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AP Psychology: History, Approaches, and Research Methods, Exams of Psychology

An overview of the key concepts and historical figures in the field of psychology, covering topics such as introspection, natural selection, the nature vs. Nurture debate, and the major schools of thought in psychology (structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology, and social psychology). It also introduces important research methods and statistical concepts used in psychological research, including the double-blind procedure, placebo effect, correlation, and experimentation. The document serves as a comprehensive introduction to the foundational principles and approaches that have shaped the development of psychology as a scientific discipline.

Typology: Exams

2023/2024

Available from 08/05/2024

DrShirleyAurora
DrShirleyAurora 🇺🇸

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Method 1 / 21

  1. Introspection Technique used by Wundt - ask subjects to recording cognitive reactions to simple stimuli (Wundt) - the exami- nation or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes - Wundt hoped to use process to examine basic mental processes - proved unreliable
  2. Natural selection The principle that those traits of a species that contribute to reproduction and survival are most likely to be passed on to succeeding generations -evolutionary perspective (adaptation)
  3. Psychology the science (study) of behaviour and mental processes
  4. Nature v. Nurture Controversy over the relative contributions that jeans (na- ture) and experience (nurture) make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors
    • Greek Philosophers: Plato (inherited) & Aristotle (comes from sensory experience
    • Locke - most knowledge comes in from senses
    • Descartes - some ideas are inmate
  5. William Wundt - Father of Scientific Psychology
    • Founded first psychological laboratory in 1879(Leipzig, Germany)
    • Used/trained subjects in technique introspection (the examination or observation of one's own mental and emo- tional processes) -- asked subjects to record cognitive reactions to simple stimuli Established theory of Structuralism (attempted to study thinking - basic mental processes - using

Method 2 / 21 introspection

  1. Pavlov (Ivan) Pioneered study of learning Discovered / Pioneered classical conditioning experi-

Method 3 / 21 ments; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell Led to development of classical conditioning model of learning

  1. James (William) Established theory of Functionalism - how mental processes function in our lives
    • Focus on how mental and behavioral processes enabled one to adapt, survive, and flourish
    • Brought psychology to the US
    • Published 1st textbook: Principles of Psychology
  2. Descartes Revived Greek Philosopher's ideas that some ideas are innate Deductive reasoning - father of rationalism
  3. Watson (John) Wanted to establish behaviorism as dominant basis of psychology - Believed psychology must be limited to the observable and not unobservable (unconscious mind) if considered a science - Behaviorists - psychologists should only look at behavior and causes of behavior - stimuli (environmental events) and responses (physical reactions) - and shouldn't be concerned with describing elements of consciousness
  4. Freud (Sigmund) Personality Theorist Proposed that we must examine the unconscious mind through dream analysis, word association, and other psy- choanalytic therapy techniques if we are to understand human thought and behavior
    • criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories
    • believed he discovered the unconscious mind - a part of the mind which we do not have conscious control and which determines, in part,

Method 4 / 21 how we think and behave

Method 5 / 21 Titchener (Ed- ward) Student of Wundt Introduced school of Structuralism (explored the basic elements of mine using the method of introspection, later determined unreliable)

  1. Piaget Studied Children Theory / 4 Stages of cognitive development
  2. Behaviourism the view that psychology (1) should be an objective sci- ence that (2) studies behaviour without reference to men- tal processes. most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not (2). - look strictly at observable behaviors and reactions to specific behaviors
    • Dominant Thought from 1920's to 1960's
    • A belief that language is learned behaviour and we learn by imitation of good models
    • Explain human thought and behavior in terms of condi- tioning (learning)
    • Watson,
  3. Humanistic psy- chology Historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow forged in response to Freudian Psychology and Behaviorism (because too mechanistic)
  4. Structuralism an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind - self reflection
    • School of psychology developed by Wilhelm Wundt

