A.P. Psychology
Vocabulary Unit 1: History &Research Methods (Modules 1-3)
1. Psychology: Behavior/Mental Processes
2. Nature/Nurture Debate
3. Monism/Dualism
4. Socrates/Plato/Aristotle/Descartes
5. Francis Bacon: Empiricism
6. Wilhelm Wundt: Structuralism
7. Edward Titchener: Introspection
8. William James: Functionalism, Mary Calkins, Margaret Floy Washburn
9. Charles Darwin: Natural Selection
10. Basic Research/Applied Research
11. Clinical v. counseling psychologists
12. Psychodynamic: Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud
13. Behavioralism: John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov
14. Humanism: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers
15. Cognitive: Piaget
16. Cognitive Neuroscience
17. Evolutionary
18. Behavior Genetics
19. Socio-cultural
20. Biopsychosocial approach
21. Medical Model
22. Critical Thinking
23. Theory/ Hypothesis
24. Operational definition
25. Replication
26. Case Study: Descriptive Research
27. Survey: Descriptive Research
28. Naturalistic Observation: Descriptive Research
29. Sample Selection: Random sample, random assignment, population
30. Correlation Coefficient: Scatterplots
31. Positive/Negative Correlation
32. Illusory Correlations
33. Experiment
34. Single-Blind/ Double Blind Procedure
35. Independent/Dependent/Extraneous Variable
36. Experimental/Control Condition
37. Placebo Effect
38. Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, Mode
39. Measures of Variance: Range, Standard Deviation
40. Statistical Significance
41. Psychiatry
42. Hindsight bias
43. Scientific method
44. False consensus effect
History and Science of Psychology
Guided Reading Questions for Modules 1–3
Module 1: History & Scope of Psychology
1. How do we elaborate on behavior and mental processes regarding the definition of
psychology?
2. Describe William Wundt’s first experiment and why is it considered the first experiment in the
field of psychology
3. Explain how the two early schools of psychology, structuralism and functionalism differed
from each other, and which psychologists pioneered these early schools of psychology.
4. What were the contributions by the two American women psychologists, Mary Calkins, and
Margret Floyd Washburn?
5. Which American school of psychology, and pioneering psychologist led the way from the
1920’s to the 1960’s, and what were the particular criticisms about this particular school of
psychology?
6. Why Humanistic psychology was considered a softer response to Freudian psychology, as well
as behaviorism?
7. Describe the “Cognitive Revolution”.
8. What questions contemporary psychologists ask concerning the nature-nurture debate?
9. Describe the biopsychosocial approach. How does the biopsychosocial approach incorporate
various levels of analysis?
10. List how psychologists from five current perspectives view anger.
11. Compare and contrast clinical psychology and psychiatry.
Module 2: Thinking critically with psychological science
Provide an example of hindsight bias. Why is it known as the “I knew-it all-along
phenomenon”?
2. Describe the research done by Robert Vallone on how people are at predicting human
behavior.
3. What were the results of Ohio State psychologists Phillip Tetlock’s experiment when he
collected expert’s predictions of political, economic, and military situations.
4. How did Magician James Randi disprove aura-seers. What was his objective in doing so?
5. Provide four examples of how our shared biological heritage unite us as a universal
human family.
6. How are men and women psychologically as well as biologically similar?
7. Describe the guidelines established by the British Psychological Society, and the
American Psychological Association for the humane use of animals
8. How has animal research benefited animals, and how has experimentation on animals
improved our understanding of people?
9. List the four ethical principles developed by the American Psychological Association
and the British Psychological Society regarding experimentation on people.
10. Based on the reading passage on pg. 50, is the death penalty applied fairly, and does the
death penalty deter crime?
1.
Module 3: Research Strategies
1. Explain and provide an example of how a case study could be misleading.
2. Provide examples of how the wording effect can have major effects on a survey.
3. How is random sampling critical in eliminating the false consensus effect?
4. Describe the dangers in generalizing from a few vivid but unrepresentative samples.
5. Why is a survey using smaller representative sample better than a larger unrepresentative
sample?
6. How is naturalistic observation different from case study and survey methods in studying
behavior?
7. Provide two examples of negative correlation and two examples of positive correlation.
8. Describe the difference between a negative correlation coefficient and a positive correlation
coefficient.
9. Describe the three possible cause-effect relationships regarding low self-esteem and depression
and why is it not prove causation.
10. Explain the results of psychologist Amos Tversky’s research following 18 arthritis patients
for 15 months.
11. Provide two other examples of illusory correlation.
12. Why was it not bizarre that Evelyn Marie Adams won the New Jersey lottery twice, even if
the newspapers reported the odds of her feat as 1 in 7 trillion?
13. Describe Alan Lucas’ experiment on infant nutrition and later intelligence.
14. Describe the independent variable, control condition, dependent variable, double-blind
procedure in the research experiment studying Viagra and intercourse.
15. Explain the three measures of central tendency. Provide an example of which measure is
affected by extreme scores.
16. Explain the differences between the two measures of variation, range and standard deviation.
17. How are scores with low variability from a basketball player more reliable than cores with a
high variability?
18. Provide an example of how more cases are better than fewer.
19. How do comparisons of intelligence test scores among hundreds of thousands of first-born
and later-born individuals provide statistical significance but little practical significance