression and normalizes aggressive behaviors.

Defensible Claim vs. Hypothesis:

Feature

Defensible claim

Hypothesis

Nature

Statement presented as truth

Starting point, not proven

Status

Supported by evidence and logical reasoning

Requires testing and evidence to be proven

🔬 Using Scientifically Derived Evidence

Scientifically derived evidence refers to information, data, or conclusions obtained through the scientific method.

Scientifically derived evidence is information data or conclusions that are obtained through the scientific method such as controlled experiments.

Characteristics of scientifically derived evidence:

Objective

Replicable

Peer-reviewed

Based on factual, sound procedures

How to Identify Scientifically Derived Evidence:

Check the Source:

Is it from reputable experts, research institutions, or peer-reviewed journals?

Check the Methodology:

Was there a falsifiable hypothesis?

Were there clear operational definitions?

Was the study conducted in a controlled manner, limiting confounding variables?

Were procedures like double-blinding used to reduce bias?

Replicability:

Can other researchers repeat the study and obtain similar results?

Consistency:

Does the evidence align with other established scientific theories and knowledge?

Using Evidence to Support, Refute, or Modify a Claim:

Action

Description

Support

Provide evidence and reasoning that explains why the claim should be upheld.

Refute

Provide evidence that contradicts the claim and shows why the claim should be rejected.

Modify

Adjust the original claim based on new evidence, acknowledging some validity but refining it for accuracy.

Being able to support, refute, or modify a claim is crucial because scientifically derived evidence is used to explain various laws, policies, norms, and standards in society.