Method 6 / 21

  • Edward Titchener student of Wundt
  1. Functionalism

Method 7 / 21

  1. Neuroscience (biological psychology) perspective
  2. Cognitive Psy- chology
  3. cognitive per- spective
  4. Social-cultural Psychology
  5. Evolutionary Psychology (Darwin / Sociobiologists) Introduced by William James early school of psychology that focused on how our mental & behavioural processes function—and how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish. Biopsychologists explain human thoughts and behavior strictly in terms of biological processes - how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory expe- riences Scientists believe human cognition and reactions might be caused by effects of our genes, hormones, neurotransmit- ters in the brain or by combination of all 3 emphasizes genetics and other brain parts of the nervous system one of psychology's current perspectives, focusing on: how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information focuses on thought perception, and information process- ing - how we interpret, process and remember environ- mental events
    • Believe the rules or methods we use to view the world are important to understanding why we think and behave the way we do one of psychology's current perspectives, focusing on: how behaviour and thinking vary across situations and cultures
    • study of how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures - how culture influences thought and behavior
    • some cultures place emphasis on value of the group vs individual the study of the evolution of cognition (mind,

Method 8 / 21 thoughts) and behavior using principles of natural selection one of psychology's current perspectives, focusing on:

Method 9 / 21 how the natural selection of traits promoted the survival of genes - some psychological traits might be advantage for survival and those will be passed down

  • similar to biopsychology perspective (maybe a subset)
  1. Psychiatry Branch of medicine concerned with the physical diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
  • practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy.
  1. Behavior Genet- ics
  2. Psychoanalytic (Psychodynam- ic) Psychology
  3. Developmental Psychology
  4. Clinical Psychol- ogy
  5. Social Psycholo- gy Study of the relationship between heredity and behavior one of psychology's current perspectives, focusing on: how much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences -study of unconscious, includes childhood and aggression issues - Unconscious motivations influence our behavior. Perspective focuses on the unconscious process and un- resolved past conflicts -- how behaviour springs from un- conscious drives and conflicts
  • focuses on the disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes in childhood traumas studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span studies, assesses, diagnoses and treats people with psy- chological disorders the study of how the social environment affects an individ- ual's behavior and personality - how people relate to one another & influence other

Method 10 / 21 people's thoughts, feelings, and actions

  1. Studies workplace behavior - how human behavior and psychology affect work and how they are affected by work

Method 11 / 21 Industrial Orga- nizational Psy- chology

  • worker's motivation and satisfaction
  • application of psychological concepts and methods to optimize behavior in the workplace
  1. Basic research pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowl- edge base
  2. Applied research scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
  3. Random Sam- pling (selection) Means that every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
  • increases the likelihood that the sample represents the population that one can generalize the findings to the larger population
  1. False Consensus The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others Effect share our beliefs and behaviors
  • tendency for people to overestimate the number of peo- ple who agree with them
  1. Hindsight Bias Tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would've foreseen it; " I knew it all along"
  • the tendency to see outcomes as inevitable and pre- dictable after we know the outcome (more predictable than they really are)
  • Common with both children and adults
  • makes research look like its more common sense
  1. Illusory Correla- tion
  2. Double-blind pro- cedure the perception of a relationship or statistical association where none exists -the tendency of people to associate two events when in reality there is no connection In an experiment, neither the subject nor the researcher know which has the placebo

Method 12 / 21

  • it is used to prevent experimenters and participants expectations from influencing the results of an experiment

Method 13 / 21

  1. Overconfidence the tendency to be more confident than correct we tend to think we know more than we do
    • limits everyday thinking
    • occurs because of our bias to seek information that confirms our judgment
    • most people are equally wrong predicting their social behavior
  2. Random Assign- ment The procedure of assigning participants to the experimen- tal and control conditions by chance in order to minimize pre-existing differences between those assigned to differ- ent groups
    • assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing pre- existing differ- ences between those assigned to the different groups.
  3. Standard Devia- tion A measure of variation based on every score; A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score A measure of variability that describes an average dis- tance of every score from the mean.
    • is a computed measure of how much scores in the distribution deviate around mean; because it is based on every score in the distribution, it is a more precise measure of variation then the range
  4. Control Condi- tion In an experiment, it is one in which the treatment of inter- est, or independent variable, is withheld so that compari- son to the experimental condition can be made
    • example: the control condition for experiment testing the effects of the new drug reaction time would be a group of participants given a placebo (in active drug) instead of the drug being tested
  5. Placebo A^ substance^ which^ contains^ no^ medicine,^ but

