Social Exam 1

what is social psych

• scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another

• science of people

• studies conformity, cult behavior, persuasion, and obedience to order

what are the big ideas of social psych

• situations matter but we often fail to notice

  • ex: coming to school then going home for break and noticing things we never did before

  • ex: going to a different culture

• we believe our perception of the world is accurate

what is the fundamental attribution error

we underestimate the power of the situation when explaining others behavior

what is naive realism

believing our view of the world is accurate

why is naive realism a problem

• we see the world through the filter of our experiences and beliefs

• people are too confident they are right

why is it important to realize naive realism is a thing

• its humbling

• it distorts our perceptions

define social influence

the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors

• takes other forms than just deliberate persuasion

what is the impact of social influence

shapes our thoughts, feelings, and overt acts

what do empirical questions insinuate

answers should be derived from experimentation or measurement rather than personal opinion

what is social psych related to and why

• biology

• neuroscience

• sociology

• economics

• political science

each are a determinant of human behavior

what does a social psychologist focus on

how people interpret the social world

define evolutionary pscyhology

the attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that have evolves over time according to the principles of natural selection

drawbacks of evolutionary psychology

• cannot be tested directly

• it can suggest novel hypotheses of the individual that might make a person shy, conventional, rebellious, etc.

how do personality and clinical psychologists differ from social psychologists

• clinical and personality analyze the individual

• social analyze the individual in the context of the social situation

  • particularly their construal

define construal

the way people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world

how is social psych related to sociology and personality psych

• social and sociology are both interested in the way the situation and larger society influence behavior

• social and personality both have interest in the psych of the invidual

what is the fundamental attribution error

the tendency to overestimate the extent that peoples behavior is because of internal, dispositional factors and underestimate the role of the situational factors

what are the impacts of fundamental attribution error

• can give a false sense of reality

• increases our vulnerability to destructive social influences

• makes us less aware to our susceptibility to destructive social influences

what is behaviorism

the school of psychology that maintains the idea that to understand human behavior we only need to consider the reinforcing properties of the environment

impacts of behaviorism

• states all behavior can be understood by examining the rewards and punishments in the environment

• over looks how people interpret the environment

what is Getsalt psychology

the school of psychology that stresses the importance of studying the subjective way an object appears in people mind rather than objective, physical attributes of the object

what is naive realism

the conviction that we perceive things as they really are

• we under estimate how much we interpret or spin what we see

• its a form of a construal

what are the two central motives of construals

• the need to feel good about ourselves

• the beed to be accurate

define self esteem

peoples evaluations of their own self worth

• the extent they view themselves as good, competent, and decent

what can self esteem cause

people to justify their actions instead of take responsibility for them/learn from them

how do we maintain our self esteem

• suffering

• self justification

define social cognition

how people thing about themselves and the social world

• how people interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgements and decisions

• automatic thinking

• controlled thinking

what does WEIRD stand for

• western

• educated

• industrialized

• rich

• democratic

why should you study social psychology

• curiosity

• to contribute to the social of social problems

what are different kinds of scientific research methods

• observational (descriptive)

• survey (descriptive)

• experimental (infer causality)

• correlational (predictions)

give examples of an observational study

the seat belt use data

• study done from 2015 - 2022

• showed not everyone wears a seatbelt

• they used intersection studies to collect the data

handwashing after bathroom use

flirtation at bars

what is observational research

you observe people and record measurements of their behavior

what is are limitations to observational research

• reactivity

  • people know they are being watched so they act out of character

• some behaviors only happen in private or happen very rarely

how to get around reactivity

disguise

• cannot be an invasion of privacy

what is a benefit of observational research

you are getting the real behavior

what is ethnography

a special type of observational research

• it gets information from the inside

what is an example of ethnography

fechner in the cult

what are limitations of the survey method

• sampling bias

• social desirability

• saying vs doing

what is social desirability

people not responding honestly to the questions, rather how they think they should answer

what is sampling bias

the sample not representing the whole population

what are the benefits of the survey method

• easy

• informative

give an example of a survey method

teens online survey

what is the correlational method

• relationship between two or more variables

• this allows for prediction

  • CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION

what are the limitations to the correlational method

• you dont know anything for sure and you cant assume

• the directionality problem

• the 3rd variable problem

describe the directionality problem

is a causing b or is b causing a

describe the third variable problem

there might be a third variable impacting each variable independently, making it look like there is a correlation when there isnt

