Ap Psych Prologue & Chapter 1

Front 1

Psychology

Back 1

The scientific study of behaviors and mental processes

Front 2

Empiricism

Back 2

The theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience.

Front 3

Structutralism

Back 3

An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind

Front 4

Functionalism

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

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Humanism

Back 5

Theory and practice that emphasizes reason, scientific inquiry, and human fulfillment in the natural world and and often rejects importance of belief in God

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Nature-Nurture

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The controversy over the relative contributions of biology and experience

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Natural Selection

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Theory that nature selects the traits that best enable and organism to survive

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Biopyschosocial Approach

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Integrated viewpoint that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.

Front 9

Basic Research

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Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

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Applied Research

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Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

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Counseling Psychologists

Back 11

Assists people with problems in living and in achieving greater well-being

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Clinical Psychologists

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Studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological dissorders

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Psychiatrists

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Provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy

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Hindsight Bais

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

Front 15

Critical Thinking

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Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather it, examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

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Theory

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An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

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Hypothesis

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A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

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Operational definition

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A statement of the procedures used to define research variables

Front 19

Replication

Back 19

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances

Front 20

Case Study

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

Front 21

Survey

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A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group

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Population

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All the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn.

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Random Sample

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A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

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Naturalistic Obsrevation

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Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

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Correlation

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

Front 26

Illusory Correlation

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Perceiving a relationship between variables even when no such relationship exists.

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Experiment

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

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Double-Blind Procedure

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An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and staff are ignorant about whether the participants have receved the treatment or the placibo

Front 29

Placebo Effect

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Experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent

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Experimental Condition

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The procedure that is varied in order to estimate a variable's effect by comparison with a control condition

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Control Condition

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The condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment

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Random Assignment

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

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Independent Variable

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

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Dependent Variable

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

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Mode

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The most frequently occurring score in a distribution

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Mean

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The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores

Front 37

Median

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

Front 38

Range

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The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution

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Standard Deviation

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A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score

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Statistical Signifigance

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A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

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Behaviorism

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The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes.

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Gestalt

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An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts

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Psychoanalysis

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A method of explaining and treating mental and emotional problems by having the patient talk about dreams, feelings, memories, etc.

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Evolutionary

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The branch of psychology that studies mental adaptations of humans to changing environment, especially differences in behavior, cognition, and brain structure

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Biological

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Behavior is determined by biological processes

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Cognitive

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How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

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Mary Wilton Calkins

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Distinguished memory researcher and the American Psychological associations first female president

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Developmental Psychology

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Studies changes in human behavior from early life to death

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Educational Psychology

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Investigates learning and your environment

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Human Factors

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How people and machines fit and work together

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Personality Psychology

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Investigating our presisent traits

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Psychometric Psychology

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The methods used to get knowledge (examines tests and statistics)

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Social Psychology

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Exploring how people view and affect one another

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Charles Darwin

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Scientist that proposed the theory of natural selection in the 19th century, explaining the diversity of life through evolution

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Sigmund Freud

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Developed an influential theory of personality

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William James

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Developed functionalism, and assumed that thinking developed because it was adaptive.

Front 57

Ivan Pavlov

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Pioneered the study of learning. His research contributed to the founding of the behaviorism view of psychology

Front 58

Carl Rogers

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Pioneered humanistic psychology and emphasized the importance of current emotional influences on our growth potential

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B.F. Skinner

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A leading behaviorist that redefined the definition of psychology, believing that consequences and environments controlled peoples behaviors

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Margaret Floy Washburn

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Second female president of the APA, and first female to earn a Psychology Ph.D.. She wrote an influential book and had her theory published in Wundts journal.

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John B. Watson

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Led early behaviorists in defining psychology

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Wilhelm Wundt

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Father of psychology, led the first psychological experiment

Front 63

Confounding Variables

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An extraneous variable in an experiment that affects the dependent variable along with or instead of the independent variable

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Physiological

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Characteristic of or appropriate to an organism's healthy or normal functioning