FROM THE OLD TEXTBOOK…..

AN EXAMPLE OF MY EXPECTATIONS FOR DETAILED NOTES … WE WILL BE USING THE NEW MYERS’ PSYCHOLOGY FOR AP STUDENTS.

Advancement Placement Psychology

Janelle Farris

AP Psychology Notes

Introduction to the History and Scope of Psychology

Module 1: The History and Scope of Psychology

Psychology’s Roots

  1. Objective: Define Psychology
  2. The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
  3. Behavior – anything an organism does – observable
  4. Mental processes – the internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior
  5. As science, psychology evaluates competing ideas with careful observation and rigorous analysis

Prescientific Psychology

  1. Objective: Trace psychology’s prescientific roots, from early understanding of mind and body to the beginnings of modern science
  2. From Buddha, Confucius to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle – philosophy began to explore the mind and the behaviors
  3. 1600s – modern science began
  4. Studying the body – Descartes
  5. Francis Bacon – Founder of modern science
  6. John Locke – the mind at birth is a blank slates (life experiences affect their lives)
  7. Empiricism – the view that knowledge originates in experience and the science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation – COLLECTING DATA

Psychological Science is Born

  1. Objective: Explain how the early psychologists sought to understand the mind’s structure and functions, and identify some leading psychologist who worked in these areas.
  2. Philosophy – thinking about thinking gave birth to psychology
  3. Wilheim Wundt – first psychological laboratory – He was seeking to measure “atoms of the mind” – the fastest and simplest mental processes
  4. Early schools: structuralism and functionalism
  5. Thinking About the Mind’s Structure
  6. Titchener – Structuralism – attempted to identify the basic elements of mind
  7. Introspection – self-reflective (looking inward – how you feel)
  8. Thinking About the Mind’s Function
  9. William James (Principles of Psychology) – Functionalism – focused on how mental and behavioral processes function – how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
  10. Stream of consciousness – serves a function (Purpose)
  11. Leading Psychologist
  12. Wundt
  13. Titchener
  14. James
  15. Mary Calkins – first woman president
  16. Margaret Floy Washburn – first woman to receive a Ph.D
  17. Henry Holt – first publisher

Psychological Science Develops

  1. Objective: Describe the evolution of psychology as defined from the 1920s through today.
  2. 1920s – “the science of mental life”
  3. Young science of psychology from established fields of pshioslphy and biology
  4. Wundt/Titchener – inner
  5. James – Stream of consciousness and the emotion
  6. Ivan Pavlov
  7. Signumd Freud – emphasized the ways emotional responses to childhood experiences and our unconscious thought processes affect our behavior
  8. Jean Piaget – theory of development – observed his own children
  9. 1920s – 1960s – “the scientific study of observable behaviors
  10. John B Watson – “Little Albert”
  11. B.F. Skinner – (American) Behaviorists – consequences shape behavior
  12. Operant conditioning, learning theory, maze
  13. 1960s
  14. Humanistic –
  15. “Free will, choices, goal driven”;
  16. Rogers and Maslow
  17. Thought behaviorists were too mechanical rewards, punishments imitations) making us seem like machines
  1. Cognitive revolution – psychology
  2. Cognitive neuroscience – the study of the interaction of thought processes and brain function
  1. Today
  2. “the scientific study of behavior and mental processes”

Contemporary Psychology

Psychology’s Big Debate

  1. Objective: Summarize the nature-nurture debate in psychology, and describe the principle of natural selection
  2. Biggest and most persistent issue concerns – the relative contributions of biology and experience
  3. Nature vs nurture debate: human traits develop through experience, or do we come equipped with them???
  4. Charles Darwin (1831)
  5. Origin of Species – Nature selects those that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment. (Evolutionary process)
  6. Darwin’s principle of natural selection
  7. Contemporary science the nature-nurture tension dissolves: Nurture works on what nature endows.
  8. Why do they study twins? Because identical twins have the same genes, they are ideal participants in studies designed to shed light on hereditary and environmental influences on temperament, intelligence and other traits.
  9. Studies of identical and fraternal twins provide a rich array of findings that underscore the importance of both nature and nurture.

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

  1. Objective: Identify the three main levels of analysis in the biopsychosocial approach, and explain why psychology’s varied perspectives are complementary.
  2. 3 Different levels of analysis form an integrated biopsychosocial approach: Behaviors or mental process
  3. Biological influences (observable)
  4. Genetic predispositions
  5. Genetic mutations
  6. Natural selection of adaptive physiology and behaviors
  7. Genes responding to the environment
  8. Psychological Influences (understanding – thoughts)
  9. Learned fears and other learned expectations
  10. Emotional responses
  11. Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations
  12. Social-cultural Influences
  13. Presence of other
  14. Cultural, societal, and family expectations
  15. Peer and other group influences compelling models (such as the media)
  16. Different perspectives can complement one another: - easch perspectives have some characteristics of other perspectives.
  17. Psychology’s current perspectives
  18. Neuroscience – physiological, body, physical
  19. Evolutionary – Dislike bitter tasted foods, enhanced human survival
  20. Behavior genetics
  21. Psychodynamic – Children’s past experiences, influenced by family
  22. Behavioral – emphasize the importance of learning
  23. Cognitive – thinking
  24. Social-cultural – groups, such as religious groups, musician, regions, countries
  25. Psychology will help you understand why people think, feel, and act as they do.

Psychology’s Subfields

  1. Objective: Identify some of psychology’s subfields, and explain the difference between clinical psychology and psychiatry.
  2. Subfields
  3. Basic research – study for knowledge
  4. Applied research – study to solve problems
  5. Counseling psychologist – help people cope with challenges by recognizing their strengths and resources.
  6. Help people cope with challenges
  7. Clinical psychology vs. Psychiatry
  8. Clinical Psychologists
  9. Assess and treat mental, emotional, and behavior disorders
  10. Psychiatrists
  11. Medical doctors licensed to prescribe drugs and otherwise threat physical causes of psychological disorders.

Close-Up: Your Study of Psychology

  1. Objective: Describe some effective study techniques.
  2. SQ3R
  3. Survey
  4. Question
  5. Read
  6. Review
  7. Reflect
  8. Additional study hints
  9. Distribute your study time
  10. In class, listen ACTIVELY
  11. Overlearn
  12. Focus on the big ideas
  13. Be a smart test-taker

Module 2: Thinking Critically With Psychological Science

The Need for Psychological Science

The limits of Intuition and Common Sense

Did We know It All Along? Hindsight Bias

  1. Objective: Describe hindsight bias, and explain how it can make research findings seem like mere common sense.
  2. Hindsight bias – I-knew- it -all -along phenomenon (both before and after the situation)
  3. Such errors in our recollections and explanations show why we need psychological research
  4. Psychology’s research: Confirm or Refuted

Overconfidence

  1. Objective: Describe how overconfidence contaminates our everyday judgments