research methods

Social Psychology

The scientific study of human social behavior and cognition through psychological theory and empirical research across evolutionary, biological, and scientific frameworks (Syllabus p. 1).

Hypothesis

A prediction about what researchers will find in a study, which can derive from formal theories, intuition, personal experience, observation, or comedy (Slide 2 / 9:09).

Obligate Parental Investment Theory

An evolutionary framework holding that females are biologically obligated to invest significantly more time and energy in offspring than males, predicting that males are generally more motivated toward casual sex with novel partners (Slide 3 / 9:14).

Variable

A characteristic of a person, object, or setting that can take on different possible states or values, such as age or reaction time (Slide 4 / 14:14).

Operationalization

The process of defining the specific, concrete procedure used to measure or manipulate a variable, ensuring research precision and avoiding flawed definitions (Slide 5 / 18:16).

Plato's Featherless Biped

Plato's flawed definition of human as a featherless biped, which Diogenes famously disrupted by presenting a plucked chicken, illustrating why precise operational definitions are mandatory in science (Slide 5 / 16:21).

Empirical Question

A scientific question that can be tested and answered directly through observable data and evidence rather than philosophical speculation (Slide 5 / 21:11).

Descriptive Methods

Research procedures aimed at measuring, recording, and describing behaviors, thoughts, or feelings in their natural state without manipulating variables (Slide 6 / 21:31).

Naturalistic Observation

Observing and quantifying social behavior as it naturally unfolds in real-world settings without experimenter intervention (Slide 6 / 22:13).

Experience Sampling

A naturalistic observation technique where participants wear a recording device that captures random snippets of everyday conversations across multiple days to code social interaction (Slide 7 / 22:47).

Gossip

Evaluative talk about an absent third party, which naturalistic observation reveals is engaged in more by extroverts, younger individuals, and women specifically for neutral topics (Slide 7 / 22:53).

Observer Bias

A measurement flaw occurring when an observer's expectations cause them to selectively attend to or misrecord behaviors, such as watching boys more closely than girls when measuring playground aggression (Slide 7 / 24:47).

Case Study

An intensive, in-depth examination of a single individual, group, event, or phenomenon over time (Slide 7 / 25:39).

Low Generalizability

A key limitation of case studies where findings from one specific person or group cannot be assumed to apply broadly to the general population (Slide 8 / 28:00).

Archival Studies

A descriptive research method examining pre-existing public records, statistics, or media databases to analyze social patterns (Slide 8 / 28:21).

Cross-Cultural Homicide Disparity

An archival finding demonstrating that across diverse geographic regions and historical eras, men commit the vast majority of same-sex homicides compared to women (Slide 8 / 29:35).

Survey Studies

A descriptive method where participants self-report their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors through structured questionnaires or interviews (Slide 9 / 35:03).

Social Desirability Bias

The tendency of survey participants to alter their answers to appear socially acceptable or favorable rather than reporting their true thoughts or behaviors (Slide 9 / 35:09).

Big Five Personality Dimensions

An established psychological instrument measuring individual differences across Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (Slide 9 / 37:03).

Correlation

The statistical extent to which two or more variables naturally co-vary or associate with one another, which cannot demonstrate direct causation (Slide 10 / 39:41).

Experimental Methods

Scientific procedures where an experimenter systematically manipulates one or more independent variables while holding all other factors constant to establish causal relationships (Slide 10 / 39:48).

Independent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is directly manipulated by the researcher to determine its causal effect on an outcome (Slide 11 / 40:12).

Dependent Variable

The outcome variable measured by the researcher to determine the effect of manipulating the independent variable (Slide 11 / 40:20).

Casual Sex Self-Esteem Stereotype

An experimental finding demonstrating that people explicitly stereotype women who engage in casual sex as having lower self-esteem compared to men who engage in casual sex or individuals in committed relationships (Slide 11 / 40:37).

No-Information Control

An experimental condition in which specific information regarding a target variable is withheld to establish baseline cognitive judgments (Slide 11 / 41:08).

Field Studies

Experiments conducted in natural, real-world environments where participants typically do not realize they are taking part in a scientific study (Slide 12 / 45:04).

Social Norm Message Experiment

Goldstein and Cialdini's field study showing hotel guests reused towels significantly more when presented with descriptive norm messages stating 75% of guests reuse towels (Slide 13 / 46:40).

Belmont Report

The 1979 foundational document establishing ethical standards for human subject research based on respect for persons, beneficence, and justice (Slide 15 / 49:20).

