SOCIAL PSYCH EXAM 1

what is social psych

seeks to understand how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by real or imagined presence of others

How is social psychology different from other subdisciplines of psychology and other social sciences?

it focuses on how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people and by social situations.

What is the big lesson of social psychology?

people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are strongly influenced by the social situations they are in

What are the four core assumptions of social psychology?

-behavior is a joint product of person and situation

-behavior depends on a socially constructed view of reality

-behavior is strongly influenced by our social cognition

-the best way to understand social behavior is to use scientific method

define social construal

people don't simply react to situations—they react to how they perceive and interpret those situations.

Why is scientific method the best way to study social behavior?

ecause social behavior can be complicated and influenced by many different factors. The scientific method helps researchers study it in a systematic, objective, and reliable way.

what are the 6 different reasons we discussed for why scientific method is the best for studying behavior?

-cultural wisdom is filled with contradictions

-our personal observations have limited perspective

-people dont always tell the truth

-people dont always know why they behave the way they do

-we engage in confirmation bias

-Our observations change the behavior of the

observed actors.

What are the limitations of other methods such as introspection?

subjective and can be inaccurate

How are social scientific explanations of social phenomena different than

commonsensical explanations?

The main difference is that social scientific explanations are based on research and evidence, while commonsensical explanations are based on personal experiences, beliefs, and assumptions.

define hindsight bias

People exaggerate how much they could have predicted an outcome after knowing that it occurred

define confirmation bias

The tendency to view events and people in a

way that fits our expectations/assumptions

what is the term that relates to this experiment?

-the researchers studied if women chose stockings from the left or right position of the shelves in stores. All stockings were the same.

-the women gave different reasons as to why they chose as they did (color, texture etc). When in reality they were all the same

the significance of the study was that people assessments of themselves are inaccurate (introspection)

what is term of what is happening in this experiment:

-the experiment had people who had strong opinions on death penalty review two articles. one of the articles presented facts supporting the death penalty and the other article had facts against death penalty

-students found more reasons supporting their initial belief, even though both articles had the same amount of evidence presented

-the peoples confirmation bias led them to find more evidence to support what they believed

what is the major take aways from this experiment?

-experimenters conducted interviews with participants and slowly started doing specific behaviors like putting their hand over their mouth or playing with their hair

-the participants tended to mirror these movements

found that people unconsciously mimic the behaviors and mannerisms of others, even strangers.

define correlational method

-focused on predicting what has happened or what may happen

-(from knowing x, can I predict y?)

- examines whether two or more variables are related to each other, without manipulating variables.

what are the advantages of correlational research

focused on predicting how variables are naturally related in the real world

what are the disadvantages of correlational research

The biggest disadvantage is that correlation does not show causation.

What is the importance of random selection?

everyone in the target population has a chance to be apart of the study.

-reduces chance of bias or error

what is positive correlation

both variables either increase or decrease together

what is negative correlation

one variable increases when the other decreases

what is correlation coefficient

descriptive statistic that indicates the strength of the

relationship between two variables (ex: -1 , +1)

what is Directionality issue (reverse-causality problem)

A reverse causality problem happens when researchers find that two variables are related but aren't sure which one is causing the other.

what is Third-variable issue (third variable problem)

A third-variable problem happens when two variables are related, but a separate third variable may actually be causing changes in both.

what is experimental research

Addresses cause and effect: experimenter

manipulates one variable to see what effect it has on another

what is the advantages of experimental research

factors are able to be controlled, and the experiment is able to be replicated

what is the disadvantages of experimental research

Experiments are good for determining cause and effect, but they can be artificial, have ethical limitations, and may not always reflect real-world behavior.

what is a independent variable

Manipulated variable

what is a dependent variable

Measured outcome

what is internal validity

Internal validity refers to how confident researchers can be that the independent variable actually caused the changes in the dependent variable

what is external validity

The extent to which the results of the study

can be generalized to other situations and

people.

What is a quasi-experiment?

- groups of participants are compared on some dependent variable

-no random assignment

what is random assignment

Each participant has an equal chance of being

assigned to any level of the independent

variable

what is stereotype threat

Stereotype threat is when people worry that they might confirm a negative stereotype about a group they belong to, which can negatively affect their performance

what is the bystander effect

The bystander effect is when people are less likely to help someone in need when other people are present.

what is Descriptive Designs?

research methods used to observe and describe people's behaviors, thoughts, feelings, or attitudes without trying to change or manipulate them.

what is automatic and controlled thinking

experiential system is auto (low effort)

rational system is controlled (high effort)

social cognition

How people select, interpret, remember, and use social

information to make judgments and decisions

define automatic thinking

−Quick

−No conscious deliberation of thoughts,

perceptions, assumptions

define controlled thinking

−Effortful and deliberate

−Carefully selecting the right course of

action

-Experiment: Participants played a gambling task using four decks of cards. Two decks were risky—they offered larger rewards but even larger losses. The other two decks were safer—smaller rewards but better outcomes over time.

