Download AP Psychology - Cloudfront.net

AP Psychology
Intro To Psychology
What is psychology all about?

Memory
 Stress
 Therapy
 Love
 Persuasion
 Hypnosis
 Perception
 Death
 Conformity
 Creativity

Learning
 Personality
 Aging
 Intelligence
 Sexuality
 Emotion happiness
 …menal illness
 Sensation
 Biological elements
 Treatment of disorders
Psychology

Psych is a science and a profession

Uses Scientific collection/observation of data
In order to answer questions about behavior.

“Scientific Study of behavior and mental
processes.”

To answer questions about the mind and
behavior.

Psychologists try to solve problems.
Psychologists

Describe (observe)

Understand
• (Causes)

Predict
• (Forecast)

Control
Behavior
Behavior
 Is
anything you do, eating, sleeping,
talking (Psychology endeavors to explain
behavior, causes, motivations)
 Overt

behavior-
Observable actions & responses
 Covert

behavior-
Private internal activities (thinking
remembering)
Psychologists/Researchers
 Use





Scientific Method-
Observation
Hypotheses
Gather evidence
Test hypotheses
Publish Results
 Look
for cause and effect relationships in
for behavior
Approaches to Psychology
(AP Outline)
 Biological
 Behavioral
 Cognitive
 Humanistic
 Psychodynamic
 Socio-cultural
 Evolutionary
History of Psych: Family Album
Wilhelm Wundt- “Father of
Psychology”
 1879-
 Identified
Introspection (looking inward) as
a way to understand sensation, feelings,
images, personal experiences
 Used
experimental self-observation- made
psychology a science
History of Psych: Family Album
 1880’s
Edward Titchener
 Followed up Wundt’s ideas and found
Structuralism- “of the mind”
 A structure of mental life, “building blocks”
 Identified parts of the mind.
 Will later be discredited
History of Psych: Family Album
 1890-
William James- founded
Functionalism- “of the mind”
 Questioned, how the mind helped us
survive, adapt- habits, perceptions,
emotions, related to survival?
 Adapt, consciousness
Behaviorism
 The
study of observable behavior
 1958- John B. Watson- Rejected
introspection



Believed in observing behavior
Stimuli: i.e., environmental aspects
Responses: muscles, glands
in Pavlov’s experiments with
dogs- concept of Classical Conditioning to
explain behavior (1849
 Believed
Behaviorism
F. Skinner- 1950’s
 Ignored the role of thinking and mental
processes
 Found environmental factors
 Reward = positive reinforcers
 Related to learning
 Found laws of behavior apply to animals
and humans
 B.
“Skinner Box”
 Used
experiments to
study behavior of rats
 Operant Conditioning“A behavioral response
has an environmental
outcome”
 Push a button ----get some food.
Cognitive Behaviorism
Includes thinking
+ conditioning
Example:
Expectations
pleasure
Behavior Modification
 Uses
conditioning principles
 Concept says, problems are the product of
learned habits
 Learned habits can be un-learned by
behavioral methods.

Stimulus and response
Gestalt Psychology=
Max Wertheimer
Said it was a “mistake to analyze psychological
events into pieces.”
 “the whole pattern or form” – German
 Approach to psychology where the whole of
psychology is used to understand behavior.


Uses thinking, learning, problem solving, social
behavior, and perception to understand behavior

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Neo-Freudians
 Psychoanalytical-
exploring the
unconscious causes of behavior
 Adler
 Horney
 Jung
 Rank
 Erikson
Humanistic Psychology

Tries to understand subjective human
experience

Problems, ideals and potentials

Carl Roger and Abraham Maslow
 Stress free will= choice



Not deterministic
Environment does impact behavior but people can
improve
Attainment of needs are the basis of healthy
psych
Humanistic
 Each
of
us is
motivated
by needs.
 Needs forlove, self
esteem,
belonging,
Eclectic Psychology
 Psychodynamic
 Behavioristic
 Humanistic
 Cognitive
 Bio-psychological
Psycho-Dynamic Psychology
Cultural Issues in Psychology
 Psychology
is dependent on culture
 Cultural Relativity: Behavior that is
acceptable in one culture may be
abnormal in another.
 Social
Norms- impact the view of
behavior.

