Module 1 DBA AP Psychology

When did modern science begin to flourish?

1600s

What is the APA?

American Psychological Association (APA)—a national organization of professional and academic psychologists.

Francis Bacon

Anticipated what we have come to appreciate about our mind's hunger to perceive patterns even in random events; one of the founders of modern science

What do psychologists working in various subfields do, and where do they work?

Psychology's subfields include the basic research fields (cognitive, developmental, educational, experimental, psychometric and quantitative, and social psychology), the applied research fields (forensic, health, industrial-organizational, neuropsychology, rehabilitation, school, and sport psychology), and the helping professions (clinical, community, and counseling). Work settings for psychologists include a wide range of government agencies, industrial and business settings, clinics and counseling centers, health care institutions, schools, universities, and research organizations.

Describe the three key elements of the scientific attitude and how they support scientific inquiry.

The scientific attitude is created by three individual attitudes: Curiosity: Questioning something and finding support. Skepticism: To separate imagination and reality by being skeptical of information. Humility: To accept that ones' theory may be incorrect and discover/accept new ideas.

natural selection

Charles Darwin said the principle that inherited traits that better enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will (in competition with other trait variations) most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

John Locke

Completed 'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding'; he argued that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa—a "blank slate"—on which experience writes. This idea helped form modern empiricism

Wilhelm Wundt

Created an experimental apparatus, machine measured how long it took for people to press a telegraph key after the sound occurred and to press the key as soon as they were consciously aware of perceiving the sound. Wundt was seeking to measure "atoms of the mind"—the fastest and simplest mental processes. This became the first psychological laboratory.

How did behaviorism, Freudian psychology, and humanistic psychology further the development of psychological science?

Early researchers defined psychology as "the science of mental life." In the 1920s, under the influence of John B. Watson and the behaviorists, the field's focus changed to the "scientific study of observable behavior." Behaviorism became one of psychology's two major forces well into the 1960s. The second major force of Freudian psychology, along with the influence of humanistic psychology, revived interest in the study of mental processes.

How do hindsight bias, overconfidence, and the tendency to perceive order in random events illustrate why science-based answers are more valid than those based on common sense?

Hindsight bias (also called the "I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon") is the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it. Overconfidence in our judgments results partly from our bias to seek information that confirms them. These tendencies, along with our eagerness to perceive patterns in random events, lead us to overestimate the weight of commonsense thinking. Although limited by the testable questions it can address, scientific inquiry can help us overcome such biases and shortcomings.

Social Cultural

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and culturesHow are we affected by the people around us, and by our surrounding culture?

Psychodynamic

How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflictsHow can someone's personality traits and disorders be explained by unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?

Biological

How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences; how our genes and our environment influence our individual differencesHow do pain messages travel from the hand to the brain? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives? To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression products of our genes? Of our environment?

Evolutionary

How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genesHow does evolution influence behavior tendencies?

Humanistic

How we achieve personal growth and self-fulfillmentHow can we work toward fulfilling our potential? How can we overcome barriers to our personal growth?

Cognitive

How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information? How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Solving problems?

Behavioral

How we learn observable responsesHow do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, for example, to lose weight?

Who introduced behaviorism?

John B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner, dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as "the scientific study of observable behavior."; Science is rooted in observation: What you cannot observe and measure, you cannot scientifically study.

What is the cognitive revolution?

Led the field back to its early interest in cognition—how our mind processes and retains information.

Positive Psychology

Martin Seligman have called for more research on human flourishing, believing that happiness is a by-product of a pleasant, engaged, and meaningful life. Thus, positive psychology uses scientific methods to explore the building of a "good life" that engages our skills and a "meaningful life" that points beyond ourselves.

Psychology's first women?

Mary Whiton Calkins and Margaret Floy Washburn

Perceiving order in random events

People perceive patterns to make sense of their world

How is psychology a science?

Psychology uses the scientific method

Psychology roots

developed from the more established fields of philosophy and biology.

What's a school of thought?

different branches organizing psychology.

Psychoanalytic Psychology

emphasized the ways our unconscious mind and childhood experiences affect our behavior.

What is critical thinking?

examines assumptions, reviews the source, detects clouded biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

What are theories

explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize observations. By using deeper principles to organize isolated facts, a theory summarizes and simplifies. As we connect the observed dots, a coherent picture emerges.

What is functionalism?

explored how mental and behavioral processes function—how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.

biological psychologists

exploring the links between body and mind.

Mary Whiton Calkins

finished all of Harvard's Ph.D. requirements, Harvard denied her the degree she had earned; Become a distinguished memory researcher and in 1905 became the first female president of the APA

Margaret Floy Washburn

first official female psychology Ph.D; wrote 'The Animal Mind', and became the second female APA president in 1921; Her thesis was the first foreign study Wundt published in his psychology journal

humanistic psychology

focused on our potential for personal growth

Basic Research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.

