Social Psych exam 1

Social Psychology (definition)

The scientific study of individuals, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a social context

• real or imagined presence of others

Social Psychology vs Sociology

Sociology focuses on the group level as opposed to individuals

• often sociology research does not manipulate variables during studies

Norman Triplett

Considered the first to publish social psych research

Studied bicyclist behavior (manipulated variables)

• 2 groups: solo bikers vs bikers competing next to others

• showed that the presence of others—> faster performance

Max Ringlemann

Found the opposite of Triplett

• tested rope performance

• found that solo rope pulling—> more effort

• Published after Triplett

WWII effect on social psychology

WWII and Hitler’s rise to power changed psychology

• displayed a darker human capability

• violence and genocide

• conformity and obedience

• European Scientists—> The United States

The response: 1936- Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues was formed, which was the first organized collect of social psychologists

Muzarfer Sherif

Research on Social Influence

• immigrant from turkey

• experienced hardships and witnessed brutality

Kurt Lewin

Polish immigrant

• Interactionist perspective: psych behavior = the interaction between a person and their environment

• convinced Americans to conserve their resources during wartime

• “No research without action, no action without research”

Stanley Milgram

American psychologist directly inspired by WWII

Miglrad Obedience Studies

• huge impact on both the psych field and society

1960s social psych studies boomed—> criticism and heated debate on whether lab studies were valid enough or diverse enough

Society for the Psycological study of Social Issues (?)

The main mission is to create a more socially just world by bringing science and practice together to address human problems.

• founded during the great depression

Social Neuroscience

the study of the relationship between neural and social processes

• ex: social rejection activates similar brain areas as physical pain

Cross-Cultural Research

compare/contrast phenomena across different cultures

Hypothesis vs. theory

Hypnoses is based on observation and/or previous findings

• necessary before conducting research

• Predict the outcome of a study explicitly testable

Theory: Based on past research results

• organized set of principles/statement to explain an observed phenomenon

• help explain and predict the word

basic research

Increase understanding of human behavior and predict outcomes

• EX: defining and explaining the phenomenon of racial prejudice

applied research

Apply theory to solve social problems

• EX: how can we use our knowledge to help others reduce their racial prejudice in the real world

operational defionition

The specific way a variable is represented in a study

• variable: Aggression (broad)

Possible ODs (more specific)

- aggressive thoughts/emotions (survey)

facial expressions

cussing

construct validity

1. How a variable is operationally defined is accurate

2. The measures accurately tap into the variables in question

otherwise, our results mean nothing.

self report measures and their flaws

Participants disclose their thoughts, feelings, desires, and behavior

• Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (ex)

Flaws: Variables are difficult to observe

• SRM rely on participants telling the truth

• may hide true answers purposefully

• may not be truly aware of their own inner processes

Bogus Pipeline technique

Participants are led to believe their responses will be checked by a perfect lie detector

• may encourage more truthful answers

• Fallen out of favor

Interrater reliability

The degree of agreement or consistency between two or more independent observers or evaluators when scoring or recording the same behavior, test, or phenomenon

Descriptive research

Gathering data that describes rather than predicts how people think, feel, and behave

• lacks control: cannot make causal claims, only describe

correlational research

Describing the relationship between variables

• No relationship: variables are distinct  

• Positive: as one increases, the other increases (both go in the same direction)  

• Negative: As one decreases, the other increases  

• Correlations can be strong or weak 

 

Experiemental Research

A design that aims to study causality

• The independent variable causes a change in a dependent variable

We do this by:   

1. Control over variables  

2. Random assignment to conditions ( if you don’t have random assignment, you are not actually testing causality)  

Independent vs. dependent variables

Independent variable: researcher controls what “version” participants get

• conditions

• manipulation

• participants are randomly assigned to conditions

Dependent Variables: Researcher predicts that this variable will be dependent on which version of the IV a participant gets

Subject variables

pre-existing traits/characteristics a participant has that are separate from the IV/DV  

• e.g. gender, age, existing depressive symptoms, social media habits  

• random assignment: makes these even across conditions  

 

Internal validity

Doing good research

there is a reasonable certainty that the IV cause a change in the DV

• was the study conducted well

• random assignment? construct validity? Cntrol?

External validity

We want studies to describe ALL not just few!

