AP Psychology Unit 1: Scientific Foundations

The first wave of psychology that began the scientific study but is not very important today

Recording cognitive reactions to simple stimuli

Looking INWARD to observe YOURSELF

This theory says that The mind operates by combining subjective emotions with objective sensations

• Looks at the mind’s structures of consciousness through individual parts

• Described by Wilhelm Wundt, coined by Edward Titchener

This is the second wave of psychology and has little influence on current psychology. It examines a person’s total experience

• More than just an accumulation of perceptual experiences —> Examine context and the sum of the parts

3rd wave of psychology

Very unscientific and unverifiable.

Sigmund Freud and the unconscious mind

4th wave of psychology that is dominant in the 1920s-1960s

 Psychologists should only look at behaviors and their causes

• Stimuli (environmental events) and responses (physical reactions)

Environmental events that cause a response

Physical reaction to a stimuli

Environmental stimuli encourage / discourage certain responses

5th wave of psychology

Contemporary perspectives grouped into 9 broad categories

Most psychologists describe themselves as eclectic: drawing form multiple perspectives

Drawing from multiple perspectives

Perspective

Going back to the mysterious aspects of consciousness

• Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

Stress individual choice and free will: people can choose behaviors from needs (physiological, emotional, spiritual)

• Vs deterministic behaviorists that say that all behaviors are caused by past conditioning

  • Ex: introvert limits social interaction because their social needs are better satisfied by a small group

Perspective

A controversial part of modern psychology largely started by Sigmund Freud

Believe that the unconscious mind controls most thoughts and actions

• Look for impulses pushed down through repression

  • Ex: introvert avoids social situations because of a repressed traumatic childhood memory that caused anxiety/embarrassment

Perspective

A rapidly growing branch that overlaps heavily with biology

Explain human behavior strictly through biological processes

Cognition and reactions are based on genes/hormones/neurotransmitters

Ex: A person is extraverted because of genes coming from parents or an abundance of certain neurotransmitters

Perspective

Examine human thoughts and actions in terms of natural selection

• Psychological traits may be advantageous for survival → passed on

  • Ex: outgoing / extrovert has friends / allies that increase their chances of survival

Perspective

Look for environmental conditions to explain responses

Explain human thought and behavior through conditioning

• Ex: An extrovert is so because of reward/punishment: were rewarded/punished for being outgoing/introverted

Perspective

Jean Piaget and his cognitive developmental theory

Examine human thought and behavior in terms of how we interpret, process, and remember events.

• Rules we use to view the world

  • Ex: extrovert is social because social interaction is important to a person's life

Perspective

How do thoughts and behaviors vary between cultures?

Emphasize cultural impacts on thoughts and actions

• Ex: A person’s level of extrovertness is determined by cultural rules about interaction: how much value is placed on a group vs an individual

Perspective

View other branches as too focused on one interpretation

Human thinking and behavior depend on biological, psychological, and social factors

• Ex: Extrovert is so because of genetics, conditioning, and social pressure/conformity

 Thinking you knew something all along upon hearing research findings

Research Method

Clear and practical applications: Ex: which method is better to teach children to read?

Research Method

Explore questions of interest without immediate real world applications: Ex: how does intelligence differ in culture

relationship between two variables (dependent / independent)

This aims to explain phenomenon and generate a testable hypothesis with hope to collect supporting data

Explain how to measure a variable: Ex: what defines violent TV shows

measures what the researcher set out to measure → accurate

Can be replicated by others → produces consistent or similar results

How participants in an experiment are selected

anyone/thing that could possibly be selected

increases the likelihood of a representative sample

Best done by a computer, random numbers, or names out of a hat

This process ensures that the sample represents some criteria (Ex: 50/50 male to female)

Experimental Method

Experiment in a very controlled lab environment

Experimental Method

Experiments conducted in the real world —> end up being a lot more realistic

Only this type of research can show a cause/effect relationship

difference between experimental and control conditions (except independent) that affect the dependent variable

Researchers often forget to take this into account

process by which participants are put into a group

This type of assignment Limits effect of participant-relevant confounding variables

 Experimental / control groups equivalent on some criteria (Ex: male to female ratio)

A type of confounding variable

Different situations cause different reactions: experimental and control groups need to be placed under the same conditions

Unconscious tendency to treat groups differently to increase the chances of confirming a hypothesis

Neither participants or researchers can affect the results (don’t know which group they’re in)

Only participants don’t know which group they’re in

Cues about the purpose of study

Tendency to behave in ways

Tendency to give answers that reflect well upon a person

Increased / Different output in response to being watched

Help separate physiological from psychological (one group takes a false drug)

Using participants in their own control group (first control then test)

change in results due to order of events (solved by counterbalancing)

This research method shows a relationship between two variables without ascribing a cause

This research method

• Ask people to fill out surveys (cannot prove cause/effect)
  No independent / dependent variable →cannot control participant-relevant confounding variables

  • Lots of confounding variables

This research method involves Observing participants in a natural state / habitat

• Goal: get realistic and pure picture of participant behavior: often in field experiments

This research method involves Getting a full, detailed picture of one or all participants

Ex: present info about a person suffering from a disorder

However → focus on single individual or small group means that results cannot be generalized

Number of instances in which a variable takes each of its possible values

 attempt to mark the center of a distribution

Measure distance from score - mean in SD units.

this type of statistics determines whether findings are applicable to a larger population

extent to which sample differs from population

probability that the difference between groups is due to chance

Lower p = better results. 0.5 is the statistically significant cutoff

This type of study compares different groups at one point in time

This type of study follows one group over a long time

When a word or an image triggers another idea, word, or picture inside our head