Sample AP Question on Approaches/Subfields

Leadership, job satisfaction, and employee motivation are all studied in which of the following psychological disciplines?

a. Human factors psychologyb. Industrial-organizational psychologyc. Community psychologyd. Counseling psychologye. Experimental psychology

Sample AP Question on Approaches/Subfields

Which of the following approaches to psychology emphasizes observable responses over inner experiences when accounting for behavior?

a. Behavioristb. Cognitivec. Existentialistd. Psychodynamice. Structuralist

Quick Pre-AssessmentFor these questions, refer to the situation described below:

In an experiment designed to determine whether watching violent scenes on television increases the frequency of aggressive behavior in children, one group of subjects saw a nonviolent cartoon and another group saw a violent cartoon. In the play period that followed the viewing of the cartoons, researchers observed the two groups of children together and counted instances of aggressive behavior.

Taken from the 1994 released AP exam

1. The control group in the experiment is the group that

a. The researchers thought would be most aggressiveb. Performed the larger number of aggressive actsc. Performed the smaller number of aggressive actsd. Watched the violent cartoone. Watched the nonviolent cartoon

Quick Pre-AssessmentFor these questions, refer to the situation described below:

In an experiment designed to determine whether watching violent scenes on television increases the frequency of aggressive behavior in children, one group of subjects saw a nonviolent cartoon and another group saw a violent cartoon. In the play period that followed the viewing of the cartoons, researchers observed the two groups of children together and counted instances of aggressive behavior.

Taken from the 1994 released AP exam

2. The dependent variable in the experiment is the

a. Amount of aggressive behavior exhibited by the childrenb. Amount of time that each child spent interacting with the other

childrenc. Group in which each child was originally placedd. Violent cartoone. Nonviolent cartoon

Research Methods

• Importance of Scientific thought: – because human intuition is limited– HINDSIGHT BIAS: “I knew it all along.”– OVERCONFIDENCE EFFECT: often times, humans

tend to be more confident than they are right/correct

– FALSE-CONSENSUS EFFECT: we tend to believe others agree with us more than they actually do

The Gentleman Bandit: Hindsight Bias and Overconfidence in the Court of Law

Hindsight Bias

• It is normal, pervasive, and surprisingly strong in humans

• Deeply impacts validity “eyewitness accounts”– Wells and Bradfield study

• Line-ups and identifying the suspect• Rape scenario readings

Overconfidence

• Reason why people tend to be overconfident– they can’t imagine that they would have any

reason to be wrong (process of elimination)– Failure to seek disconfirming evidence

Word Jumble: Human Skeleton

1.) AMEGLNSTI

2.) TIRGLAECA

Try this out!

• Task: write down the schools of thought for the three following theorists from last week– William James– John B. Watson– G Stanley Hall

• Now rate your confidence that the information you just provided is correct

• Now write three reasons why your answers might be wrong and three reasons why they may be right

Scientific thought: Because human intuition is TOO limited

• Illusory Correlation: seeing relationships that don’t really exist

• Example 1: Sugar makes children hyperactive• Example 2: Myth of the hot hand

– Belief that a professional basketball player is more likely to make a shot after they have just made a basket rather than after they have just missed one

• Larry Bird in his prime made 88% of his free throws after a “make” and 91% after a “miss”

– Misinterpretation of random sequences• Stats – if a 50% shooter makes 20 shots, there is a 50% chance

that there will be a sequence of 4 baskets in a row and about a 20% chance of 6 in a row

Scientific thought: Because human intuition is TOO limited

• Confirmation Bias/belief perseverance: We notice examples that support our beliefs.– It takes overwhelming evidence to overcome

preexisting beliefs.– We’ll ignore rational arguments which contradict

us

Scientific thought: Because human intuition is TOO limited

• Theories: scientists rely on theories to form predictions or hypothesis– Your hypothesis should be in the form of a

prediction about observable behavior with specific terms (operational definitions) so studies can be replicated by others

Meter Stick Experiment