Method 14 / 21 which the receiver believes is a medicine

Method 15 / 21

  1. Placebo effect Occurs when the results of experiment are caused by participants expectations about what is really going on
    • improvement or effect resulting from the mere expecta- tion of improvement
  2. Replication The process of repeating an experiment, often with differ- ent participants and in different situations, to see whether the basic finding generalizes to other people and circum- stances
  3. Operational Defi- nition A precise statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. for example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test mea- sures.
  4. Observation Observing and recording behavior
  5. Correlation A measure of the extent to which two factors very together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
    • the correlation coefficient is the statistical measure of the relationships; it can be positive or negative
    • tells how well either factor predicts the other
  6. Positive Correla- tion 47. Negative Correla- tion

Method 16 / 21 as one variable increases, the other increases too as one variable decreases, the other decreases too r = +1.00 (perfect positive correlation) the presence of one thing predicts the presence of the other Ex: Higher the temp. = Higher ice cream sales Association between two variables in which one increases as the other decreases.

Method 17 / 21 r = -1.00 (perfect negative correlation) Ex: Lower the temp = Higher hot coco sales

  1. Hypothesis A testable prediction, often implied by a theory; Testing my hypothesis help scientists to test the theory
  2. (^) Survey a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviours of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group—> correla- tions, not causations
    • mailers
    • not reliable
  3. Case Study an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth, in the hope of revealing universal principles
  4. Naturalistic Ob- servation Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and controlled situ- ation
  5. Experimentation Research methods in which a researcher directly manipu- lates one or more factors (independent variables) in order to observe their effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable) ; experiments therefore make it possible to establish a cause-effect relationship
  6. Correlation Coef- ficient a statistical measurement of relationship of 2 factors vary- ing together
    • either positive or negative
    • positive when one increases the other increases
    • negative when one increases the other decreases (vice versa)
  7. r = 0.00 means the variables have no relationship

Method 18 / 21

  1. Scatterplot

Method 19 / 21 Depiction of the relationship between two variables by means of a graph cluster of dots

  1. Independent In an experiment, is the factor being manipulated and Variable tested by the researcher
  • Ex: in the study of the effects of the new drug reaction time, the drug is the independent variable
  1. Dependent Vari- In an experiment, is the factor being measured by the able researcher Ex: in a study of the effects of the new drug on reaction time the participants reaction time is the dependent vari- able
  2. Percentage " out of 100" A standardized form of a frequency that ranges from 0. to 100.00. Pct= (f/N)
  3. Percentile Rank Percentage of those in the norming sample who scored at ?? or below an individual's score. A measure indicating an examinee's performance relative to the group performance
  4. Mean The arithmetic average, of of the measure of central ten- dency computed by adding the scores in the distribution and dividing by the number of scores
  5. Median Another measure of central tendency, is the score that falls

Method 20 / 21 at the 50th percentile, cutting a distribution in half

  • when the mean of a distribution is affected by a few extreme scores, the median is the more appropriate mea- sure of central tendency
  1. Mode Is the most frequently occurring score in the distribution; it is the simplest measure of central tendency to determine
  2. Measure of Cen- A measure that describes the center of a data set tral Tendency - mean, median, and mode

Method 21 / 21

  1. Measures of Vari- ability A single number that describes how spread out or how clustered a set of data is.
    range, variance, standard deviation
  2. Range A measure of variation computed as the difference be- tween the highest and lowest scores and distribution
  3. Control Group In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treat- ment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluation the effect of the treatment
  4. Experimental Group In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treat- ment (that is, to one version of the independent variable)