Comprehensive DP Psychology Notes

Introduction to Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. This definition is broad and emphasizes two components: the mind (internal processes) and behavior (external actions).

• The field is driven by the goal of understanding causes of behavior so we can change negative behaviors and improve individual and societal well-being.

• There is no single universally accepted definition, but the core idea is a systematic, controlled study of human behavior to identify correlations or causal relationships.

• Psychologists use research methods such as experiments and observations to investigate behavior.

What is Psychology?

• Mind vs. behavior:

  • Mind: reasoning, thinking, feeling, perceiving, judging.

  • Behavior: coordinated responses of organisms to internal/external stimuli.

• Behavior results from the interaction of multiple internal factors (cognitive processes, physiology, attitudes, emotions).

The DP Psychology Curriculum Model

• The DP Psychology curriculum has three pillars: 3 pillars: concepts, content, and contexts.

• Four contexts/areas of psychology: health and well-being, human development, human relationships, and learning and cognition.

• In each context, there is required content specific to the context.

• There are three approaches to explaining behavior: 3 approaches - biological, cognitive, and sociocultural.

• In all contexts, research methodology is studied, and concepts are applied when thinking critically about theories and research.

• A brief introduction to the six DP Psychology concepts is outlined below.

Six DP Psychology concepts

• 1) Bias

  • Awareness of biases during the research process: researcher biases, participant biases, sampling bias, confirmation bias, and publication bias.

  • Bias can affect validity; psychologists strive for objectivity while recognizing bias may influence results.

• 2) Causality

  • The basic human drive to understand why things happen; seek cause-and-effect relationships via experimental research.

  • Not all human behavior can be studied experimentally; many phenomena involve feedback loops or domino causality.

• 3) Change

  • A key goal is to help people change behavior to improve physical, social, and mental health.

  • Consider obstacles to change and evaluate effectiveness of treatments and health promotion strategies at individual, local, and global levels.

• 4) Measurement

  • Measurement is fundamental in psychology research.

  • Researchers select methods (e.g., brain imaging, questionnaires, psychometric tests) and acknowledge limitations/biases of each method.

• 5) Perspective

  • There are multiple approaches to studying behavior (biological, cognitive, sociocultural).

  • No single perspective fully explains behavior; integrating perspectives provides a fuller understanding.

• 6) Responsibility

  • Ethical principles guide decisions to maximize benefits and minimize costs to participants and society.

  • Responsibility extends beyond experiments to therapist-client relationships, advocacy, and reducing stigma.

Key features of concept-based learning

• Focus on Big Ideas: emphasize overarching themes and principles rather than only facts.

• Interdisciplinary connections: concepts span multiple disciplines (e.g., bias across psychology, politics, economics).

• Depth over breadth: prioritize deep understanding of fewer topics rather than superficial coverage of many topics.

• Transferable conceptual skills: applying concepts to new contexts.

Key features of concept-based learning (continued)

• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information related to concepts.

• Application and Transfer: apply understanding to diverse situations and problems.

• Engagement: meaningful concepts foster curiosity and lifelong learning.

Concept-Based Questions

• Concept-based learning involves four steps:

  1. Understand the Concept: grasp the core idea (bird’s-eye view).

  2. Explore within a context: dive into specifics relevant to the context.

  3. Analyze Implications: understand broader consequences.

  4. Connect and Apply: apply concepts to real-world situations.

• Example framework: Understanding cognitive biases in decision-making.

How cognitive biases influence decision-making (example for practice)

• Understand the concept: bias in decision-making.

• Explore cognitive biases: e.g., confirmation bias, anchoring, availability heuristic.

• Analyze implications: how biases affect everyday decisions.

• Connect and Apply: mitigate biases in real-world scenarios.

Bias

• Key questions:

  • When could bias occur within the research process?

  • How can bias be avoided/overcome?

Bias vs. Perspective

• Bias: often unconscious, systematic errors that distort truth; threatens accuracy/validity/reliability.

• Perspective: consciously adopted viewpoints that provide different angles on truth; can enrich interpretation and theory.

Types of Biases

• Participant biases

• Researcher biases

• Sampling biases

• Cultural biases

• Gender biases

• Publication biases

• Recall biases

Participant biases (examples)

• Participant bias: tendency to act in ways believed to be expected by the researcher.

• Expectancy effect: researcher expectations influence participant responses (subtle cues/demand characteristics via body language, etc.).

• Social desirability bias: participants answer to appear favorable to others (e.g., underreport meat consumption when peers value meat-free diets).

Researcher biases

• Researcher bias: researchers’ beliefs/expectations influence design, data collection, or interpretation.

• Confirmation bias: tendency to seek/interpret/remember information that confirms preconceptions.

