Ap Psych Unit 1 - History, Approaches & Research Methods

the scientific study of behavior & mental processes

Mature = genetics (innate) Nurture = environmental influences

knowledge acquired through observation, gathering & analyzing data = evidence to support

• Father of psychology

• Opened 1st psych lab (germany)

• 1st topic of study = consciosness

• opened 1st American psych lab

• founded the APA (American Psychological Association)

Edward Titchener

examined the elements/pieces of the conscious experience (very descriptive)

inward-looking; using self reflection

William James

interested in the purpose/use/value of the conscious experience (asks “why?”)

Emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of info into meaningful wholes

• (1863-1930)

• became a memory researcher and first female president of the APA

• studied with William James but was denied a harvard PHD

• first female to earn a psychology PHD

• second female APA president

• Author of the Animal Mind

• work with exceptional children

• wrote the comprehensive text on the gifted

• taught the first college course ib the gifted

• commenced one of the first systematic studies with IQ above 180

unconscious urges/impulses & or repressed memories of early childhood trauma influence behavior

behavior is learned through observation, rewards/punishments & making associations

pavlov, watson, skinner

Behavior is explained using the following beliefs: humans are inherently good, we are striving to reach our potential; we each have unique perception & self-concept; we all have free-will

rogers, maslow

Mental processes, such as thoughts memory, decision-making, problem-solving, etc., influence behavior

Brain Chemistry & structure; genetics; hormones; etc. influence behavior

Societal & cultural factors influence behavior (e.g. norms & expectations from family, peers, media, gender, religion, ethnicity, etc.)

• individuals take care of themselves and their immediate family first

• individuals work for the good of the group and suppress their identity for the benefit of the group

Adaptive value of behavior (e.g. survival of the fittest; passing on genes) explains behavior

tries to better understand positive, adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of human nature

combining more than 1 approach to explain behavior

using known psychological theories & principles to solve everyday, practical problems

concerned with diagnosis & treatment of mental illness

• looks at human development across the lifespan

• once focused primarily on child development, but today devotes a great deal of research to adolescence, adulthood, and old age

• focuses on interpersonal behavior & the role of social forces in governing behavior

• typical topics include attitude formation/change, prejudice, conformity, attraction, aggression, intimate relationships, and behavior in groups

• studies how people learn & the best ways to teach them

• examines curriculum design, teacher training, student motivation, classroom diversity, and other health aspects of the educational process

• focusses on how psychological factors relate to the promotion & maintenance of physical health and the causation, prevention, & treatment of illness

encompases the traditonal core of topics that psychology focused on heavily in its first half-century as a science: sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation, and emotion

focusses on “higher” mental processes, such as memory, reasoning, information processing, Ian-gauge, problem-solving, decision making, and creativity

• concerned with the measurement of behavior & capacities

• usually through the development of psychological tests

• involved with the design of tests to assess personality, intelligence, etc.

• interested in describing & understanding individuals consisting in behavior which represents their personality

• also concerned with the factors that shape their personality and with personality assessment

• overlaps with clinical psychology in that specialists in both areas engage in similar activities - interviewing, testing, therapy

• usually work with a somewhat different clientele

• provide assistance to people struggling with everyday problems

• performs a wide range of tasks in the world of business & industry

• these tasks include running human resources departments, working to improve staff morale and attitudes, striving to increase job satisfaction

explores how people & machines interact & how physical environment can be made safe/easy to use

apply psychological principles to issues arising in the legal system, such as child custody decisions, hearings to stand trial, violence risk assessments, involuntary commitment proceedings, and so forth

participants must know that they are involved in research and give their consent/permission

if the participants are deceives in any way about the nature of the study, the deceptions must not be so extreme as to invalidate the informed consent

the identities and actions of participants must not be revealed in any way by the researcher

participants cannot be placed at significant mental/physical risk

• requires interpretation by the review board

participants must be told of the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact the researches about the results

a testable, educated prediction about the relationship between 2 variables

a tentative explanation of behavior/phenomenon (after research)

defining variables in a specific, measurable way for scientific testing

investigating the relationship between variables (not cause-effect)

observing behavior in a natural setting without interference

subjects alter their behavior because they know they are being observed

acting in wa way we think the research expects/wants us to act

acting the opposite of what we think the researcher expects/wants

subjectivity: how the researcher interprets what they see

intense examination of one person, small group, or unique situation using a variety of methods (e.g. surveys, interviews, observations, archival records, psychological tests, etc.)

• allows us to investigate rare behaviors/occurrences and topics that are impossible/unethical to test in other ways

• good: rare and in depth

• bad: can’t generalize, subjective, time consuming

questionnaire used to learn about participants opinions, beliefs, attitudes, general patterns of behavior, etc.

• good: large, inexpensive, etc.

• bad: biases, framing

giving answers most desired/expected by the researcher

how questions are worded can affect repsonses

• goal is to establish cause and effect

• controlled setting

• trying to explain behavior

target group of interest for study

members of the population who are chosen to participate in research (smaller than the population)

every member of the population has an equally likely chance of being chosen to participate in research

when the demographics of the sample are proportional to the demographics of the population

• allows results to be generalized to the population

when sampling is not representative of the target population

manipulated or controlled by the experimenter

measured/observed to see if the IV had an effect

groups/conditions that do receive the IV

groups/conditions that do not receive the IV

• any variables other than the IV that may influence the DV

• third variable: variables that are directly linked to both the IV and DV

• ex. personality, intelligence, time of day, weather, etc.

every participant has an equal chance of being placed into any of the groups.conditions (experimental vs control)

• helps to reduce to subject variables that cannot be controlled for

experimental design that does not use random sampling/random assignment because either impossible or unethical

repetition of a study; helps to determine whether results are reliable (consistent)

statistical methods for combining multiple studies on a topic (to compare/contrast what has been found thus far by many researchers)

occurs when participants’ expectations cause a change in behavior/the way you feel, when given an inactive treatment

the tendency for initial extremely high or low scores to become more moderate (closer to the mean) over time

• we think there is a relationship between IV and DV, but it’s just that behavior becomes more average over time

tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the ?s

when someone’s overall evaluation of a person (or object or situation) influences more specific ratings

participants don’t know which group/condition they are assigned to; helps reduce participant biases

the influence of an experimenter’s expectations on results (where intentional or not)

when neither the researcher nor the participants know which group participants are assigned to; helps reduce experimenter bias

mean, median, mode

average (sum of scores/total # of scores)

middle # when data is put in numerical order

most frequent score

range & standard deviation

highest score - lowest score

average distance score and the mean of the data set

determining relationship between 2 variables

the 2 variables head in the same direction

• as one increases, other increases

• as one decreases, other decreases

the 2 variables head in the opposite direction

• as one increases, the other decreases

• as one decreases, the other increases

seeing a relationship between 2 variables when no such relationship exists

• statistical # that measures the relationship between the two variables

• combines the direction of the relationship, positive (+) or negative (-), with the strength of the relationship (0 → 1.0)

correlation DOES NOT imply causation

• how likely is it that changes to the DV where due to the IV vs. just due to chance

• statistically significant = confident that IV caused change in DV

• p < .05 for social sciences (means we are 95% confident)