Unit 1

social psychology

the scientific study of social affect, behaviors & cognitions

early social psychology

• 1st experiment- norman triplett 1898

• 1st textbook- william mcdougall 1908

• textbook shows experimental focus and importance of empirical research (floyd allport 1924)

classical era of social psychology (1930s-60s)

• kurt lewin establishes importance of person environment interaction

• world wars inspire conformity and obedience research- Sherif, Asch, Milgram

leon festinger

established theory of cognitive dissonance

B = f(P,E)

kurt lewin equation

lewin’s equation

B = behavior

f = function

P = person

E = environment

field theory of learning / force field analysis

• developed by kurt lewin

• demonstrates the forces driving and resisting certain behaviors, actions, etc

stanley milgram experiment

• obedience study

• to what extent will people obey an authority figure who gives orders that go against their personal conscious and cause har to an innocent person?

• 65% of people were willing to give lethal shock to stranger

modern social psychology

• cognitive revolution

• field grows with new topics

• new methods for better/more interesting science

• replication crisis 2011

parts of a paper

1. introduction- questions, hypotheses

2. method

3. results

4. discussion- implications, limitations/future directions

• mirrors scientific method

abstract

short summary (150-250) of research question, method, results and conclusion

intorduction

• research question

• reviews relevant research (citations)

• broad → narrow

• specific hypothesis

method

• how was study designed to test hypothesis?

  • participants

  • procedures

  • materials
    
    

results

• statistical analyses used to test

• results of test

• graphs, figures, tables

diuscussion

• what results mean and why they matter

• identifies limitations

• highlights areas of possible expansion

• conclusion

observational research design

snapshot of current state of affairs

advantages of observational research

• relatively complete picture

• allows development of questions for further study

disadvantages of observational research

• does not asses relationships between variables

correlational research design

assess the relationships between 2+ variables

advantages of correlational research

• allows testing of expected relationships

• allows predictions

• can assess relationships in everyday life

disadvantages of correlational research

• cannot be used to draw inferences about causal relationship between variables

• correlation equates causation

experimental research design

assess causal impact of 1+ experimental manipulations

advantages of experimental research design

• drawing of conclusions on causal relationships

disadvantages of experimental research

• cannot manipulate many variables

• expensive and timely

mediator varaible

explains how or why one variable impacts another

• X → variable → Y

moderating varaible

changes strength or direction of relationship between two variables

operationalizing variables

what is being measured and how?

construct validity

the extent to which an operationalization accurately captures a variable of interest

external validity

the extent to which the results of a study generalize to the population of interest

internal validity

the extent to which the study design permits the drawing of a causal claim

reliability

the extent to which a measure produces consistent results (denoted cronbach’s alpha- a)

measure central tendency

mean, median, mode

measure variability

range, standard deviation

correlation

tests whether there is a relationship between 2+ variables (pearson’s r)

t-test

tests whether there is a difference between 2 groups (cohen’s d)

ANOVA

tests whether there is a difference between 3+ groups (n²)

regression

testes multiple predictors influence on outcome variable (R²)

correlation effect sizes

• range 1 to -1

• sign → + or -

• number → strength

small: 0.1, medium: 0.3, large: 0.5

t-test effect sizes