Social Psych Notes Chapter 1 (Intro to Social Psychology)

Definitions, terms, and short answer questions

Behavioral economics

The study of how psychology, particularly social and cognitive psychology, relates to economic decision making.

Behavioral genetics

The investigation of the role genes play in our behavior.

Cross-cultural research

The evaluation of how universal or specific theories and findings are to particular cultures.

Culture

The values, beliefs, language, rituals, traditions, and other behaviors that are passed from one generation to another within any social group.

Evolutionary psychology

The use of principles of evolution to understand and explain human behavior and traits.

Interactionist perspective

The focus on everyday interactions between individuals as the basis for the development of society.

Multicultural research

The examination of racial and ethnic groups within cultures.

Open science

The movement to make research materials, methods, hypotheses, and data more transparent, accessible, and easily shared with researchers from other labs.

Social cognition

The focus on the close links between our minds and the positioning, experiences, and actions of our bodies.

Social neuroscience

The study of the relationship between neural and social processes.

Social Psychology

The study of how social factors affect most individuals.

"Cold" versus "hot" Perspectives in Social Psychology

Cold perspective - Cognition is the driving force behind thoughts and actions. Hot perspective - Emotion and motivation drive our thoughts and actions.

Founders of social psychology

Floyd Allport, Triplett's, and Ringelmann's.

Subfield of psychology most closely related to social psychology

Personality.

Historical event that sparked great interest in and gave shape to the field of social psychology

WWII and the Holocaust.

Founder of applied social psychology

Floyd Allport.

Two main studies highlighting the importance of ethical research

The Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment.

Stanley Milgram's experiment

A test of the human tendency to obey an authority figure.

Interactionist perspective

The belief that people's behavior in society is a response to their interactions with others.