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AP Psychology Review
History, Approaches, Research
Psychology—scientific study of behavior and mental processes
I. History
A. Ancient Greeks/Other Philosophers
 Hippocrates—dualist—mind/soul resides in brain, but not composed
of physical substance
 Plato—dualist—who we are and what we know inborn **nature
 Aristotle—monist—mind/soul results from our anatomy and
physiological processes; who we are and what we know due to
experience**nurture
 Descartes—“I think, therefore I am”—dualism, nature
 Locke—tabula rasa—monist, nurture
***Nature vs. Nuture—the biggest “argument “ in psychology
 Nature—who we are is determined by genetics/biology
 Nurture—who we are is determined by the environment (learning)
B. Early “Schools” of Psychology
 Structuralism
 Wilhelm Wundt—“Father of Psychology”—1st psych lab in Leipzig,
Germany 1879—founder of structuralism—focused on structure of mind
and identification of basic elements of consciousness; introspection
 Edward Titchener—1st psych lab in U.S. also structuralist
 G. Stanley Hall—1st president of APA—structuralist
 Functionalism
 William James—function or purpose of behavior—paved the way for
behaviorism
II. Current Psychological Perspective
 Psychoanalysis—Sigmund Freud
 Focus on the unconscious and internal conflicts to explain mental
disorders, personality, motivation
 Early life experiences important to development
 Find out what’s in unconscious by hypnosis, dream interpretation, free
association
 Psychodynamic—Jung, Horney, Adler
 Variation of psychoanalytic perspective
 Differed with Freud about something
 Behavioral—Pavlov, Watson, Skinner
 Focus only on measuring and recording observable behavior
 Behavior determined by environment and experience, not by biology or
genetics,
 Gestalt—Wertheimer
 Disagreed with structuralists and behaviorists
 Focus on WHOLE conscious experience
 (rules for grouping)
 Humanistic—Maslow, Rogers
 Free will, potential for personal growth, people are basically good
 Emphasized importance of people’s feelings (the “self”)
 Biological, Neuroscience, Physiological—Sperry, Penfield
 Focus on how chemical and biological processes within the nervous and
endocrine system are related to behavior
 Evolutionary—Darwin
 behavior a product of natural selection—we behave in ways that enhance
our chances of reproductive success, survival of species
 Cognitive—Piaget, Ellis, Beck
 Importance of receiving, storing, processing information; of thinking and
reasoning, and of language to understand behavior
 Sociocultural—Milgram, Zimbardo, Asch
 How social and environmental forces influence behavior
These are all approaches that help to explain our behavior and mental processes. There is
one “right” approach.
III. Domains of Psychology—types of psychologists
A. Clincial psychologists—evaluate and treat psych. Disorders
B. Counseling psychologists—help people adapt to change or make changes in lifestyle
C. Developmental psychologists—study how we develop psychologically during life
D. Forensic psychologists—apply psychological principles to legal issues
E. Idustrial/Organizational psychologists—apply psychological principles to making
workplace more efficient
F. Neuropsychologists—explore relationship between brain/nervous system and
behavior
G. Psychometricians—focus on psychological testing
H. School psychologists—assess and counsel students
I. Social psychologists—focus on how our behavior and mental processes are affected
by others
J. Sports psychologists—help athletes with their mental “focus” and performance
IV. Research—what we know in psychology is known because of research . Psychologists aim
to describe, understand, predict, and explain psychological phenomena.
A. Scientific Method
1. formulate research question
2. develop hypothesis
3. collect data
4. analyze data
B. Descriptive Research Studies—purpose is to describe behavior or mental processes
 Case studies—in-depth study of one person or group
 Used with rare phenomena
 Danger when generalizing to entire population when case study subject is
not typical of population
 Freud
 Naturalistic Observation—observing animal or person in natural setting
 Subjects should not be aware of researcher’s presence—may affect
behavior
 Jane Goodall, chimpanzees
 Survey—questionnaire
 Subjects should be chosen at random and be representative of population
 Be careful of volunteer bias, social desirability bias
C. Correlational Research—purpose is to note relationships between variables
 Does NOT prove cause and effect….”correlation does not prove causation”
 Positive correlation—both variables move in same direction (up or down)
 Negative correlation—both variables move in opposite directions
 Strength of correlation represented by correlation coefficient
 Ranges from +1.0 to -1.0 (r = .78)
 The greater the number the stronger the correlation (positive or negative)
 Correlations can also be represented graphically (x, y axis)--scatterplot
 Positive correlation—upward sloping (grades, study time)
 Negative correlation—downward sloping (grades, party time)
 No correlation—no slope, points scattered (grades, eye color)
D. Experimental Research—the only type of research that can establish cause and
effect
 Researcher manipulates a variable under controlled conditions and observes
response
 IV—Independent variable—variable being manipulated (new medication)
 DV—Dependent variable—variable affected by IV (depressive symptoms)
 If, then……”if subject takes new antidepressant medication (IV), then
depressive symptoms should lessen”….
 Random assignment—subjects placed in experimental group or control group
at random
 Experimental group—gets the IV
 Control group—does not get IV
 Confounding variables—factors other than the IV that could affect the
outcome of the experiment
 Single blind—participants don’t know which treatment group they’re in
 Double-blind—neither participants nor experimenter knows who is in which
group; eliminates experimenter bias
 Placebo—fake pill, injection, treatment
E. Statistics—how researchers make sense of data
 Descriptive Statistics—summarize set of data obtained from a sample
 Frequency distribution—an orderly arrangement of scores indicating the
frequency of each score or group of scores
 Measures of central tendency—describe the average or most typical score in a
set of scores
o Mean—average score
o Median—middle score (when scores arranged in order)
o Mode—the most frequently occurring score
 Normal distribution—aka “bell-shaped curve”---most scores clustered around
the middle of the distribution
 68% of population—scores between +1 and -1 standard deviation
from mean
 95% of population—scores between +2 and -2 SD from mean
 99.7% scores between +3 an -3 SD from mean
 Variability—the spread or dispersion of the scores
 Range—difference between highest and lowest score (highest score is
100, lowest is 20 = a range of 80)
 Standard deviation—the degree to which scores differ from each other
(how clustered they are vs. how dispersed they are). The larger the
SD, the more “spread out” or dispersed scores are.
 Inferential statistics—used to interpret data and draw conclusions
 Whether or not results can be generalized to population
 Statistical significance (p)—measure of likelihood that the difference
between groups results from a real difference between groups rather
from chance alone……p<.05
F. Ethical Guidelines—set forth by APA ---experiment must be approved by IRB in
advance
 Informed consent/free to withdraw at any time
 No harm to participants
 Confidentiality
 Debriefing after research