AP Psychology

• Prologue & Ch. 1

• History of Psychology

• Psychology as a Science

History of Psychology

• Psychology-The science of behavior and mental processes

• Psychology looks at 4 major issues:• -rationality vs. irrationality• -nature vs. nurture• -stability vs. change• -observation vs. introspection

Important Figures and Perspectives in Psychology

• Freud: Believed in Psychoanalytic Theory and that people were products of their subconscious (unconscious) minds. Looked at dreams.

• Jung: Believed in Analytic Psychology and followed Freud. Was more spiritual.

• Darwin: Believed in Individual Differences and Survival of the Fittest also known as Natural Selection.

Important Figures and Perspectives

• Beck, Bandura, Piaget: Believed in Cognitive Psychology-that we are a result of our thoughts and how we view the world.

• Pavlov, Skinner, Watson, Locke: Believed that we are a result of what we observe, also known as behavioral psychology. Locke believed in “tabula rasa” or blank slate.

Important Figures & Perspectives

• Neuroscience Perspective: Emphasizes that behavior is influenced by brain chemistry

• Adler: Believed in Birth Order and Education

• Rogers & Maslow: Believed that all people are born good, also known as humanistic psychology.

Experimental Psychology

• 3 types of studies in psychology:

• The Survey

• The Correlation

• The Experiment

Survey

• Take opinions on two concepts and see which one has greater support or influence

Correlation

• Correlations run from -1 to +1 and can be considered positive or negative. The value tells the strength while the sign tells the direction. A positive correlation signifies two items moving in the same direction while a negative correlation signifies two items moving in opposite directions.

• -.75 is stronger than +.55• -1.0 and + 1.0 are the strongest correlations

Scatterplots

• Scatterplots show correlation• A positive correlation is shown with a line that

goes down to the left and up to the right.• A negative correlation is shown with a line

that goes up to the left and down to the right.• A zero correlation has no line that can be

drawn.

Experiments

• While correlations have no cause-effect, experiments do. The experiment proves to show that one variable causes another such as aspirin causing a reduction in headaches.

• Independent Variable: (IV) Introduced by the experimenter to change the results

• Dependent Variable: (DV): Measured by the experimenter

Experiments

• Placebo Effect: Something believed to be causing the results which is really psychological.

• Random Sample: Ensures everyone in the population has an equal chance to be selected

• Random Assignment: Equally assigns people to the control and experimental groups reducing the likelihood of preexisting differences.

Experiments

• Baseline Measurement: Initial value before implementing procedures

• Post Measurement: Value after implementing procedures

• Control Group: Group which does not receive the independent variable

• Experimental Group: Group which receives the independent variable.

Experiments

• Hawthorne Effect: Researcher bias which affects the experiment

• Single Blind: When the subject does not know which group the subjects are in.

• Double Blind: When the subjects and researcher do not know which group the subjects are in.