AP Psychology Unit 1 Flashcards

Psychology Definition

• Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior.

Key Figures in Psychology

• Wilhelm Wundt:
  • Known as the father of psychology.
  • Created the first psychology laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research.
  • Studied senses, reaction time, attention span, and emotions.
• Edward Titchener:
  • Student of Wundt.
  • Created structuralism.
• William James:
  • Taught the first psychology course at Harvard University.
  • Wrote the first psychology textbook.
  • Created functionalism.
  • Helped more women enter psychology.
• Mary Whiton Calkins:
  • Joined William James's graduate seminar despite university pushback.
  • Made significant contributions to memory research.
  • Became the first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA).
• G. Stanley Hall:
  • First American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology.
  • Opened the first psychology lab in the U.S.
  • Became the first president of the APA.
• Margaret Floy Washburn:
  • Made significant contributions to animal research.
  • First woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology.
  • Second female president of the APA.
• Charles Darwin:
  • Proposed natural selection.
  • Argued that behaviors and bodies were shaped through natural selection, reinforcing evolutionary psychology.
• Dorothea Dix:
  • Helped reshape the medical field by highlighting the unfair and inhumane treatment of mentally ill individuals and helping reform insane asylums.
• Sigmund Freud:
  • Created psychoanalytic theory, later known as the psychodynamic approach.
  • Focused on studying the unconscious mind.
  • Believed personalities are shaped by unconscious motives.
• Ivan Pavlov:
  • Focused on reflex conditioning, known as classical conditioning.
  • Known for his experiment with dogs and their digestion.
• Jean Piaget:
  • First psychologist to conduct a systematic study of cognitive development.
  • Created a theory of cognitive development focusing on children.
• Carl Rogers:
  • One of the founders of humanistic psychology.
  • Made significant contributions to personality research.
• B. F. Skinner:
  • Expanded on behaviorism.
  • Known for operant conditioning, focusing on behaviors and positive/negative consequences.
• John B. Watson:
  • One of the founders of behaviorism.
  • Believed psychology should focus on observable things scientifically.

Historical Schools of Thought

• Structuralism:
  • Focuses on the structures of consciousness through individual parts.
  • Uses introspection: looking inward to observe yourself think.
• Functionalism:
  • Seeks to understand mental and behavioral processes.
  • Views structures not as individual but as evolved functions.
  • Aims to understand how structures work together and impact each other.
• Gestalt Psychology:
  • Looks at the whole consciousness.
  • Includes the study of perception, sensation, learning, and problem-solving.
  • Focuses on the organizational process instead of just behavior content.
• Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic:
  • Looks at behaviors and mental processes.
  • Influenced by the ego and conflict with the id and superego.
  • Focus on unconscious processes.
  • Uses free association: when an image or word triggers another idea or word in a person's mind.

Modern Perspectives

• Early Behaviorism:
  • Believes behaviors are learned through experiences and are observable.
  • Reflexive conditioning (classical conditioning) and operant conditioning.
• Humanistic:
  • Believes humans are naturally good and seek to reach their potential through free will.
  • The goal of life is to reach self-actualization.
• Sociocultural:
  • Studies the impact of a person's culture, nationality, religion, gender, social norms, and other cultural impacts on a person's behavior and mental processes.
• Evolutionary:
  • Studies how behaviors and mental processes of today exist due to natural selection.
• Biological:
  • Looks at how structures of the brain and nervous system operate.
  • Aims to understand the link between biological and psychological processes.
• Cognitive:
  • Looks at attitudes, memories, perceptions, and expectations.
  • Focuses on how individuals process and remember information.

Domains and Focuses in Psychology

• Basic Research Domains:
  • Biological
  • Developmental
  • Cognitive
  • Educational
  • Personality
  • Social
  • Positive
  • Psychometric
• Applied Research Domains:
  • Industrial-Organizational
  • Counseling
  • Clinical
• Difference between Basic and Applied Research
  • Basic research seeks to build psychology’s knowledge base.
  • Applied research focuses on applying research and taking on practical problems.
• Counselors vs. Psychiatrists:
  • Counselors help individuals cope with challenges in life.
  • Psychiatrists provide psychotherapy and are medical doctors who can prescribe drugs and treat psychological disorders.

Conducting Research

• Operational Definition:
  • A description of the experiment in terms of procedure, actions, or processes by which it could be observed and measured.
  • Allows for replication.
  • Defines variables and shows how they will be measured.
• Population vs. Sample:
  • Population: all individuals in a group being studied.
  • Sample: a selected group of people from the population representing the entire population.
  • Researchers use samples to make studies easier to conduct.
• Sampling Techniques:
  • Random Sampling: each individual in a population has an equal chance of participating.
  • Stratified Sample: population divided into subcategories, and a random sample is taken from each subcategory.
• Sampling Bias:
  • When the group in the sample does not represent the population.
  • May skew results, preventing use in the larger population.
• Representative Sample:
  • When the sample group represents all the different people in the population.
  • Allows results to be applied to the population as a whole.

Research Methods

• Experiments:
  • Observations conducted under controlled conditions to study a relationship between independent and dependent variables.
  • Provide insight into cause and effect but may have skewed results if there are biases.
• Correlational Studies:
  • Show the strength and direction of a relationship but do not show cause and effect due to the third variable problem.
• Surveys:
  • Self-reported data from questions asking for opinions, thoughts, or information.
  • Cheap and great at collecting data, but may have skewed data due to the wording effect or participants changing answers to look better.
• Naturalistic Observations:
  • Researchers observe behaviors as they happen in a real-world setting.
  • Great at getting authentic data, but if subjects are aware, they may change behaviors.
• Case Studies:
  • Researchers analyze different perspectives of a topic or subject, often in chronological order.
  • Allows rare behaviors to be observed, but the data cannot be used to generalize the population and may be impacted by the Hawthorne effect.
• Longitudinal Studies:
  • Follow one particular group over a long period of time.
  • Great at showing changes over time, but participants may drop out.
• Cross-Sectional Studies:
  • Compares different groups at the same time.
  • Inexpensive and quick, but only provides a snapshot and does not show a complete picture.