Who introduced humanistic psychology?

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

How did psychology develop from early understandings of mind and body to the beginnings of modern science?

The ancient Greeks—Plato and Aristotle—pondered whether mind and body are connected or distinct, and whether human ideas are innate or result from experience. Descartes and Locke reengaged those ancient debates, with Locke offering his famous description of the mind as a "blank slate" on which experience writes. The ideas of Bacon and Locke contributed to the development of modern empiricism.

What is the biopsychosocial approach, and what are psychology's main theoretical perspectives?

The biopsychosocial approach integrates information from three differing but complementary viewpoints: biological, psychological, and social-cultural. This approach offers a more complete understanding than could usually be reached by relying on only one of psychology's theoretical perspectives (behavioral, biological, cognitive, evolutionary, humanistic, psychodynamic, and social-cultural).

How has contemporary psychology focused on cognition, biology and experience, culture and gender, and human flourishing?

The cognitive revolution in the 1960s led psychology back to its early interest in the mind, and its current definition as the science of behavior and mental processes. Our growing understanding of biology and experience has fed psychology's most enduring debate. The nature-nurture issue centers on the relative contributions of genes and experience, and their interaction in specific environments. Charles Darwin's view that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies led to evolutionary psychology's study of our similarities because of our common biology and evolutionary history, and behavior genetics' focus on the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Cross-cultural and gender studies have diversified psychology's assumptions while also reminding us of our similarities. Attitudes and behaviors may vary somewhat by gender or across cultures, but because of our shared human kinship, the underlying processes and principles are more similar than different. Psychology's traditional focus on understanding and treating troubles has expanded with positive psychology's call for more research on human flourishing and its attempt to discover and promote traits that help people to thrive.

How can psychological principles help you learn, remember, and thrive, and do better on the AP® exam?

The testing effect shows that learning and memory are enhanced by actively retrieving, rather than simply rereading, previously studied material. The SQ3R study method—survey, question, read, retrieve, and review—applies principles derived from memory research and can help you learn and remember material. Four additional study tips are (1) distribute your study time, (2) learn to think critically, (3) process class information actively, and (4) overlearn. Psychological research has shown that people who live happy, thriving lives (1) manage their time to get a full night's sleep, (2) make space for exercise, (3) have a growth mindset, and (4) prioritize relationships.

What is the scientific method?

To find a factual result using three things Curiosity Skepticism Humility

Overconfidence

We humans tend to think we know more than we do.

What were some important milestones in psychology's early development?

Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Germany. Two early schools of thought in psychology were structuralism and functionalism. Structuralism, promoted by Wundt and Titchener, used self-reflection to learn about the mind's structure. Functionalism, promoted by James, explored how behavior and thinking function.

What is known as the birth of psychology?

Wilhelm Wundt's creation of the first psychological laboratory

Who introduced functionalism?

William James: studied down-to-earth emotions, memories, willpower, habits, and moment-to-moment streams of consciousness; with 'Principles of Psychology (1890)' introducing psychology to the educated public.

What is the difference between basic and applied psychology?

Within the science of psychology, researchers may conduct basic research to increase the field's knowledge base (often in biological, developmental, cognitive, educational, personality, and social psychology) or applied research to solve practical problems (in industrial-organizational and human factors psychology, for example).

psychiatrists

a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who are licensed to provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy.2

counseling psychology

a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being.

Clinical psychology

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders.

Operational definitions

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures.

human factors psychology

a field of psychology allied with I/O psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use.

Descates

agreed with Socrates and Plato about the existence of innate ideas and mind's being "entirely distinct from body" and able to survive its death; dissected animals concluding that fluid in the brain's cavities contained "animal spirits." which flowed from the brain through what we call the nerves to the muscles, provoking movement. Memories formed as experiences opened pores in the brain into which the animal spirits also flowed.

biopsychsocial approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural viewpoints

Behavior

anything an organism does—any action we can observe and record

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGISTS

applied research; apply psychological principles to legal issues. They conduct research on the interface of law and psychology, help to create public policies related to mental health, help law-enforcement agencies in criminal investigations, or consult on jury selection and deliberation processes. They also provide assessment to assist the legal community. Although most forensic psychologists are clinical psychologists, many have expertise in other areas of psychology, such as social or cognitive psychology. Some also hold law degrees. As a forensic psychologist, you might work in a university psychology department, law school, research organization, community mental health agency, law-enforcement agency, court, or correctional setting.

community psychology

basic research; a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.

developmental psychologist

basic research; a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. conduct research on age-related behavioral changes and apply their scientific knowledge to educational, child-care, policy, and related settings. As a developmental psychologist, you would investigate change across a broad range of topics, including the biological, psychological, cognitive, and social aspects of development. Developmental psychology informs a number of applied fields, including educational psychology, school psychology, child psychopathology, and gerontology. The field also informs public policy in areas such as education and child-care reform, maternal and child health, and attachment and adoption. You would probably specialize in a specific stage of the life span, such as infancy, childhood, adolescence, or middle or late adulthood. Your work setting could be an educational institution, day-care center, youth group program, or senior center.