• Interviewer bias: leading responses through tone or body language.

Sampling biases

• Sampling bias (selection bias): sample is not representative of the population, limiting generalizability.

• Example: clinic-based samples may under-represent those who do not attend clinics.

• Attrition bias: drop-out over time in non-random ways (e.g., ineffective anxiety treatment leading to withdrawal).

Cultural bias

• Cultural bias: judging phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture; risk of misinterpretation (etic approach concerns).

• Ecological fallacy: assuming traits of a culture apply to all individuals within that culture (e.g., all Koreans have high power distance).

• WEIRD samples: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic populations are overrepresented in research samples.

Gender Bias

• Gender bias: judging phenomena through gendered lenses; misinterpretation possible.

• Alpha bias: exaggeration of differences between men and women.

• Beta bias: minimizing differences between the sexes.

• Tendency to treat gender as a strict dichotomy (male/female) ignoring broader gender identities.

Publication Bias

• Publication bias: journals favor publishing positive findings over null/negative results.

• P-hacking: manipulating analyses to produce statistically significant results, potentially misleading conclusions.

Recall Bias

• Recall bias: inaccurate remembering past events or experiences, common in retrospective studies (e.g., onset of depression).

• Optimism bias: belief that one’s own health risks are lower than others’ or that one’s behaviors are better than they actually are.

• Peak-end rule: judgments of experiences depend on peak and end moments rather than the overall average.

Avoiding/Overcoming Bias

• How to avoid bias when selecting participants.

• How to avoid bias in designing procedures.

• How to avoid bias in interpreting data.

Controlling bias in Psychology

• Strategies:

  • Blind and double-blind procedures to reduce experimenter/participant bias.

  • Random sampling and random allocation to ensure representativeness and unbiased conditions.

  • Cross-cultural research to avoid ethnocentrism.

  • Emic approaches to avoid imposing one’s own cultural values.

  • Researcher triangulation: multiple researchers from varied backgrounds reduce researcher bias.

Early Childhood Experiences and Causality (development)

• Understand the concept of causality in developmental psychology.

• Explore early childhood experiences that affect cognitive and emotional development.

• Analyze implications for educational programs and parenting practices.

• Connect and Apply: propose interventions to enhance cognitive/emotional development.

What is Causation?

• Causation: when the cause directly leads to a change in the effect.

Correlation

• Important caution: correlation is not causation.

• If manipulating an IV leads to a DV under controlled conditions, we can infer causality, but this is not always the case.

• Edward Tufte quote: "Correlation is not causation, but it sure is a hint." ext{(paraphrased)}

Establishing Causation

1) Experimental Design: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) with random assignment and manipulation of the independent variable.
2) Control of Confounding Variables: account for extraneous factors (e.g., sleep quality in a study on exercise and happiness).
3) Temporal Precedence: cause must precede effect.
4) Replication: findings replicated across studies/populations.
5) Strength and Consistency: strong, consistent associations across contexts increase likelihood of causation.

Types of Causation

• Type 1: Linear causation

• Type 2: Domino causation

• Type 3: Reciprocal causation

• Type 4: Multiple causation

• Define and give an example of each type of causation.

Causal Patterns

• Three causal patterns: ext{Linear}, ext{Domino}, ext{Cyclic}

Linear Causality

• Most common in coursework: manipulation of an independent variable with direct effect on the dependent variable under controlled conditions.

• Examples:

  • Effect of music on recall of a word list.

  • Blocking acetylcholine receptors with scopolamine and recall of a maze.

  • Identifying confederates as psychology vs history students in an Asch paradigm replication.

Linear Causality: Characteristics

• Characteristics:

  • Cause precedes effect.

  • Direct link between cause and effect.

  • Clear beginning and ending.

  • The effect can be traced to one cause.

  • The effect is reliable and highly predictable.

Domino Causality

• Domino causality: sequential unfolding of effects where one result becomes the cause of another.

• It highlights that a simple one-cause-one-effect view often misses complexity.

• Example prompt: what happens if an alarm clock doesn’t go off?

Domino Causality: Characteristics

• Sequential unfolding of effects over time.

• Can be extended to direct and indirect effects.

• Can be branching: more than one effect from a single cause, leading to multiple downstream effects.

Cyclical Causality

• Feedback loops: cause-effect relationships that form cycles (often not discussed as simple cause/effect).

• Example: a feedback loop regulating hunger.

Causality in non-experimental research

• Non-experimental studies yield correlational results; cannot definitively establish causation.

• Bradford Hill Criteria provide a framework to assess whether a correlation is likely causal.

• Correlation can be a hint toward causation when criteria are satisfied.

