Social Psychology

Auguste Comte (1838)

first philosopher of science, founder of sociology and positivism 

Positivism

knowledge about world can be objectively true, should come to know things through reason, logic, observation.

Gustave Le Bon (1886)

proposed when people gather in larger numbers, form a collective. Wrote “the crowd”

Norman Triplett (1897)

found cyclists faster when against others. Tested it.

Scientific method

identify problem, hypothesis, design study, collect/analyze data, interpret results

Quantitative Data

positivist approach, number data, statistics, theory driven

quantitative research

 experimental, archival, correlational, quasi-experimental

Archival research

using already existing data. Less resource intensive, hard to find all data

Correlational research

measuring two or more variables and examining how they relate. Relies on surveys, can note test causal relationships.

correlation coefficient

 -1.00 to +1.00 r=0 means no correlation r=+1 or -1 perfect correlation

directionality

a correlation cant tell you which variable caused the other

Third variable problem

 an unknown third variable may be what causing the relationship between the measured variables

spurious correlations

 a correlation may exist just by coinicidence. 

random sampling

participants are chosen randomly from population of interest

random assignment

participant experience is controller by researcher, and different participants will experience different things during the study

Independent variable

what the researcher manipulates in the study

dependant variable

the key outcomes being measured in the study

control variables

what the researcher tried to keep the same for all participants

laboratory experiments

when the participants are invited to do the study at a place the researcher controls. Higher internal validity, lower external validity

field experiments

when researchers create manipulations and collect data outside of the lab. Less artificial than laboratory experiments. higher external validity, lower internal validity

internal validity

how confident we are that the idpendant variable produced the results of the study

external validity

how applicable the study is to contexts outside the lab

Qualitative research

social constructivist approach. Data in words, analyzed through forms of close reading

informed consent

participants must be given enough info to make an informed choice about whether to participants

deception

researchers sometimes must hide the true aims of their study from participants. Allowed when cant be done otherwise, minimal risk, and full debrief to participant at end of study

Research: concern for welfare

minimize risk to particants, include physical, psychological, economical, social risk

resreach: justice

Risk and rewards of research should be shared fairly and equitably

state self-awareness

temporary, context dependent changes in self-awareness

Trait self-awareness

a personal tendency towards higher or lower self-awareness

Private self consciousness

a tendency towards higher private self-awareness

pubic self consciousness

a tendency towards higher public self awareness

self monitoring

A personality trait capturing the tendency to omit or ones behaviour to fit current social situation

low self monitoring

private self consciousness

high self monitoring

public self consciousness

schema

cognitive structures representing our knowledge of a concept or stimulus

self-schema

how we expect ourselves to think, feel, and behave in a particular situation

Self-schematic

very important to our self concept

self aschematic

Not important to our self concept

theories of self comparison

comparing the self with ideas about our selves

theories of individual comparison

comparing the self to others

theories of group comparison

comparing our groups to other groups

Social comparison theory

secure accurate info about world and how we fit into it

upward comparison

comparing ourselves against people who are performing better than us

downward comparison

comparing ourselves against people who are performing worse than us

Control theory of self-regulation Limitations

proposes that we can improve our behaviour through self-awareness and self-regulation

Ego depletion

self-regulation is a limited mental resource

How may types of self-schemas

3. Actual self, ideal self, ought self

actual self

how i am right now

ideal self

how i want to be

ought self

how I should be

actual-ideal discrepancy

failing to live up to how you want to be. Leads to disappointment and sadness

actual-ought discrepancy

failing to live up to how you should be. Leads to anger, fear, nervousness

Social reflection

we bask in the others reflected gory ( kid does well, parent is proud)

upward social comparison

we compare ourselves to the other

The individual self

attributes and traits that differentiate us from other people

the relational self

defined by relationships with people important to us

The collective self

defined by the groups we belong to

depersonalizaiton

aware of self and world around you

self-concept

what you know about yourself

self-esteem

how you feel about yourself

Low self esteem

not fitting in, need to take action to avoid getting kicked out

high self esteem

fitting in, need to keep doing what’s been working

Narcissism

when someone has extremely high self-esteem, but this self-esteem is unstable

self-assessment

the desire to know who we truly are

self-verification

the desire to confirm what we already believe about ourselves

self-enhancement

a desire to look for positive information about ourselves

Self-affirmation theory

we compensate for threats to our self-esteem by affirming positive aspects of ourselves

disidentification

leaving the group or distracting yourself from it

social creativity

focusing on a domain where our group does better

social change

directly challenging high-status groups and competing with them