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AP Psychology > Unit 1 > Flashcards

Unit 1 Flashcards

1
Q

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes is called what?

A

Psychology. A psychologist is a person who studies behavior and mental processes.

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2
Q

_________ involves observation, and experimentation or measurement

A

Empirical evidence

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3
Q

________ means “false science.”

A

Pseudoscience

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4
Q

What are the five parts of the scientific method?

A
  1. Description
  2. Explanation
  3. Collect data
  4. Analyze the data
  5. Avoid bias in your results
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5
Q

What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?

A

A hypothesis is an assumption or prediction that has NOT been generally accepted.
A theory has been tested and has become widely accepted. (Evolution)

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6
Q

What is the difference between basic and applied research?

A

Basic research is research for the sake of finding out. Applied research is someone trying to discover ways to benefit humanity.

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7
Q

Someone should be able to replicate your study, and get similar or identical results because of using this scientific method; what is this called?

A

Systematic study

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8
Q

Did Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and Locke believe in Dualism, or Empiricism. Also give the definition of each.

A

Dualism - Socrates and Descartes (mind and body are separate)
Empiricism - Aristotle, Plato and Locke (knowledge originates in experience)

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9
Q

Who is giving credit as the founder of psychology?

A

Wilhelm Wundt

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10
Q

What is introspection and what kind of psychology does it belong to?

A

Introspection - (to look inward) trained subjects to report their thoughts to map out basic structure of thought processes. It belongs to Structuralism.

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11
Q

Who is the most notable functionalists and what did he write?

A

William James. He wrote the principles of psychology textbook.

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12
Q

What is the difference between functionalist and structuralism?

A

Structuralism is focused on conscious mental experiences while functionalist do not care about the structure of the mind, but focus on goals/purpose of our behavior.

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13
Q

What does Gestalt Psychology stress and who is the most notable psychologist?

A

It stresses that the whole experience (perception) is often more than the sum of the parts. Max Wertheimer

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14
Q

Who is the founder of psychoanalysis?

A

Sigmund Freud

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15
Q

What is the unconscious mind and what might you find there?

A

The unconscious mind is a deep, inaccessible level of consciousness. You might find repository or primitive sexual, aggressive and socially inappropriate instincts there.

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16
Q

Describe free association:

A

Patient says everything that comes to mind without assigning logic or meaning.

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17
Q

According to Freud, where do our problems stem from?

A

Our problems usually stem from childhood

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18
Q

Explain the nature versus nurture controversy:

A

To what extent are our abilities, characteristics, and behaviors, the result of our genetics vs our surroundings and experience?

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19
Q

What does behaviorism stress?

A

Stresses direct observation

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20
Q

What is each of the following behaviorist known for (kind of conditioning and experiment)?
Pavlov:
Watson:
Skinner

A

Pavlov is known for classical conditioning when studying digestion and dogs.
Watson is known for classical conditioning, when experimenting with a baby to fear rats.
Skinner is known for operant conditioning: he put rats and other animals in a Skinner box.

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21
Q

What does a humanist think has been ignored by the other fields of psychology?

A

Personal choice (free will)

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22
Q

What is the key beliefs of humanists and what is their goal?

A

Their key belief is that people are inherently good and corrupted by society. Their goal is to help people acquire positive self concepts.

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23
Q

Who are the two most important humanists?

A

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

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24
Q

What does a cognitive psychologist stress and who is the most notable one?

A

Mental activity
Jean Piaget

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25
Q

What does the learning perspective believe behavior results from?

A

They believe behavior is acquired by learning experiences with the environment and that experience influences an individual’s actions.

26
Q

What does the learning perspective think is not important?

A

They think the mental process and genetics are not important.

27
Q

What two fields of psychology fit in the learning perspective?

A

Behaviorism and sociocultural psychology

28
Q

Describe evolutionary psychology:

A

Studying the adaptive nature of one’s genetic past, and the connection to their current mental processes, behaviors and traits.

29
Q

What does a biological psychology stress?

A

Stresses chemical, and structural factors in the body, like genetics brain and nervous system.

30
Q

What does sociocultural psychology stress?

