Psychology: History and Research
Sub-Field: Clinical
Studies causes, treatments, and prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral psychological disorders.
Sub-Field: Developmental
Studies changes that occur in humans that are linked to a specific are range from birth to death.
Scatterplot
The type of graph used to represent correlation from a correlational study.
Control Variable
The variables that are kept constant throughout the whole experiment.
Unlicensed Counselor
0-4 years of college. Does experienced based work like camp counselor or support groups. Cannot prescribe medications. $.
Psychiatrist
12+ years of college, school: bachelor's in premed >> medical school >> residency >> medical doctor (MD). Can prescribe medications. $$$$.
Licensed Counselor
6 years of college, school: bachelor's in psychology/education/etc, master's in counseling. Cannot prescribe medications. $$.
Clinical Psychologist
8-10 years of college, school: bachelor's is psychology, graduate school, doctoral in psychology (PsyD). Cannot prescribe medications. $$$.
Confounding Variable
A factor in an experiment that cannot be controlled, but that may affect the end results of an experiment.
Experiment
A method of research where a specific treatment is actually given to each patient, and data is collected from the patient responses to the treatments. Must have a hypothesis and follow the scientific method.
Survey
A method of research where patients are asked a series of questions. Data is easy to display, and surveys are relatively cheap. People who lie or don't take the survey seriously can affect results.
Correlation Coefficient
A number between -1 and +1 that indicates how strong the correlation is. The closer the coefficient is to ±1, the stronger the correlation. The closer to coefficient is to 0, the weaker the correlation.
Correlational Study
A study that will tell you if a relationship exists between 2 data points, how strong the relationship is, and what type of correlation exists. This study does NOT prove anything (correlation not causation).
Hypothesis
An "if...then" statement that is used to outline the independent and dependent variables that will be tested in an experiment.
Random Sample
An experiment must have randomly chosen subjects/experimental units, otherwise the results cannot be used in science. Methods of random sampling include using a random number generator, drawing names from a hat, flipping a coin, or using a convenience sample.
Quasi Experiment
An experiment that doesn't have random assignment (bad).
Case Study
An in depth, multi-year, detailed research on a few people. Used for rare cases/unusual cases (by race, gender, background, diagnosis). Case studies take years to make because they involve knowing everything about a patient, and that kind of trust takes years to develop.
Placebo
An inactive substance or treatment that is identical to the experimental treatment, yet used as a control.
Sub-Field: Personality
Examines characteristics that make people unique by investigating persistent traits.
Sub-Field: Industrial/Organizational
Focus on relationship between people and work.
Sub-Field: Social
Focuses on how we view and affect one another.
Sub-Field: Counseling
Goal is to improve everyday functioning of people by helping them cope with daily challenges and stressful situations.
Perspective: Social-Cultural
How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.
Perspective: Psychodynamic
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.
Perspective: Behavior Genetics
How our genes and our environment influence out individual differences.
Sub-Field: Forensic
How psychology can be used in law enforcement, prosecution, or defense. Job examples: providing testimony in court, criminal profiler.
Perspective: Neuroscience
How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.
Perspective: Evolutionary
How the natural selection of traits passed down from one generation to the next has promoted the survival of genes.
Perspective: Cognitive
How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
Perspective: Behavioral
How we learn observable responses.
Evolution of Psychology
Mental process (1870's) >> Evolution (1900's) >> Development (1920's-1930's) >> Behavior (1950's).
Wilhelm Wundt
The "Father of Psychology". He opened the first school of psychology in Leipzig, Germany in 1879. He said psychology was the combination of philosophy (abstract, "why", "how", emotion, purpose) and physiology (parts of the body and how they work).
Independent Variable
The experimental factor that is manipulated. The "if" of a hypothesis, the part of the experiment that you change.
Dependent Variable
The experimental variable that is measured in it's response to the independent variable. The "then" of a hypothesis.
Population
The group from which subjects for the experiment are chosen.
Control Group
The group that does not receive any treatment, that is used to compare results to.
Placebo Group
The group that receives a fake (placebo) treatment.
Experimental Group
The group that receives the treatment.
Subject
The people that are being studied in a study or experiment.
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental process.
Goal of Psychology
To identify, predict and control problems in humans.
Naturalistic Observation
Watching/studying people in their natural habitat, preferably without them knowing you are watching. This type of study is used if the person would act differently if they knew they were being watched (reduces subject bias).
Subject Bias
When a subject behaves differently than they would naturally, since they want to act accordingly to the study they are in. Subject bias changes results and is not always controllable.
Double Blind
When both the subjects and the researchers do not know what treatment a subject is receiving, preventing both experimenter bias and subject bias.
Placebo Effect
When the desired results are achieved in subjects who received a placebo treatment, because they thought they were receiving the real treatment and mentally this caused them to act/heal to the desired result of the experiment.
Experimenter Bias
When the experimenter knows the difference between treatments, and acts accordingly, affecting results.
Single Blind
When the subjects do not know what experimental group they are in, but the researchers know what treatment they are receiving.
Zero Correlation
When the variables have no correlation and no relationship exists between them.
Negative Correlation
When the variables move opposite ^v or v^.
Positive Correlation
When the variables move together ^^ or vv.