-The study showed that unconscious emotional processes can influence decision-making and that people may sometimes know something is wrong or right before they can explain why

-The auto or experiential system?

What is the premise of dual process theories

We have a fast, automatic way of thinking and a slower, more deliberate way of thinking. auto and controlled

what are implicit and explicit attitudes

implicit- internal values, thoughts and values

explicit- what we say and do

what are Heuristics

mental shortcuts (rules of thumb) people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently

Representativeness Heuristic

A mental shortcut where people categorize something based on how closely it resembles a typical example or prototype of that category. (Often ignore base rate information, sample size,

etc)

schemas are organized in (blank)

associative networks

what is a term that is relevant in this experiment:

-participants were told a story about a man proposing to a woman. two weeks later participants were asked to remeber the story.

-Participants misremembered details that were

consistent with a proposal script (asking parents, ring etc)

-The incorrect info recalled is related to schema or beliefs about proposals

what term is relevant in this experiment?

-participants told story about a white man stabbing a black man on a subway

-two weeks later participants remembered black man doing the violent crime.

• 
  

-SCHEMA

-The participants pre existing beliefs altered what they remembered

define accessibility

The ease with which people can bring an

idea into consciousness and use it in thinking

define salience

refers to how prominently or conspicuously a person, object, behavior, or feature stands out in a social context, drawing attention and influencing perception and judgment

define priming

The process by which exposure to a stimulus in

the environment increases the salience of a schema

What term is present in this experiment?

-Participants read a scenario involving a male or female job candidate who behaved in an assertive or modest way. They then rated the person

-Carli found that women could be judged more negatively than men for the same assertive behavior. In particular, assertive women were more likely to be viewed as less likable, while assertive men were not penalized in the same way.

SCHEMA
-participants had preexisting beliefs of how a woman should behave

What term is relevant in this experiment

-Participants were given words and asked to judge whether the words described themselves, another person, or something unrelated. They later remembered self-relevant information better than information that wasn't connected to them.

-We tend to remember information better when we connect it to ourselves.

Accessibility and priming

What term is relevant in this experiment

-Participants completed a task containing words related to being elderly. Afterwards, they unknowingly walked more slowly than participants who were not exposed to those words.

-PRIMING of behavior

what term is relevant here

-participants were unconsciously exposed to images of gay or straight men. When participants were shown gay men, they responded with more aggressive behavior. possibly because they were preparing to interact with a group they disliked.

-PRIMING of behavior

What is the relevant term in this experiment?

participants watched a video of a young girl and were given either high- or low-socioeconomic-status information about her. When they were given the additional socioeconomic information, it influenced how they judged her academic ability, even though they had seen the same behavior.

CONFIRMATION BIAS

What term is relevant to this experiment?

Teachers were told that certain students were expected to show major intellectual growth, even though the students were chosen randomly. Later, those students actually showed greater improvements in academic performance.

-SELF FUFILLING PROPHECY

What is self fulfilling prophecy

when you have preconceived notions about someone so you treat them a certain way, resulting in them behaving how you thought they would

confirmation bias and self fulfilling prophecy is less likely when…

−If expectations and observations are

clearly in conflict

−Repeated observations

−When people are concerned about being

biased

How are metaphors related to schemas?

-activation of the connections between two

separate schemas: Schemas of abstract ideas and

schemas of sensory and motor experiences

Determine independent and dependent variables:

-Researchers want to know whether how much sleep students get affects how well they perform on a test.

-Researchers have one group sleep 8 hours and another group sleep 4 hours. Researchers measure how many questions each student gets correct.

independent: amount of sleep

dependent: test performance

what are the three requirements for controlled thinking to override auto processing

-awareness

-motivation

-ability

define mundane realism

extent to which conditions in an experiment translate to daily life

psychological realism

the extent to which a psychological experiment recreates the mental processes and experiences that people would have in real-life situations.

social cognition is influenced by what 3 psychological conditions

-need for accuracy

-need for closure (uncertainty)

-need to confirm existing beliefs