Social Psych Ch 1 Vocab

Anthropology

Seeks culture-level explanations for human behavior by exploring a specific culture in depth, utilizing primarily observational research

Biological/Physiological Psychology

Examines the influence of genes, hormones, brain functioning and structure, and other elements of the nervous system, on all kinds of human behavior

Causal Relationship

Relationship that exists when a change in one variable can be shown to produce a change in another one

Classical Conditioning

Form of learning in which a previously neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Clinical Psychology

Examines the nature, causes, and consequences of mental disorders and dysfunction of individuals who deviate from the norm and seeks ways to treat them

Cognitive Psychology

Seeks to explain mental processes such as memory, problem solving, decision-making, language, and the nature of consciousness

Collectivistic Culture

Type of society in which people’s self-concepts tend to be intimately tied to and defined by their group memberships, people subordinate personal preferences and goals to the group’s, and where individual choice is not highly valued

Control Group

Group of participants that did not receive the treatment and serves as a comparison to assess the effects of the treatment

Confound

In an experiment, a factor that changes along with the independent variable and can prevent a clear assessment of the effects of the IV on the DV

Correlation

Two variables are correlated when a change in one variable is associated with a change in the other variable

Culture

System of enduring meanings, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and practices shared by a large group of people

Dependent Variable

Measured variable that is expected to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable

Experiment

Study in which one or more variables are systematically varied in order to examine the effects on one or more other variables

Hindsight Bias

Incorrect belief that, after a person has already learned the outcome of a particular event, they would have accurately predicted the outcome before it occurred

Hypothesis

Prediction about the nature of social phenomena, oftentimes in the form of a proposition about how two factors are related to one another

Independent Variable

Manipulated variable that is expected to change the dependent variable

Individualistic Culture

Type of society in which people’s self-concepts tend to be stable, not ted to particular groups, and people place their personal preferences and goals above those of the group and value individual choice

Instrumental Conditioning

Form of learning in which reinforcement is given or punishment is administered in order to increase or decrease a specific behavior

Lay Theory

Explanation for social behavior that is possessed by an ordinary (lay) person without advanced training in psychology and without using scientific methods

Natural Selection

Genes that tend to increase the chances of survival of their carrier are more likely to be passed on to a new generation

Personality Psychology

Investigates the development and nature of personality traits over the lifespan

Random Assignment

Each participant in a study has an equal chance of being assigned to any condition

Social Cognition

Mental processes involved in perceiving, attending to, remembering, thinking about, and making sense of oneself and others

Social Learning

Learning by observing or hearing that someone else was reinforced or punished for engaging in a particular behavior

Social Psychology

Scientific study of the social experiences and behaviors of individuals

Sociology

Examines group-level phenomena— such as societal trends, cultural norms, the effects of race or social class, and so forth

Theory

Set of interrelated statements that explain and predict patterns of observable events

Treatment Group

Group of participants assigned to receive the treatment