AP Psych Prologue + Chap 1

Overconfidence Effect

a well-established bias in which a person's subjective confidence in his or her judgments is reliably greater than the objective accuracy of those judgments, especially when confidence is relatively high.

Psychologist

an expert or specialist in psychology.

Industrial- Organizational Psychology

the branch of psychology that applies psychological theories and principles to organizations. Often referred to as I-O psychology, this field focuses on increasing workplace productivity and related issues such as the physical and mental well-being of employees.

Hindsight Bias

the inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it.

Functionalism

- focuses on how the mental process enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish. -William James

Double Blind Study

-Both experimenters and participants do not know who is receiving the particular treatment -Useful in preventing the placebo effect

Control vs. Experimental group

-Control: The control group is defined as the group in an experiment or study that does not receive treatment by the researchers and is then used as a benchmark to measure how the other tested subjects do. -Experimental: An experimental group is the group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested. One variable is tested at a time. The experimental group is compared to a control group, which does not receive the test variable.

Placebo and Placebo Effect

A person given such an ineffectual treatment will often have a perceived or actual improvement in their condition, a phenomenon commonly called the placebo effect or placebo response.

Naturalistic Observation

A second descriptive method records behavior in natural environments

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical measure that helps us figure out how closely two things vary together, and thus how either one predicts the other

Wording Effect

Even subtle changes in the order or wording of questions can have major effects Ex. People are more approving of "aid to the needy" than of "welfare"

Humanism

Humanism is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person. Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.

Operational Procedure

Procedure taken in order to check on their biases precisely

Blind Study

Random assignment of test subjects to the experimental and control group. The key that identifies the subjects and which group they belonged to is kept by a third party, and is not revealed to the researchers until the study is over.

Range

Range of reaction (or reaction range) is a concept in psychology, genetics, and related fields that the expressed characteristics (or phenotype) of an organism depend both on genetic characteristics (or genotype) and the environment.

Random Sampling

Simple random sampling is the basic sampling technique where we select a group of subjects (a sample) for study from a larger group (a population). Each individual is chosen entirely by chance and each member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample.

Standard Deviation

Standard deviations are scores around the mean of a distribution. It measures how much a set of scores is dispersed around an average measure of variability. Deviations around the mean can be calculated to express it as a variance or a standard deviation.

Longitudinal Study

Study over a long period of time

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes

Hypothesis

a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

Correlation

-Correlation is a statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two or more variables fluctuate together. A positive correlation indicates the extent to which those variables increase or decrease in parallel; a negative correlation indicates the extent to which one variable increases as the other decreases. -Positive correlation: occurs when the values of two variables trend in the same direction -Negative correlation: occurs when values of two variables trend in opposite directions

Dependent vs. Independent Variables or. Confounding/Extraneous Variables

-Dependent: Variable/Factor that I seek to "measure" -Independent: Variable/ Factor that is being manipulated

Structuralism

-Examine the study of the brain -Relies on introspection or the process of reporting one's own conscious mental experiences - Wilhem Wundt

Sociocultural persepctive

-How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures -How are we alike as members of one human family? How do we differ as products of our environment? -Developmental; social; clinical; counseling

Behavioral Genetics Perspective

-How our genes and our environment influence our individual differences -To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression products of our genes? Of our environment? -Personality, development

Evolutionary perspective

-How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes -How does evolution influence behavior tendencies? -Biological; developmental; social

Various Ethical Concerns in Psychology

-Moral and Ethical Responsibility Weigh pro's and con's of the study Fair treatment to all subjects -Fairness and Deception Informed consent Everyone treated equally -Harm Avoidance physical , psychological, and emotional harm must be avoided -Confidentiality Doctor-Client Privilege Change names and scenarios -Animal Rights

Psychoanalysis

-Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining insight. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious.

Introspection

-Self reflection based on thought -Emphasized free will, choice, and purpose -Proposed that humans use free will to focus attention on a particular aspect of a situation

Mean, Median, Mode

-The mean is the arithmetic average of a set of given numbers. -The median is the middle score in a set of given numbers. -The mode is the most frequently occurring score in a set of given numbers.

Behaviorism

-The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not (2) -Palvov/Watson/ Skinner

Case Study

-psychological/humanistic/developmental -In Depth study of individual -Used to find "Root cause" of something -Examines one individual in hopes of revealing things true to all

Psychiatrist

A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy

Clinical Psychologist

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

Normal Curve

A frequency curve where most occurrences take place in the middle of the distribution and taper off on either side. Normal curves are also called bell shaped curves. A "true" normal curve is when all measures of central tendency occur at the highest point in the curve.