Social Psychology Chapter 1

What’s the difference between sociolgy and social psychology?

socioly is interested in studying groups of people while social psychology is more interested in the functioning of the individual within the group

social psychology

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

social thinking

How individuals perceive themselves and others through beliefs, judgments, and attitudesthemselves

social influence

the effect of culture, pressures to conform, persuasion, and groups of people on an individual’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings

social relations

prejudice, aggression, attraction/intimacy, and helping

internal forces

attitudes about specific situations

personality dispositions

different ways individuals react in situations

How do our values enter psychology?

Choice of research topics, objects of social-psychological analysis

Is social psychology “ just common sense”?

No, this is often said after we know the facts due to hindsight bias

Hypothesis

a testable statement of expected findings

correlation research

detecting natural associations (can occur in or outside of the lab)

experimental research

searching for cause and effect, uses independent and dependent variables

What are theories based on?

systematic observations of what we’ve seen before while also predicting into the future

random assignment

The process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition

Experimental Realism

degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants

deception

degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations

demand characteristics

Cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behavior is expected

informed consent

An ethical principle requiring that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

debriefing

The post-experimental explanation of a study to its participants; usually discloses any deception and often queries participants regarding their understandings and feelings

active deception

telling a full lie

passive deception

telling a partial truth

hindsight bias

the tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how something turned out

theory

an integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events

what constitutes a good theory

effectively summarize many observations; makes clear predictions that can be used to modify the existing theory, generate new research, and suggest practical applications

framing

The way a question or an issue is posed can influence people’s decisions and expressed opinions

meta-analysis

a “study of studies” that analyzes many studies on the same topic

mundane realism

degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations

advantage of correlational research

often uses real-world settings

disadvantage of correlational research

causation is often ambiguous

advantage of experimental research

can explore cause and effect by controlling variables and by random assignment

disadvantages of experimental research

some important variables are unable to be studied