Psych Soc Structures Biases Experimental

Functionalism

The theory that social institutions and processes exist to serve important functions that keep society running

Conflict Theory

A perspective that focuses on inequality, power differences, and competition for resources within society

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level theory emphasizing meaning-making through symbols, language, and interaction

Social Constructionism

The belief that reality is socially constructed through shared meanings and interactions

Exchange Theory

Humans act based on cost-benefit analyses of social exchanges

Rational Choice Theory

Decisions are made by comparing costs and benefits with the goal of maximizing personal advantage

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek out or favor information that confirms existing beliefs

Fundamental Attribution Error

Overestimating personal traits and underestimating situational factors when judging others' behavior

Self-serving Bias

Tendency to attribute success to internal factors and failure to external ones

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after an outcome is known, that we would have predicted it ("I knew it all along")

Actor-observer Bias

Tendency to attribute our own behavior to situations and others' behavior to their traits

In-group Bias

Tendency to favor members of one's own group

Out-group Bias

Tendency to view members of other groups as more similar and less favorable

Independent Variable

The variable that is manipulated in an experiment

Dependent Variable

The variable that is measured in response to changes in the independent variable

Confounding Variable

A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment

Operationalization

The process of strictly defining variables into measurable factors

Validity

The extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure

Reliability

The consistency of a measure across time and trials

Cross-sectional Study

A study that analyzes data from a population at a single point in time

Longitudinal Study

A study that follows the same subjects over a period of time to observe changes