The Bradford Hill Criteria

• Strength of the association: larger associations (e.g., between smoking and cancer) support causality.

• Consistency: findings are replicated across studies.

• Specificity: a specific exposure leads to a specific outcome.

• Temporality: exposure occurs before outcome.

• Dose-response (gradient): more exposure increases risk.

• Plausibility: mechanism is biologically plausible.

• Concordant experimental evidence: animal studies or other experiments support causation.

• Note: Correlation alone is not causation, but can be used as a hint if these criteria are met.

Effect Size

• Effect size indicates the meaningfulness/practical significance of a relationship or difference.

• Large effect size → practical significance; small effect size → limited practical application.

Behavior Change and Habit Formation

• Understand the psychology of behavior change and habit formation.

• Explore factors: motivation, reinforcement, self-control, environmental influences.

• Implications for designing interventions to promote healthy behaviors (e.g., exercise, diet, smoking cessation).

• Connect and Apply: design and evaluate interventions to support sustained change.

Free Will and Determinism; Agency

• Free will vs determinism debate: to what extent are behaviors shaped by internal/external forces or by personal choice?

• Agency: capacity to act independently, make choices, and exert control; involves self-awareness, intentionality, decision-making, influence on environment.

• Perception of agency influences proactive behavior; belief in control can affect actions.

Changing People and Locus of Control

• Change strategies depend on whether people have free will or are determined by factors beyond control.

• Locus of Control: internal vs external perceptions of control over events in life.

  • Internal: belief that effort, skills, and decisions influence outcomes (e.g., success on a test due to hard work).

  • External: belief that luck, fate, or others determine outcomes; can lead to helplessness in facing challenges.

Characteristics of Agency

• Key features:

  • Intentionality: goal-directed actions.

  • Self-regulation: planning, monitoring, adjusting actions.

  • Self-efficacy: belief in one’s ability to achieve goals.

  • Responsibility: accountability for actions and consequences.

Types of Determinism

• Biological determinism

• Environmental determinism

• Soft determinism (compatibilism)

• Other perspectives often contrast determinism with elements of free will.

Biological Determinism

• Behavior shaped primarily by biological factors (genetics, brain structures, chemical messengers).

• Example: aggression viewed as influenced by genetics, amygdala activity, or hormones like testosterone; implies limited behavioral control.

Environmental Determinism

• Behavior shaped by external factors: upbringing, social context, and environment.

• Example: a child exposed to aggressive modeling and reinforcement may exhibit aggression due to environment rather than genetics.

Soft Determinism

• Also called compatibilism: behavior is influenced by both deterministic factors and free will.

• People can have causes for their actions yet still exercise autonomy and choose responses.

• Example: genetic predisposition to anxiety may be managed through therapy or lifestyle, showing a blend of determinism and agency.

Barriers to Change

• Barriers can be internal (psychological/emotional resistance) or external (environmental/social influences).

• Change involves uncertainty and fear of outcomes, including fear of failure, social judgment, or negative consequences.

More on Barriers to Change

• Change requires effort; motivation must outweigh perceived benefits.

• Social pressure, family expectations, and cultural norms can hinder change.

• Lack of time, money, or resources creates practical barriers.

• Environmental features (e.g., lack of safe spaces for exercise) can impede change.

• Self-efficacy: belief in one’s ability to succeed is crucial for sustained change.

Topics relevant to the concept of change

• Agency and motivation

• Barriers to change

• Biological determinism

• Development and maturation

• Effectiveness of health campaigns

• Effectiveness of treatment

Measurement

• (Section header) Reliability and validity are central to psychological measurement.

• Reliable: results are consistent across time and contexts.

• Valid: measures actually assess the intended construct.

• Psychometric testing is used to evaluate reliability and validity.

Collecting Data

• Two main data types in psychology:

  • Anecdotal data: based on personal stories/isolated observations; subjective; not systematic; useful for hypothesis generation.

  • Empirical data: obtained through systematic observation/experimentation; foundational for hypothesis testing and theory building.

Forms of Measurement

• Quantitative measurement:

  • Uses numerical data and statistical analysis.

  • Starts with operationalizing constructs (e.g., intelligence as IQ test score; anxiety via scales or physiological measures).

• Qualitative measurement:

  • Non-numerical data to understand behavior/cognition in depth.

  • Emphasizes experiences, thoughts, and emotions; rich, descriptive data.

Self-reported Data and Triangulation

• Many studies rely on self-reported data (interviews, surveys, questionnaires).

• Limitations include biases like overconfidence, social desirability, and retrospective recall.

• Triangulation: use multiple datasets/methods/theories/researchers to corroborate findings.

  • Method triangulation: multiple methods.

  • Data triangulation: multiple data sources/times/locations/populations.