• We want to generalize the overall population

Ex: random sampling

Confound

A variable outside the IV that overwhelmingly affects one condition

Random sampling

Every person in a population has an equal chance of being selected for a study’s sample

• Contrast that with convenience sampling: Gen Psych Pool

• survey companies ($$$)

Are results of studies the same for different ages, sexes, races, incomes, education levels, and cultural backgrounds

WEIRD

Western

Educated

Industrialized

Rich

Democratic

Experimental realism

The procedures feel real 

• May not perfectly map into real life scenarios  

• Participants feel invested  

• Reactions and answers are realistic  

• Allows more control over variables than mundane  

Internal validity > External validity 

Harder to generalize to real-world scenarios

Less internal validity

Mundane realism

Research setting/experience resembles real-world settings  

• Results can be generalized more easily to the real world  

• Has high external validity  

• Maps onto real-world scenarios  

• Less control  

• Less internal validity  

Deception

Actively providing false information to participants

• cover the true reason

• increase mundane or experimental realism

Confederates: Actors in a study!

Meta-analysis

statistical procedure that groups and examines research that has already been conducted  

A concise and clear picture of an area of study  

Bem’s 2011 controversy

Study found significant evidence of “precognition (seeing the future) 

BUT…other scientists couldn’t replicate 

This is a good thing, though, because it led psychologists across the board to aim for better practices such as bigger Sample sizes and focus on replicating results

IRB

Institutional Review Board- established in 1974 to PROTECT human participants in research

• Informed consent: Written information about what the study entails; participants must agree (verbally or written) 

• Debriefing: Statement explaining the research and why it is conducted; explain deception if present; provide answers or resources  

• Scraping data: Using pre-existing online data without knowledge/consent; researcher analyzing TikTok comments; tech giants may alter a platform purposefully; is this ethical?  

 

Data scraping

Using pre-existing online data without knowledge/consent; a researcher analyzing TikTok comments; tech giants may alter a platform purposefully; is this ethical?  

Self-concept & self-schema

Self concept: the collection of beliefs we have about ourselves

Self Schema: Beliefs that guide how we process self-relevant information

William Thompson’s self-concept
issues

He was a patient with a brain disorder that impacted recent memory, and as a result, there was a lack of continuity and self-concept

• Constantly crafted new identities

• If we lose our memories, are we still the same person??

Autobiographical memories

Recollection of events that shaped your life

• easier to recall recent past

• can easily recall “formative” years (teen-young adult)

• Recall “Firsts”

Compartmentalization of personality

We have different “identities” in different contexts

Rouge test

Apply red ink to forehead; place in front of mirror

• Do they reach for the mirror or own forehead

Looking-glass self

Other people serve as a mirror to see ourselves

Introspection

Looking inward to examines one’s self

• active forecasting

• impact bias

Issues:

Affective forecasting

the process of predicting how we would feel/react to a future scenario

Impact bias

people overestimate the strength and uration of emotional reactions

Self-perception theory & vicarious
self-perception

SPT: Simply observe your own behavior instead

VSP: Make by observing others we perceive as similar to us

SOKA (Self-Other Knowledge
Asymmetry Model)

Predicts that we know ourselves better for internal attributes and others know is well for observable attributes

Study example: 

• Internal + Non/evalutive: self esteem

• Internal evaluative intelligence

• Observable+ Non/evaluitive: talkativeness   

What they did with this study: Took “objective” in-lab measure of each trait

• Compared to friend/self ratings

Facial feedback hypothesis

is the idea that your facial expressions can influence your emotions.

In other words:

You don't just smile because you're happy—you may also feel happier because you're smiling.

Intrinsic motivation

 originates within a person; they have personal goals to achieve something or enjoyment derived from an activity 

extrinsic motivation

originates from outside of a person

Overjustification effect

Intrinsic motivation dies off when associated with high extrinsic reward 

• Confuses our self-perception of motivation 

Lepper et al., 1973: pre-school children received a reward for drawing with markers 

Social comparison theory

when people are uncertain about their abilities/opinions, they compare to similar others 

• Young boys cite their gender when raised in a mostly female household

• This is more likely to happen when no objective evidence is present 

• Social media makes this comparison vastly easier: its so much easier to compare ourselves to others

Cultural orientation

 individualism vs. collectivism 

• Individualism: prioritizes independence, autonomy, self-reliance, and standing put 

• Collectivism: prioritizes cooperation and social harmony 

• Not necessarily opposites 

• Orientation; can change depending on context

Self other overlap

1. Independent view of self: there isn't an overlap

2. Interdependent view of self: there is an overlap with your view of self 

Self-esteem

an individual's positive and negative evaluations of the self

• Roughly stable over time 

• Often dips in adolescence 

Sociometer theory

 Self esteem is a gauge that monitors whether other people approve of us 

• Detects acceptance and rejection from others 

• Low self esteem: social rejection 

• Sometimes self-esteem isn't impacted by social cues (narcissism) 

Terror management theory

 The concept of death is scary!