Hypothesis vs. Theory

• Hypothesis:
  • A testable prediction or assumption made before research.
• Theory:
  • A statement supported by data from research explaining a phenomenon.

Variables in Controlled Experiments

• Causal Relationship:
  • Understanding if one variable causes another.
• Independent Variable (IV):
  • The cause.
• Dependent Variable (DV):
  • The effect.
• Controlled Experiment:
  • The only experiment that can show cause and effect.
• Confounding Variables:
  • Other variables besides the IV that could impact the DV.
• Third Variable Problem:
  • Other variables impacting the experiment skewing results.

Minimizing Biases and Errors

• Random Assignment:
  • Each participant has an equal chance of being in the control or experimental group.
  • Differs from random sample, where each person in the population has an equal chance of being chosen for the study.
• Single-Blind Study:
  • Participants are unaware of their group assignment.
• Double-Blind Study:
  • Both participants and researchers are unaware of group assignments.
• Placebo Effect:
  • Participants act differently due to expecting a certain outcome.

Groups

• Control Group (Placebo Group):
  • Given a placebo, a substance as close as possible to the independent variable but missing a key component.
• Experimental Group:
  • Receives the independent variable.

Quasi-Experiments

• Used when controlled experiments are impossible or unethical.
• Do not include random assignment.

Reliability and Validity

• Reliability:
  • Repeatability of a test or study.
• Validity:
  • How well a test measures what it claims to measure.

Types of Biases and Prevention

• Hindsight Bias:
  • Tendency to think one could have anticipated the outcome after it occurred.
  • Prevented by using pre-assessments and the scientific method.
• False Consensus Effect:
  • Overestimating how many others share opinions.
  • Prevented by using the scientific method and presenting alternate viewpoints.
• Confirmation Bias:
  • Focusing only on information that aligns with one's viewpoint.
  • Prevented by awareness of biases and replicated experiments.
• Experimenter/Researcher Bias:
  • Researchers unknowingly influence the outcome.
  • Prevented by using a double-blind study and clear operational definitions.
• Social Desirability/Participant Bias:
  • Participants skew answers to create a favorable impression.
  • Countered by keeping identities hidden or using placebos.
• Hawthorne Effect:
  • Participants alter behavior because they know they are being observed.
  • Prevented by using random assignment, placebos, or single/double-blind studies.

Data Analysis

• Quantitative Data:
  • Numbers, facts, not up for interpretation.
• Qualitative Data:
  • Word form, up for interpretation.
• Descriptive Statistics:
  • Used to organize and describe data.
• Inferential Statistics:
  • Used to make predictions about data and determine if sample data can be applied to the population.

Statistical Significance

• Researchers look at the probability value (p-value) to see how statistically significant the data is.
• If p \le 0.05, there is less than a 5% chance that the results were due to chance, meaning the data is likely statistically significant.
• If p = 0.80, there is an 80% chance that the results were due to chance, meaning the results are not statistically significant.

Central Tendency

• Mean:
  • The average of the data set.
  • Calculated as the sum of values divided by the number of values.
• Mode:
  • The value that occurs most often.
  • Mode = \text{most frequent value}
• Median:
  • The score in the exact middle of the dataset.
  • If there is an odd number of values you take the value that's in the middle
  • If there is an even amount of values then you add up the two values that are in the middle and divide by two.

Measures of Variability

• Range:
  • The difference between the highest and lowest values.
• Standard Deviation:
  • Indicates the average distance from the mean for a data set.

Distributions

• Normal Distribution:
  • Symmetrical bell-shaped curve.
  • One mode, and the mean, median, and mode are located at the center of the distribution.
• Skewed Distribution:
  • Positive Skew: low scores clustered to the left of the mean.
  • Negative Skew: high scores clustered to the right of the mean.
• Bimodal Distribution:
  • Distribution has two modes, causing it to have two peaks.

Z-Scores and Percentile Rank

• Positive z-scores are higher than the mean, and negative z-scores are lower than the mean.
• Z-scores allow us to compare things that are not the same as long as they are normally distributed.
• Percentile Rank: understanding the percentage of scores that are at or below a particular score.
• The median is the fiftieth percentile; this has half the data above and half the data below the mean.

Correlational Studies

• Correlation Coefficient: The closer to one (positive or negative), the stronger the relationship.
  • Values are between -1 and +1.
  • Positive Coefficient: variables increase or decrease together (between 0 and 1).
  • Negative Coefficient: one variable increases while the other decreases (inverse relationship, between 0 and -1).
  • If there is no correlation, it means there is no relationship between the variables and the plotted data points would be all over the place.

Ethical Guidelines

• The American Psychological Association (APA) has created ethical guidelines.
• The APA acts as a governing board determining ethical standards in psychology.
• The Institutional Review Board (IRB) ensure that studies and experiments in colleges and universities are set up in a way that protect everyone involved in the study.
• In order to get a study approved by the IRB researchers must make sure that the research is not unnecessarily risky. They also need to check to make sure that participants have adequate protection. Participants must also have privacy and confidentiality in the study. And lastly participants must have also given informed consent.
• Experiments must:
  • Have informed consent
  • Provide a trustworthy environment
  • Not take on any unnecessary risks
  • Take precautions to prevent physical and psychological harm to individuals experiments
• The IACUC is responsible for overseeing the protection of animals in studies across the country.