A

Stresses sociology, or the study of the impact of the group on behavior

31
Q

What is Eclectic psychology?

A

It’s a combination of techniques and ideas from many different schools of thought that work best for the situation.

32
Q

Describe critical thinking:

A

Ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgments.

33
Q

Procedures used to measure and evaluate personality traits, emotional states and values through oral and written test are called:

A

Psychological test

34
Q

What is valid/validity?

A

A test measures what it is supposed to measure accurately.

35
Q

What is reliable/reliability?

A

Measures the same every time

36
Q

If something is valid, does that mean it is reliable?

A

Yes

37
Q

If something is reliable, does that mean it is valid?

A

No

38
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

A hypothesis predicts how two or more factors are likely to be related

39
Q

What is a variable?

A

Factors that can have different values

40
Q

Tell me what an independent and dependent variable is and use them in an example:

A

Independent variable: the factor the researcher manipulates
Example: Joanne is collecting data on (gender differences)
Dependent variable: the behavior or mental processes that is being measured.
Example: in the (ability to empathize)

41
Q

Describe an experiment and why is an experiment important?

A

The researcher manipulates a variable under controlled conditions and observes the response.
Only a controlled experiment can be established cause-and-effect.

42
Q

What is the difference between the population and a sample?

A

A population includes all individuals in the group of study. A sample is a portion of the population that is chosen for the experiment.

43
Q

When taking a sample of a population, you must choose by ________________ for your results to be accurate.

A

Random selection

44
Q

Describe random assignment:

A

All people selected have an equal chance of being assigned to the experiment group or control group.

45
Q

What are the two types of groups in an experiment and what is the difference?

A

Experimental group and control group. The experimental group receives a treatment and the control group doesn’t receive it..

46
Q

What are norms?

A

Established standards of performance

47
Q

What is a confounding variable, and give an example?

A

Anything other than the independent variable that is different between the groups.
Does smoking cause lung cancer or does lung cancer cause smoking?

48
Q

What is an operational definition, give an example and tell me why it’s important?

A

It describes a specific procedure used to determine the presence of a variable. It’s important because it must be precise for the experiment to be repeatable.

49
Q

What is experimenter bias and how do you get rid of it?

A

Occurs when a researchers expectations or performances about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained. You use double blind procedure to get rid of it.

50
Q

What is the difference between a single blind and double blind study?

A

A single blind procedure is an experiment where the participants don’t know which treatment group they are in. A double blind procedure is where the research design is which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group.

51
Q

What is a placebo?

A

False drug: Subject sometimes believe that the treatment will be effective and they think they experience an improvement in health or well-being.

52
Q

When someone in the control group thinks they experience the same benefits as the experimental group. This is happening _____________

A

Placebo effect

53
Q

What is a quasi-experiment?

A

Experiments on a specific group of people, a certain class, old people, football team, kids, etc.

54
Q

What is the goal of a correlational study and what can it not establish?

A

The goal is to determine to what extent, one variable predicts the other. Cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships.

55
Q

Explain the scoring system of correlational studies.

A

Varies from 1 to -1
Positive correlation
Negative correlation
No correlation

56
Q

What does it mean to have a positive correlation and draw a graph that illustrates a positive correlation?

A

One variable, increasing or decreasing, will cause the other variable to increase or decrease as well.

57
Q

What does it mean to have a negative correlation and drawl a graph that illustrates a negative correlation?

A

As one thing goes up, the other thing goes down

58
Q

What does it mean to have a 0 correlation?

A

There is no relationship

59
Q

What is naturalistic observation and what is the greatest benefit of it?

A

It’s carried out in the field were naturally occurring behavior can be observed.
It’s benefit is behavior is not altered by the presence of an experimenter

60
Q

Describe the Hawthorne:

A

People will alter their behavior because of the researchers attention, and not because of actual treatment.

61
Q

What is an advantage and a disadvantage of using surveys to gather data?

A

Disadvantage is people can lie and it may not be valid.
Advantage is it can be given to a large amount of people.

62
Q

What is an ex post facto study?

A

Study looks at an effect, and seeks the cause.

AP Psychology (4 decks)

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