• To cope, we construct worldviews about the meaning of life (and ourselves) 

• Boosts in self-esteem can protect from death related anxiety 

Self-discrepancy theory

explains how differences between the way we see ourselves and the way we think we should or want to be can affect our emotions.

There are three versions of the self:

1. Actual self → Who you believe you are right now

2. Ideal self → Who you want to be (your hopes, dreams, and goals)

3. Ought self → Who you believe you should be (your responsibilities and expectations)

Self-awareness theory

Self-focused attention makes our discrepancies more salient 

• Extended self-awareness→ Worse mood, higher depressive symptoms

Implicit egotism theory and its flaws

Internal unspoken self-esteem

• Word association task: Positive traits are more quickly associated with the self 

• Pelham& colleagues: we like things similar to our own names 

• Places to live, careers, schools, friends 

• Dennis→ dentist; Mike→ Michigan

Simonsohn (2011) found that those links are spurious; Ethnicity bias: people within a similar ethnicity→ similar names 

• AND more likely to date/marry/be fiends  

Self-impairment

We make excuses for failures 

• “I wasn't even trying!”

• Procrastination 

• Drug use, refusal to practice, set goals too high. 

Basking in reflected glory

We show off our connection to successful others

• The day after a team win→ More gear is worn around campus 

• They arent personally apart of the team, but wear gear because they are a fan 

• “We won”

Upward vs. downward social
comparison

Upward Comparison: Comparing to those who are more successful/happy/fortunate

• could impair self-esteem

Downward Comparisons: Comparing to those who are less successful/happy/fortunate

• make ourselves feel better

Spotlight effect

 We assume the spotlight is on us more than it actually is 

Overestimate: 

• How many people notice us 

• Negative consequence of social blunders 

Strategic self-presentation

purposeful efforts to shape others’ impressions of us

• Gain influence,power, sympathy, approval 

Self-monitoring

Regulation of the self in response to social standards/situations

• People may be low or high in self monitoring 

• Flexible vs. always speaking their mind 

• High in self monitoring=More likely to change 

How does construct validity relate to internal validity?

Poor construct validity can weaken internal validity. If your variables don't accurately represent the concepts you're studying, then your conclusion about cause and effect may not actually apply to the concepts you intended to study.

For which types of traits do friends potentially know us better than ourselves (according to the SOKA model?)

Self-perceptions are where others know you just as well, if not better.

SOKA: Self-Other Knowledge Asymmetry Model

study example:

1. Internal+Non-evaluative: Self esteem

2. Internal + evaluative: intellegance

3. Observable + Non-evaluative: Talkitiveness

What they did with this study—> Took “objective” in-lab measures of each trait and compared it with friend/self ratings

What was early (pre-WWII) research in social psychology (e.g., Triplett, Ringelmann) interested in?

Conformity Scientific approach to studying the effects of the social context on individuals' behaviors.

How did WWII impact the timeline of social psychology?

Had a large impact on social psych. There was a change to social psych due to a display of a darker human capability

• violence and genocide

• conformity and obedience

This sparked interest in social phenomena: conformity vs. obedience, prejudice vs. discrimination, and Aggression vs. Genocide. The Government was interested in protecting the soldiers from enemy propaganda; increase the support for the war effort, and personnel selection. Integrationist Perspective: Behavior is a function of individual and environment/context.

When are we most likely to use social comparison when trying to understand the self?

When people are uncertain about their abilities/opinions, they compare to similar others

e.g.: young boys cite their gender when raised in a mostly female household

social media makes this comparison vastly easier: Its much easier to compare ourselves to others

What is one major flaw with implicit egotism theory? (Think about what we discussed with people’s names!)

The major flaw is that people don’t actually associate themselves with others who share the same name; those links are spurious. Instead, there is an ETHNICITY BIAS: people of the same ethnicity are likely to have the same or similar names. People are more likely to hang around their shared ethnicity instead.

What happened with Bem’s 2011 publication? How did this impact social psychology ***KNOW THIS***

Bem found significant evidence of “pre cognition” which is seeing the future. This issue with Bem’s study is that other scientists could not replicate his study

This impacted Social Psychology because it led for psychologists across the board to aim for better practices such as bigger sample sizes, focusing on replicating results, conversation between researchers, and an Uptick in meta-analysis.