  • Researcher triangulation: multiple researchers analyzing data.

Indigenous Perspectives and Perspective

• Indigenous perspectives influence understanding and treatment of mental health.

• Cultural beliefs, values, norms, and stigma shape definitions of mental health and treatment approaches.

• Cultural competence is essential in assessment and intervention.

• Apply understanding to propose culturally sensitive diagnosis and treatment approaches.

What is Perspective?

• The specific approach or lens through which researchers, theories, or studies explain and interpret human behavior, thought and emotion.

Key Questions and Perspectives

• Key questions:
  1) What are the different perspectives in Psychology?
  2) What is the impact of having different perspectives?

Different Perspectives and Roots

• Imagining a fight between two students: possible causes include biological, cognitive, or upbringing factors.

• The Roots: positivist perspective (psychology as a science with objective data, controlled experiments, quantitative analysis) vs interpretivist perspective (subjective experiences, meaning, context; qualitative methods like interviews and case studies).

Changing Perspectives

• Task: create a timeline of dominant perspectives from late 19th century through the 20th century to the present day.

Triangulation and Inclusivity

• Triangulation combines different perspectives/methods/data/researchers to study a phenomenon.

• Inclusivity ensures diverse groups’ perspectives are studied and considered.

Ethical Decision-Making and Moral Development

• Understand the theories of moral development and factors influencing ethical responsibility and decision-making.

• Analyze implications for real-world ethical decisions (business ethics, personal dilemmas).

• Connect and Apply: propose strategies to enhance ethical behavior.

Responsibility and Ethics in Psychology

• The ethical, social, and professional obligations of psychologists as researchers, practitioners, and members of society.

• Avoid Harm, Confidentiality, Informed Consent, Right to Withdraw

• There are ethical requirements for animals

Responsibility: Key Questions

• 1) What responsibilities do researchers owe to participants and society?

• 2) What responsibilities do practitioners owe to clients/patients?

Duty of Care

• Psychologists have a duty of care to:

  • Protect participants in studies by following ethical guidelines (e.g., APA).

  • Consider the impact of publishing/applying conclusions on wider society.

  • Follow practitioner standards to protect clients/patients (e.g., HCPC guidelines).

Protecting Participants

• Core protections include: Consent, Protection, Debriefing, Withdrawal, Confidentiality, Deception (avoid).

Protecting Wider Society

• Publication: publish findings transparently and avoid exaggeration or ignoring conflicting evidence.

• Application: careful consideration of societal impact when applying insights to areas like education, healthcare, criminal justice.

• Social Sensitivity: extra care for studies on gender, ethnicity, or mental illness; misinterpretation can perpetuate stereotypes or discrimination.

Protecting Clients and Patients

• Key obligations: be competent; maintain confidentiality; be respectful; empower; gain consent; avoid harm.

• Inflict harm on patient, lies on what the study was going to be about (misleading), deceiving the public

Ethical Practice Exercises

• In pairs, produce a short skit illustrating how a psychologist protects a client/patient.

Revisit and Connect

• Revisit the Arrival Activity to link BIG IDEAS: BIAS, CHANGE, CAUSATION, MEASUREMENT, PERSPECTIVE, RESPONSIBILITY.

Plenary: Milgram Experiment (Overview)

• Milgram (1963) as a case study to evaluate using the six concepts and key terms learned (bias, change, causation, measurement, perspective, responsibility).

GRAVE Evaluation (Five Criteria)

• Generalizable

• Reliable

• Applicable

• Valid

• Ethical

• These terms help assess a study’s measurement quality and broader relevance.

Summary of Abbreviations and Key Concepts

• The six DP Psychology concepts: 6 concepts to integrate throughout studies.

• The four contexts in DP Psychology: 4 contexts.

• The three explanatory approaches: 3 approaches.

• The role of bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective, and responsibility in research design and interpretation.

• Concept-based learning emphasizes big ideas, cross-disciplinary connections, depth, and transfer of knowledge across contexts.

Quick Reference: Key Equations/Numbers (LaTeX)

• There are 3 DP concepts/approaches pillars, 4 contexts, and 6 core concepts.

• Strength of association examples: cancer risk increases by approximately 5\text{-}10 fold in smokers vs non-smokers (illustrative Bradford Hill example).

• The Bradford Hill Criteria include: strength, consistency, specificity, temporality, dose-response, plausibility, concordant experimental evidence.

• Basic causal patterns: ext{Linear}, ext{Domino}, ext{Cyclic}.

Biological Systems in Psychology

Intro

• Everything is psychological is simultaneously biological.

• We are bio-psycho-social systems.

• NATURE vs NURTURE

The Brain, The Mind, and Psychology

• The human brain is the most complex system