Institutional Review Board

An administrative committee that reviews proposed research protocols to ensure human participants are treated ethically and protected from harm (Slide 15 / 48:20).

Replication

The scientific standard requiring that research findings can be reproduced independently by other researchers following the same procedures (Slide 16 / 51:23).

Decline Effect

The observed scientific phenomenon where the reported strength of statistical evidence for a finding decreases over time as subsequent replication attempts are published (Slide 17 / 56:31).

System Justification Theory

The framework postulating that individuals are psychologically motivated to view existing social, political, and economic systems as fair, though meta-analyses reveal low predicted replication rates for its findings (Slide 18 / 59:29).

Why is precision in operationalization crucial for research validity?

Precise operational definitions prevent invalid measurements, misinterpretations, and absurd conclusions, such as confusing drug arrests with actual usage rates or defining humans as featherless bipeds (Slide 5 / 17:29).

Person

The social individual carrying a dynamic combination of motivations, knowledge, and feelings into social settings (p. 37).

Motivation

The psychological driving force or internal energy that moves an individual toward desired outcomes (p. 37).

Motive

A broad, overarching goal essential for social survival, such as gaining status or defending loved ones (p. 38).

Goal

A specific desired outcome or accomplishment that an individual strives to achieve, often functioning as a subgoal toward broader motives (p. 38).

Automaticity

The capability of a thought process or behavior to operate efficiently without conscious guidance once initiated (p. 38).

Thought Suppression

The deliberate attempt to prevent unwanted thoughts from entering awareness, which frequently results in a rebound effect where the suppressed thought recurs more intensely (p. 39).

Exemplar

Mental knowledge of a specific episode, event, or individual stored in memory (p. 41).

Schema

A mental structure containing generalized, abstract knowledge about a class of people, objects, events, or situations (p. 41).

Priming

The process of activating specific knowledge, goals, or mental representations, making them accessible for immediate use (p. 41).

Chronically Accessible

Knowledge or thoughts that are frequently activated and thus readily come to mind across diverse situations with minimal environmental cues (p. 41).

Attitudes

Basic positive or negative evaluations of specific people, objects, ideas, or events along a favorable-unfavorable continuum (p. 42).

Emotions

Complex, intense feelings comprising physiological arousal, cognitive appraisals, and subjective experiences (p. 42).

Moods

Relatively low-intensity, pervasive feeling states that lack a specific focus and color a person's global experience over an extended duration (p. 42).

Counterfactual Thinking

The cognitive process of imagining alternative outcomes to past events, directly influencing emotional reactions like bronze medalists feeling happier than silver medalists (p. 45).

Self-Concept

The total collection of knowledge, beliefs, and representations an individual holds regarding their personal qualities and identity (p. 46).

Self-Esteem

An individual's global attitude or emotional evaluation regarding their overall self-worth (p. 46).

Reflected Appraisal Process

The process of gaining self-knowledge by observing or inferring how others view and evaluate oneself (p. 47).

Social Comparison

The process of assessing one's personal abilities, opinions, and traits by comparing oneself to other individuals (p. 47).

Self-Perception Process

The process in which individuals observe their own freely chosen behaviors to infer their underlying internal attitudes and characteristics (p. 47).

Self-Regulation

The process through which individuals monitor, direct, and adjust their strategies to achieve desired goals (p. 48).

Self-Presentation

The process through which individuals intentionally manage and control the impressions that others form of them (p. 49).

Affordances

The potential opportunities or threats that specific people and environments provide to an observer (p. 52).

Descriptive Norms

Information specifying what most people typically do or how they act in a given situation (p. 52).

Pluralistic Ignorance

The collective misperception of a group's private beliefs resulting from members publicly acting inconsistently with their private thoughts, perpetuating behaviors like campus binge drinking (p. 53).

Injunctive Norms

Rules specifying what behaviors are socially approved or disapproved of in a given setting, defining what people ought to do (p. 54).

Scripted Situation

A social setting governed by a structured, predictable sequence of events and expected behaviors (p. 54).

Person-Situation Fit

The degree of compatibility between an individual's personal attributes and the demands, opportunities, and constraints of a given environment (p. 60).

Individualistic Culture

A culture that socializes its members to prioritize personal goals, individual independence, and personal choice (p. 56).

Collectivistic Culture

A culture that socializes its members to prioritize group harmony, social obligations, and relational interdependence (p. 56).

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