• ex: self esteem, gpa, support at home

• ex: dogs can help you live longer

what research allows you to draw conclusions

ONLY experimental

what is an example of experimental research

laundry basketball

• iv is noise or no noise

• dv is shots made

what are the ideal parameters of experimental research

• manipulate the iv

• measure the dv

• control for extraneous variables

  • avoid confounding

  • hold the variables constant

give an example of a bad study

GMA asking if men prefer women with curly hair or straight hair

what are the problems with an experimental study

external validity

• everything is very controlled in the lab

what is internal validity

how sure can you be that the changes in the dv were caused by the iv

• all is within the study

• it avoids confounding variables

what is external validity

how well the results generate to other groups and settings

• how does the research apply to general population

what is the best way to achieve external validity

a field study

• doing the study in the real world

• thats an experiment

what is a fundamental principle of social psychology

many social problems can be studied scientifically

• social concern

• social influence

• these are relatable to us and therefore familiar

what is hindsight bias

the tendency for people to exaggerate, after knowing that something occurred, how much they could have predicted it before it happened

how does research begin and why

with a hypothesis

• often formed from prior research and theories

  • mainly being dissatisfied with their explanations

  • engaging in continual process of theory refinement

what are hypotheses based on

personal observations

give an example of how a hypothesis is made

Leon Festinger and the study of behaviorism which turned into cognitive dissonance theory

what is diffusion of responsibility and give an example

not taking action because you assume someone else who is in the same situation will do it

• kitty genovese NY

what is archival analysis and give an example

a form of observational methods where the researcher examines the accumulated documents or archives of a culture

• diaries, suicide notes, music lyrics, tv shows

• ex: study about peoples mood throughout the day via tweets

what is the correlational coefficient

the statistical technique that assesses how well you can predict one variable from another

• ranges from -1 to 1

• 0 means no correlation

what is a positive correlation

the variables are moving in the same direction

what is a negative correlation

the variables are moving in opposite directions

what is random selection and the problems with it

a way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population by giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for the sample

• its non representative, and the accuracy of responses is questionable

what is the basic dilemma of the social psychologist

the trade off between internal and external validity in conducting research

define replications

respecting a study, usually with a different subject population or different setting

define meta analysis

a statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable

what is basic research

studies that are designed to find the best answer to the question of why people behave the way they do

• conducted out of pure curiosity

what is applied research

studies done to solve a particular problem

what is cross cultural research

research conducted with members of different cultures to see whether the psychological processes of interest are present in both cultures or specific to one culture

what methods are used for social neuroscience

• fMRI

• EEG

correlation between brain activity and social information processing

what is informed consent and what does it allow for

an agreement to participate in an experiment, granted in full awareness of the nature of the experiment, which has been explained in advance

• explanation of the nature of the experiment

• asks for permission to participate

what is deception

misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that actually transpire

what is debriefing

explaining to participants at the end of the experiment the true purpose of the study and exactly what transpired

• participants learn about the goals/purpose of the study

what is the IRB

international review board

• group of scientist, non scientist, and member not affiliated with institution

• reviews all psych research to uphold ethical guidelines

what is automatic thinking

how we size people and social situations up

• happens outside conscious awareness

• very quick

• unconscious, unintentional, involuntary thinking

• shaped by schemas

what are schemas and their function

mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects that influence the information people notice, think about, and remember

• they help us organize and make sense of the world

• general

• fills in knowledge gaps

• help in ambiguous situations

what is an accessible schema

recent experiences (priming) that increase the accessibility of a schema and changes the way we see the social world

what is a self fulfilling prophecy

people can make their thoughts come true by the way they treat others

define embodied cognition

the body influences our thinking

• our physical state effects our emotional state and perception

define heuristics

quick rules of thumb about the world and social world

• we base judgement on the ease in which youre able to bring something to mind

what is the prblem with heuristics

the availability can be biased so it isnt always a real representation of whats going on

what influences heuristics

• media

• personal interests

• ease or difficulty of generating examples

define the representativeness heuristic

mental shortcut used to classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case

problem with representative heuristics

judgements should be influenced by other factors

what is a barrier to social connection

social cognition

• we underestimate the positive impact of reaching out and how much others want to talk to us or get to know us

• stops us from getting connections with people

• ex: talking with strangers

what is the liking gap

we underestimate how much people like us

define korsakovs syndrome

lose the ability to form new memories and must approach every situation as if they were encountering it for the first time

what does accessibility mean

the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of peoples mind and are therefore likely to be used when making judgements about the social world

• past experiences

• recent experiences

what is priming

a process where recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, concept, or goal

• occurs quickly

• unintentional

• unconscious

describe judgmental heuristics

mental shortcut people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently

• dont guarantee people make accurate inferences about the world

describe availability heuristics

mental rule of thumb where people base a judgment with how quick they can bring something to mind

• sometimes whats easy to remember isnt typical of the overall picutre

describe base rate information

information about the frequency of members of different categories in the population

• ex: personality test

• vague statements so validity can apply to everyone

describe controlled thinking

conscious, intentional, voluntary, effortful

• requires mental energy

• only can think about one way at a time

describe counterfactual thinking and its impacts

mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what mightve been

• has large influence on emotional reaction to events

• controlled thought

define rumination

people repetitively focus on negative things in their lives

• contributes to depression

what is the planning fallacy

the tendency for people to be overly optimistic about how soon they will complete a project even when they have failed at similar projects in the past

what are the universal nonverbal communications of emotion

• happiness

• anger

• disgust

• fear

• sadness

• surprise

what are al the forms of nonverbal communicatoin

• facial expressions

• hand gestures

• body posture

• spatial awareness

• tone of voice

• rate of speech