Rules that define acceptable behavior
Cognitive Psychology
 Study-
Problems Solving
 Thinking processes
 Know and why
 Consciousness
 Mental Processes
 Perceptions
 Memory
Scientific Method
 Making
observations
 Defining a problem
 Proposing a hypothesis
 Gathering evidence/testing the hypothesis

Naturalistic Observation, Survey, Experiments
 Publishing
results
 Theory building
Research Methods in Psychology
(AP Outline)
 Experiential
 Correlational
 Experimental
 Statistics
 Ethics
in Research
Observer Effect
 Observer
Effect: Problem when subjects
are aware of the observation, behavior
may be influenced.
 Example: People being observed for study
habits when they know they are being
observed will tend to do more (thus
changing their behavior, which will skew
the study)
Observation Bias
 Problem
when researchers consciously or
inadvertently influence the collection of
data or observations.
 Example: Researcher is trying to proove
their theory by shaping the collection of
data.
Anthropomorphic Error or fallacy
 Error
in identifying human attributes to
animals
 Example:
identifying thoughts, feelings to
behavior of animals
Correlational Studies
 Studies
that try to isolate behavior
causation and the relationship between
variables
 Finds
the degree of relationship between
two variables or traits.
 Results
of data are expressed or reported
in a Coefficient of Correlation
Coefficient of Correlation
 Data
that determines association of at
least two variables
 Expressed:
If 0 = then association is nonexistent or weak
If +1.00 = Perfect Positive Correlation=
Increase in one trait correlates to increase in
other.
If -1.00 = Perfect Negative = increase in trait
and decrease in the other trait
Experimental Psychology
 Used
to answer the why questions in
psych
 Experiments
are formal trials to confirm or
disconfirm hypothesis
Typical Experiment
2


groups of subjects
Experimental Group- exposed to the
independent variable* that is being analyazed.
AKA the cause of the behavior.
Control Group: exposed to all the conditions
except the independent variable.
• Provides a reference for comparison, isolates the
impact of independent variable (the item being
investigated)
*Variable= is any condition that can change and might effect the
outcome of the experiment.
3 Types of Experiment Variables

Independent Variables



Dependent Variables



Suspected cause of behavior
Conditions altered by experimenter
Measures the results of experiment
Reveals the effects of Independent variable on
behavior
Extraneous Variable

Outside variable – the researcher try to exclude from
consideration
How can results of a study be
evaluated?
that are labeled “Statistically
significant” are studies that are reliable,
because the independent variable will
rarely occur by chance.
 Experiments
 Replicating
studies.
Results indicate reliability of
Meta-Analysis
 Multiple
studies are combined to
determine overall trends
Placebo Effect
 Drug
studies may be influenced by
suggestion
 The act of taking a pill or injection may
influence behavior= psychosomatic
reaction.
 Expectation may be a factor
 To control the Placebo effect- single blind
and double blind experiments could be
used.
Single Blind and Double Blind
 Single
Blind- participants do not know if
they are receiving a placebo or the drug
 Double
Blind- Neither the subject or the
patient know who has the drug or placebo
Clinical Studies
Subject – person
 In-depth study of all aspects of a
single subject (not an
experiment)
 Single
 Example
of Phineas Gagehttp://www.damninteresting.com/
?p=231



When Dr. John Martyn Harlow arrived, Phineas was conscious and had a regular heartbeat, and both of his pupils
reacted to light normally. He was reported to be "in full possession of his reason, and free from pain." He was
under the care of Dr. Harlow for ten weeks, at which point he was sent home to Lebanon, New Hampshire. But
while he was recovering, the doctor noted some changes in the man's demeanor and personality. People who had
known him before the accident described him as hard-working, responsible, and popular with his workers, but after
the traumatic injury, Phineas Gage was not the same man.
In regards to his patient, Dr. Harlow wrote:
Gage was fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the
grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom),
manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient
of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires, at
times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and
vacillating, devising many plans of future operations,
which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned
in turn for others appearing more feasible. A child in his
intellectual capacity and manifestations, he has the
animal passions of a strong man. Previous to his injury,
although untrained in the schools, he possessed a wellbalanced mind, and was looked upon by those who
knew him as a shrewd, smart businessman, very
energetic and persistent in executing all his plans of
operation. In this regard his mind was radically changed,
so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was 'no longer
Gage'.
Survey Methods






Polling psychological questions
Problem of wording- questions mus be clear and
appropriate
Pre-testing- questions may help insure good
questions
Sampling- representative sample- a small group
represents the larger population
Courtesy bias or Social desirability- people don’t
respond truthfully when talking about some
sensitive questions.
Race and Gender bias- can skew results
Ethics in Psychology










Do not harm
Describe risks to subjects
Voluntary participation
Minimize discomfort
Maintain confidentiality
No invasion of privacy
Use deception only when necessary
Debrief on events
Provide results and interpretations
Treat participants with dignity and respect