Experimental Psychologists

basic research; diverse group of scientists who investigate a variety of basic behavioral processes in humans and other animals. Prominent areas of experimental research include motivation, learning, perception, and language. Most experimental psychologists identify with a particular theoretical perspective, such as cognitive psychology, depending on their interests and training. Many other psychologists rely on experimental methodology to conduct studies. As an experimental psychologist, you would most likely work in an academic setting, teaching courses and supervising students' research in addition to conducting your own research. Or you might be employed by a research institution, zoo, business, or government agency.

cognitive psychologists

basic research; experimenting with how we perceive, think, and solve problems COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS study human thinking, with a focus on such topics as perception, language, attention, problem solving, memory, judgment and decision making, forgetting, and intelligence. As a cognitive psychologist, you might work as a professor, corporate consultant, or human factors specialist in an educational or business setting.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

basic research; interested in our interactions with others. Social psychologists study how our beliefs, feelings, and behaviors are affected by and influence other people. They study topics such as attitudes, aggression, prejudice, interpersonal attraction, group behavior, and leadership. As a social psychologist, you would probably be a college or university faculty member. You might also work in organizational consultation, market research, or other applied psychology fields, including social neuroscience. Some social psychologists work for hospitals, federal agencies, social networking sites, or businesses performing applied research.

PSYCHOMETRIC AND QUANTITATIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS

basic research; study the math-related methods used to acquire psychological knowledge. A psychometric psychologist may update existing neurocognitive or personality tests or devise new tests for use in clinical and school settings or in business and industry. These psychologists also administer, score, and interpret such tests. Quantitative psychologists collaborate with researchers to design, analyze, and interpret the results of research programs. As a psychometric or quantitative psychologist, you will need to be well trained in research methods, statistics, and computer technology. You will most likely be employed by a university or college, a testing company, a private research firm, or a government agency.

educational psychology

basic research; the study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning. interested in the psychological processes involved in learning. They study the relationship between learning and the physical and social environments, and they develop strategies for enhancing the learning process. As an educational psychologist, working in a university psychology department or school of education, you might conduct basic research on topics related to learning or develop innovative methods of teaching to enhance the learning process. You might design effective tests, including measures of aptitude and achievement. You might be employed by a school or government agency or charged with designing and implementing effective employee-training programs in a business setting.

What does innate mean?

born with

COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGISTS

help people adjust to life transitions or make lifestyle changes. Although similar to clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists typically help people with adjustment problems rather than severe psychopathology. Like clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists conduct therapy and provide assessments to individuals and groups. As a counseling psychologist, you would likely emphasize your clients' strengths, helping them to use their own skills, interests, and abilities to cope during transitions. You might find yourself working in an academic setting as a faculty member or administrator or in a university counseling center, community mental health center, business, or private practice. As with clinical psychology, if you plan to work in independent practice you will need to obtain a state license to provide counseling services to the public.

What is cognition?

how our mind processes and retains information.

Mental processes

internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior—sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings.

Edward Bradford Titchener

introduced structuralism; aimed to classify and understand elements of the mind's structure; engaged people in self-reflective introspection (looking inward), training them to report elements of their experience and their feelings?

Why was structuralism unreliable?

introspection proved somewhat unreliable: required smart, verbal people, and its results vary from person to person and experience to experience.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGISTS

investigate the relationship between neurological processes (the structure and function of the brain) and behavior. As a neuropsychologist you might assess, diagnose, or treat central nervous system disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease or stroke. You might also evaluate individuals for evidence of head injuries; learning and developmental disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder; and other psychiatric disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). If you are a clinical neuropsychologist, you might work in a hospital's neurology, neurosurgery, or psychiatric unit. Neuropsychologists also work in academic settings, where they conduct research and teach.

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS

involved in the assessment of and intervention for children in educational settings. They diagnose and treat cognitive, social, and emotional problems that may negatively influence children's learning or overall functioning at school. As a school psychologist, you would collaborate with teachers, parents, and administrators, making recommendations to improve student learning. You would work in an academic setting, a federal or state government agency, a child guidance center, or a behavioral research laboratory.

