Ultimate! AP Psych Study Questions

What are three facts about G. Stanley Hall?

-Was a student of William James -Pioneered the study of child development -First president of the APA

What is the major weakness of a correlational study?

-cannot establish cause and effect relationships -cannot establish the direction of causal influence -researchers cannot actively manipulate variables -difficult to identify impact of confounding variables

What percentage of probability of results is necessary to be statistically significant (not due to chance)?

5% of the time or less

In a normal distribution of test, what are the percentages of the population that falls under the first, second, and third standard deviations?

68; 95; 99.7

What is the reuptake process of a neurotransmitter?

A drug would prevent the axon terminal to suck up excess neurotransmitters left over in the synapse, causing an excess of that neurotransmitter.

What are operational definitions and why do we use or control it?

A precise description of HOW the variable in a study will be manipulated and/or measured. To enable researches to replicate studies.

Location and function of the pons?

Above the medulla. Contains axons that cross from one side of the brain to the other. Responsible for sleeping, walking, and dreaming.

What are Charles Dawin's contributions to psychology? What early theory did he influence?

Applied the law of natural selection to human beings, forwarding the idea that human behavior and thinking are subject to scientific inquiry. His theory of evolution and the role of adapting to the environment has a great impact on the development of functionalism.

Which approach to psychology emphasizes observable responses over inner experiences when accounting for behavior?

Behaviorism

Wilhelm Wundt and the structuralists studied questions still asked today primarily by which perspective/approach?

By cognitive psychologists

What are the main parts of the neuron and their functions?

Cell Body-receives messages from dendrites Dendrites-receive and nervous signal from tips of neuron Axon-Communicates signal down neuron and away from cell body Myelin Sheath-Stops the leaking of the electrical transmission

What does the APA say about the use of animals?

Clear scientific purpose; humane living conditions; legally acquire subjects; least amount of suffering possible.

Which psychological approach is most concerned with the importance of encoding, storing, and retrieving information?

Cognitive approach

Which perspective would be most concerned with problem-solving strategies?

Cognitive perspective

What is a control group and why do we use or control it?

Comprises the participants who are exposed to all experimental conditions EXCEPT the independent variable. Enables experimenter to make comparisons.

What is an experimental group and why do we use or control it?

Comprises the participants who are exposed to the independent variable. To see the changes.

What was the response of members of the APA to ethical issues in research?

Developed a code of ethics

Which area of psychology involves the study of cognitive, physiological, and social changes that occur as people grow older?

Developmental psychology

What are confounding variables and why do we use or control it?

Differences between the experimental group and the control group other than the independent variable. Can limit confidence in research conclusions.

What is the all-or-none response of the firing neuron?

Either firing at 100% strength or not at all.

Which area of psychological research focuses on how cognitive or social features of human behavior may have provided early humans with a competitive advantage over other species? Why is this edge important?

Evolutionary Perspective; so they could reproduce and survive

What perspective believes behavior is the result of what helped to survive and reproduce?

Evolutionary perspective

What tasks are performed or research questions asked by Personality psychologists?

Examines stable traits and factors that influence these traits. Focus on aspects of individual traits, attitudes, and goals. Might study individual differences in temperament and patterns of behavior.

Which research approaches are best for testing hypothesis that the presence of certain odors causes people to spend more?

Experimental

What tasks are performed or research questions asked by Social psychologists?

Focus on how a person's mental life and behavior are shaped y interactions with other people. Involves attitude formation and change. Might study conformity behavior of college students.

What tasks are performed or research questions asked by Psychometricians or psychometric psychologists?

Focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing psychological data. Studies mathematical methods for measuring psychological variables by creating valid and reliable tests.

What are the criticisms of Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory of development?

For being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories.

Who is recognized as the founder or modern scientific method?

Galileo

Location and function of the limbic system?

Hippocampus, amygdala, and the hypothalamus are contained in this. Role in the experience of emotion

Why is Galen considered important to the field of psychology?

His ideas saw the first paradigm shift away from the idea of mental conditions having a supernatural source and towards finding answers in physiology.

What does it mean to say a research finding or test is valid?

How accurately the research measures the variable under study.

What is random assignment and why do we use or control it?

How you assign the sample that you draw to different groups or treatments in your study. to help assure that our treatment groups are similar to each other prior to the treatment.

What is random selection and why do we use or control it?

How you draw the sample of people for your study from a population. In order to yield information that is generalizable to the population from which it is drawn, a sample must be representative of the population.

Which approach emphasizes personal growth and achievement of individual potential?

Huamanist perspective

What is the placebo effect? How is the placebo effect controlled?

Human participants believe that they are receiving a treatment that may be effective, but in which they are actually receiving a treatment that is known not to be effective. By comparing the control group and the experimental group, researches can determine how much change in the dependent variable is due to participant beliefs versus the treatment itself.

Why, under what circumstances, would subjects be required to be debriefed?

If participant is deceived in the experiment.

When and by whom did psychology get its official start?

In 1879 Leipzig Germany; physiologist Wilhelm Wundt; established first laboratory solely devoted to the scientific study psychology.

Why is it important for research conclusions to be verified or refuted by subsequent studies? How do operational definitions help with replication?

In order to reduce the risk that results occurred by chance. ODs give specific directions of the role of each variable in an experiment.

What does generalizability and being representative have to do with a random sample?

In order to yield information that is generalizable to the population from which it was drawn, a sample of people must be from target population.

Location and function of the forebrain?

In the front. Centers for complex behaviors and mental processes.

Location and function of the cerebellum?

In the hindbrain at the back. Responsible for fine muscle movement and maintaining posture and equilibrium, some types of learning and forming implicit memories.

What is the primary effect of the myelin sheath?

Increases the speed of the neural transmission

If results of a study find the difference between two groups is "statistically significant," what would that mean?

Indicates high probability that the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable, allowing the researcher to reject the null hypothesis.

What is random selection and why is it important?

Is how you draw the sample of people for your study from a population. Ensures that each person has the same probability of being chosen for the study.

What does it mean to say a research finding or test is reliable?

Is the consistency or dependability of research results.

What tasks are performed or research questions asked by Industrial/organizational psychologists?

Issues related to the work environment, including employee motivation and selection. Aim to improve productivity and the quality of work life. Examine managerial skills, employee motivation, job satisfaction, or pay incentive programs. Might study personnel selection problems.

What is a major objection to the early Skinnerian (behaviorism) approach to psychology? Hint: does it take into account internal thoughts and feelings?

It did not take into account internal thoughts and feelings (failed to acknowledge cognitive influences on behavior).

Whose work did John Watson rely on to establish behaviorism as a paradigm of psychology?

Ivan Pavlov

What psychologist studied cognitive development in children, laying part of the foundation for preschool and primary educational approaches?

Jean Piaget

Who argued that the mind is tabula rasa, or like a "blank slate" at birth and subsequently is written upon by experience? Does this support nature or nurture view?

John Locke; nurture

Who is considered the founder of behaviorism?

John Watson

According to empiricism, how do we acquire knowledge?

Knowledge comes through observation and experience

Location and function of the hindbrain?

Located at the base of the brain. Controls automatic behaviors such as respiration and heartbeat.

Location and function of the frontal lobes?

Located at the front of cerebrum. Involved in motor control and cognitive activities-decision-making, planning, and goal setting.

Location and function of the sensory and motor strip?

Located in the front of the central sulcus part of the frontal lobe. Controls movement of the body's voluntary muscles.

Location and function of the midbrain?

Located just above the spinal cord and below the forebrain. Integrates auditory and visual sensory information and muscle movements.

Location and function of the amygdala?

Located under the thalamus. Role in maintaining homeostasis in body weight, hunger, temperature, and the endocrine system.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a longitudinal and cross sectional research methods?

Longitudinal can be expensive, time-consuming, and subjects can drop out. Cross-sectional requires comparatively little time

What did Gestaltists think was the best method, looking at the whole psychological experiences or break experiences down into part?

Looking at the whole psychological experience.

Who was Titchener's first graduate student, the first woman to complete her Ph.D. in psychology? What was her attitude towards the use of introspection?

Margaret Floy Washburn; could be considered a form of behavior.

Who were the Gestalt psychologist listed in your notes?

Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler.

Who agreed with the "nature" side and the "nurture" of the nature vs. nurture argument? Aristotle, Plato, Descartes, Locke, Watson, Skinner, Freud.

Nature: Plato, Descartes, and Freud Nurture: Aristotle, Locke, Watson, and Skinner

What did the humanist argue that every person has the potential to do? Who are the humanist named in your notes?

People can make decisions. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.

What is a sample? What is a target population?

Population includes all members of a group that could be selected for research and whom the results apply. The sample is a small subset of individuals to represent the population

The mean will be higher than the median in what type of distribution?

Positively skewed

What is the focus of Psychodynamic/psychoanalytic psychology? Think unconscious conflicts and childhood.

Psychodynamic is the focuses on role of social influences on behavior rather than interpersonal unresolved sexual and aggressive tendencies, as psychoanalytic believes)

Through their research on human responses to physical stimuli, Hemholtz and Weber contributed to what new field of psychology? Was it the first subfield of psychology?

Psychophysics; yes

Participants in experiments have an equal chance of either being placed within the experimental or control condition. This ensures that the average behavior of subjects in the control group will not differ from the average behavior of subjects in the experimental group. What procedure does this statement represent?

Random assignment

Function of the cerebrum?

Regulates higher emotional and cognitive functions.

What was Gestalt psychologists most concerned with understanding?

Research on consciousness, most frequently in the areas of perception, learning, and problem solving

Under what circumstances are correlation studies performed? What do they tell us? Are variables manipulated?

Researchers observe or measure a relationship between variables in which changes in one variable are reflected in changes in the other variable. Measure the extent to which two variables are related. Researchers do not directly manipulate the variables.

What did John Watson, B.F. Skinner and the behaviorist believe psychologist should focus on when studying psychology?

Should involve only the study of behaviors that could be both observed and measured. Should not study mental processes and consciousness.

Compare and contrast a single-blind and a double-blind procedure. What biases are controlled by which?

Single-blind is a procedure in which the subjects do not know whether they are in the experiment or control group. Double-blind is a procedure in which neither the researcher nor the participant knows which group received the experimental treatment.

What is dualism and who is it associated with in your notes?

Socrates, Plato, and Rene Descartes

Compare and contrast the structuralists and functionalist. Include the followers of each.

Structuralism is studying the complex concept of consciousness by dividing the mind into component elements; followers include: Wilhelm Wundt, G. Stanley Hall, Edward Tichener, and Margaret Floy Washburn. Functionalists examined the evolved pruposes (functions) of the elements of consciousness; followers include: William James, John Dewey, Mary Whiton Calkins

What is a scatterplot?

The correlation between two measures obtained on a group of individuals is graphically represented.

Explain the method of introspection. In chronological order, who were the major utilizers of this method?

The examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. Wilhelm Wundt, G. Stanley Hall, and Edward Tichener.

What does it mean to reach threshold?

The excitatory neurotransmitters must reach a specific minimum level to fire.

In psychological research, what is most appropriate for identifying cause and effect? How does this make an experiment different from other types of research?

The experimental method. Experimenter purposely manipulates and controls selected variables in order to determine cause and effect.

Explain the development of a fear from the perspective of an evolutionary and behavioral psychological approach.

The fear is genetic and that this apprehension was naturally selected because it helped human ancestors to survive.

Where do you psychologists begin in their explanation of a psychological phenomenon? What is their ultimate goal?

The first step is to describe what will be studied. To improve our understanding of behavior; to describe, explain, predict, or control behavior.

What are the 3 major parts of the brain?

The hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain

Which variable is manipulated and which variable is measured?

The independent variable is manipulated and the dependent variable is measured.

During the resting state of a neuron, compare the inside of the cell membrane to the outside.

The inside of the cell membrane is negative compared to the outside of a neuron in the resting state.

What is informed consent? Why is it necessary in research?

The participants agreement to take part in a study after being told what to expect. Participants must be informed of potential risks. Researchers must obtain the participant's permission, or their parent's permission before the study begins.

What is a statistical inference? Think generalizing, sample, and population.

The researcher measures behavior in a sample of people drawn from a larger population.

Under what circumstances do we use inferential statistics? What can they tell us?

The researcher virtually always measures behavior in a sample of people drawn from a larger population. What the data indicates for the population.

If research found the difference in the study was NOT statistically significant what would be an appropriate conclusion to be drawn? Think about chance.

The results were caused by chance.

How can we define psychology?

The scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of humans and animals.

Describe a person with an eclectic view towards the study of psychology.

They adopt ideas from multiple perspectives

Under what circumstances do we use descriptive statistics? What can they tell us?

To illustrate data and include tables, graphs, charts, correlations, measures of central tendency, and variance.

Why are precise operational definitions required for a psychological experiment?

To test the hypothesis

Location and function of the parietal lobes?

Top of the cerebrum. Responsible for the sensations of temperature, pressure, touch, and pain.

Neo-Freudian theories of psychoanalysis such as those of Karen Horney and Erik Erikson differ from Freud's conceptualization in that they are less likely to emphasize the libido. True or False?

True

What tasks are performed or research questions asked by Human factors psychologists?

Uses psychological knowledge to increase efficiency between humans and machines. Focus on ergonomics, workplace safety, human error, product design, human capability, and human-computer interaction.

What were Mary Whiton Calkins contributions to psychology?

Viewed psychology of selves as reconciliation between structural and functional psychology.

What does the APA say about the use of deception?

When deception is used on participants, they must be debriefed to explain the true purpose of the study and clear up any misconceptions or concerns. Deception is only justified when there is not alternative and the findings justify the deception.

What is social desirability bias?

When survey respondents report that they are healthier, happier, and less prejudiced than would be expected based upon the results of other types of research.

Who was considered the father of psychology?

Wilhelm Wundt

The ______ is better in a normal distribution, whereas ______ is better if the data is skewed.

mean; median