Ap Psychology Unit 1

Monism

the presumption that mind and body are different aspects of the same thing

An evolutionary psychologist would explain that humans desire social interaction, social acceptance, and social affiliation due to a need for ...

Survival

correlational study

a research project designed to discover the degree to which two variables are related to each other

operational definition

a statement of the procedures used to define research variables

cross-sectional study

a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another

G. Stanley Hall

american psychologist who established the first psychology research laboratory in the United States and founded the American Psychological Association

structuralism

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

theory

A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female to be awarded a PhD in psychology; 2nd president of the APA (1921)

basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

longitudinal study

research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period

Jean Piaget

Known for his theory of cognitive development in children

To describe the behavior of animals in their native habitats, researchers are most likely to make use of...

Naturalistic Observation

Carl Rogers

1902-1987; Field: humanistic; Contributions: founded person-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard, fully functioning person

hawthorne effect

A change in a subject's behavior caused simply by the awareness of being studied

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)

In the early years of psychology, a research participant might have been asked to observe carefully and systematically his conscious experiences. What method would the participant be using?

Introspection

If psychologists discovered that students who participate in more extracurricular activities have higher GPAs, this would indicate that extracurricular involvement and grades are ...

Positively Correlated

What is the most ongoing debate in developmental psychology? A. Whether free will exists B. Functionalism vs. Structuralism C. Nature vs. Naturalism D. Observed Behavior vs. Internal Thoughts

The nature vs nurture debate

dependent variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

What is a limitation of surveys?

The wording effect

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

mean

average

William James

founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

What is psychology?

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Dorothea Dix

A reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820's, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada. She succeeded in persuading many states to assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill. She served as the Superintendant of Nurses for the Union Army during the Civil War.

experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

functionalism

A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.

What type of psychologist would apply the principles of psychology to the workplace and is one America's highest-paying jobs?

Industrial Organized Psychology

Which is a true statement about Structuralism and Functionalism?

Structuralism focused on analyze the mind in terms of its simplest components and how these components fit together (especially with introspection). Functionalism focused on the functionality of the mind, especially to allow for survival or adaptation.

informed consent

an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

case study

an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

Gestalt

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Ivan Pavlov

discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

Introspection

examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

inferential statistics

numerical data that allow one to generalize- to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population

Milgram Experiment

obedience; electrical shocks to incorrect answers; learners were paid actors.

median

the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it

Cognitive psychologists are most likely to study ...

the mind and how people acquire knowledge and solve problems.

Debriefing

the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants

Dualism

the presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact

skews

to change something so that it is not true or accurate

correlation

A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.

control variable

A variable that is kept constant during a controlled experiment.

Mary Whiton Calkins

American psychologist who conducted research on memory, personality, and dreams; first woman president of the American Psychological Association

Sigmund Freud

Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation; founded psychoanalysis.

B.F. Skinner

Behaviorist that developed the theory of operant conditioning by training pigeons and rats

A person observing one person's life from birth to death can be considered what type of research?

Case Study

Studying and interviewing a single serial killer indepthly to learn about all aspects of their lives is an example of a(n) ...

Case Study

Experiments

Test your hypothesis. You may need to do this step more than once to see if the results are the same each time.

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

Professor Shalet contends that parents and children have similar levels of intelligence largely because they share common genes. His idea is best described as a(n)

Theory

confounding variable

a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment

sampling bias

a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample

experimenter bias

a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained

Which area of psychology were Wilhelm Wundt's early experiments an attempt to investigate?

basic mental processes

John B. Watson

behaviorism; emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat

internal validity

extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences from a study

external validity

extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings

survey research

gathering primary data by asking people questions about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior

Wilhelm Wundt

german physiologist who founded psychology as a formal science; opened first psychology research laboratory in 1879

descriptive statistics

numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups. Includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation.

normal

regular

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

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 with (2).