Jean Piaget

last century's most influential observer of children

Pluto and Socrates

mind is separable from body and continues after the body dies, and that knowledge is innate—born within us; philosophers

COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGISTS

move beyond focusing on specific individuals or families and deal with broad problems of mental health in community settings. These psychologists believe that human behavior is powerfully influenced by the interaction between people and their physical, social, political, and economic environments. They seek to promote psychological health by enhancing environmental settings—focusing on preventive measures and crisis intervention, with special attention to the problems of underserved groups and ethnic minorities. Some community psychologists collaborate with professionals in other areas, such as public health, with a shared emphasis on prevention. As a community psychologist, your work settings could include federal, state, and local departments of mental health, corrections, and welfare. You might conduct research or help evaluate research in health service settings, serve as an independent consultant for a private or government agency, or teach and consult as a college or university faculty member.

Ivan Pavlov

pioneered the study of learning

Good theory

produces hypotheses, such predictions specify what results would support the theory and what results would disconfirm it.

clinical psychologist

promote psychological health in individuals, groups, and organizations. Some clinical psychologists specialize in specific psychological disorders. Others treat a range of disorders, from adjustment difficulties to severe psychopathology. Clinical psychologists often provide therapy but may also engage in research, teaching, assessment, and consultation. Clinical psychologists work in a variety of settings, including private practice, mental health service organizations, schools, universities, industries, legal systems, medical systems, counseling centers, government agencies, correctional facilities, nonprofit organizations, and military services. To become a clinical psychologist, you will need to earn a clinical psychology doctorate. The APA sets the standards for clinical psychology graduate programs, offering accreditation (official recognition) to those who meet their standards. In all U.S. states, clinical psychologists working in independent practice must obtain a license to offer services such as therapy and testing.

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGISTS

researchers and practitioners concerned with psychology's contribution to promoting health and preventing disease. As applied psychologists or clinicians, they may help individuals lead healthier lives by designing, conducting, and evaluating programs to stop smoking, lose weight, improve sleep, manage pain, prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections, or treat psychosocial problems associated with chronic and terminal illnesses. As researchers and clinicians, they identify conditions and practices associated with health and illness to help create effective interventions. In public service, health psychologists study and work to improve government policies and health care systems. As a health psychologist, you could be employed in a hospital, medical school, rehabilitation center, public health agency, college or university, or, if you are also a clinical psychologist, in private practice.

REHABILITATION PSYCHOLOGISTS

researchers and practitioners who work with people who have lost optimal functioning after an accident, illness, or other event. As a rehabilitation psychologist, you would probably work in a medical rehabilitation institution or hospital. You might also work in a medical school, university, state or federal vocational rehabilitation agency, or in private practice serving people with physical disabilities.

Aristotle

said knowledge is not preexisting; instead, it grows from the experiences stored in our memories.

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems.

What are the three early schools of thought?

structuralism, functionalism, and behaviorism

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

study the interaction of individuals with their natural and built (urban) environments. They are interested in how we influence and are affected by these environments. As an environmental psychologist, you might study wildlife conservation, the impact of urbanization on health, or cognitive factors involved in sustainable lifestyle choices. Environmental psychologists tend to address these kinds of questions by working with other professionals as part of an interdisciplinary team. As an environmental psychologist, you might work in a consulting firm, an academic setting, the nonprofit sector, or the government.

Sports psychologists

study the psychological factors that influence, and are influenced by, participation in sports and other physical activities. Their professional activities include coach education and athlete preparation, as well as research and teaching. Sport psychologists who also have a clinical or counseling degree can apply those skills to working with individuals with psychological problems, such as anxiety or substance abuse, that might interfere with optimal performance. As a sport psychologist, if you were not working in an academic or research setting, you would most likely work as part of a team or an organization or in a private capacity.

INDUSTRIAL-ORGANIZATIONAL (I/O) PSYCHOLOGISTS

study the relationship between people and their working environments. They may develop new ways to increase productivity, improve personnel selection, or promote job satisfaction in an organizational setting. Their interests include organizational structure and change, consumer behavior, and personnel selection and training. As an I/O psychologist, you might conduct workplace training or provide organizational analysis and development. You may find yourself working in business, industry, the government, or a college or university. Or you may be self-employed as a consultant or work for a management consulting firm.

Hypotheses

testable predictions

Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychologists

the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces.

Nature-nurture issue

the controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors; Nurture works on what nature provides

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next; culture shapes our behavior

What is empiricism?

the idea that knowledge comes from experience, and that observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge

What is cognitive neuropsychology?

the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language); studies the brain activity underlying mental activity

Psychology defined

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

social psychologists

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Psychometrics

the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.

personality psychology

the study of individuals' characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.

What is cognitive psychology?

the study of mental processes, such as occur when we perceive, learn, remember, think, communicate, and solve problems.

evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection.

Behavior genetics

the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

Hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon. )

What is behaviorism?

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2)

Explain how critical thinking feeds a scientific attitude and smarter thinking for everyday life.

thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions

What is structuralism?

used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind.