Social Psych Exam #1

methods social psychologists use for research

participant observation, archives, surveys

participant observation

placing themselves in real situations to understand social phenomenon better

archives

info from past records about social phenomena

surveys

ask people questions

random sampling

essential for accurately describing the attitudes/behaviors of a specific population

correlational research

examines relationships between variables and strength of relation between them

self selection problem

occurs when investigator is unable to choose the level of any variable for participants

experimental research

investigator manipulates different levels of the independent variable and measures the effects of different levels in the dependent variable

random assignment

participants to different conditions

external validity

how closely experimental setup resembles real life situations

field experiments

test hypotheses experimentally from real life situations

internal validity

refers to the likelihood that only the manipulated variable, rather than some extraneous factorm accounts for the results

reliability

the degree to which participants receive the same score when tested with a conceptually similar instrument or when tested at different times

measurement validity

degree to which some measure predicts what its supposed to

statistical significance

measure of the probability that a result could’ve occurred by chance

replication

repeating a study to determine whether the same findings can be obtained

IRB

committees that review research procedures to make sure that the privacy and safety of participants are protected

informed consent

willingness of participants to take part in a study based on info presented before the study begins

deception

participants are purposely misled about purposes of a study and informed consent happens after

basic research

aim to understand fundamental relationships among constructs; contribute to theory building

applied research

uses findings from basic research to understand current world issues; intervention & problem solving

hindsight bias

after learning something, we believe “we knew it all along”

theory

our best explanation for an aspect of behavior; strongly supported but never proven; makes predictions regarding how people will act or respond

hypothesis

testable prediction regarding conditions under which an event will occur

example of correlational research

marshmallow test- literacy relation to waiting to eat marshmallow

directionality problem

unknown if A causes B or B causes A

third variable problem

C causes both A and B

most common method of survey

self reports

self report bias

social desirability, misremembering, referencing themselves to other

sampling

smaller subset of population to participate

self selection bias

participants choose to be or not to be a part of the study due to a variable related to the hypothesis

experimental research

manipulate variables in an experiement; cause and effect

independent variable

cause

experimental group

exposed to cause (IV)

control group

not exposed to cause (DV)

dependent variable

effect

basic dilemma of social psychologist

trade off between internal and external validity

validity

does measure measure what its supposed to measure

p-hacking

conducting statistical analyses until you reach the desired p-value

results that have a very low probability of occuring by chance are

statistically significant

publication bias

journals have a preference to only publish significant findings

direct replication

conduct study in exact same manner, but with different participants

conceptual replication

test same hypothesis but with slightly different procedures

the self shifts according to changes in the

social situation

self-schemas

organizing structures that represent a person’s beliefs and feelings about the self, both in general and in specific situations, and that shape construal (perception) of social information

reflected self appraisals

beliefs about what others think of oneself

working self concept

embodies the particular self aspects that are evoked in a given situation

social self is profoundly shaped by whether people live in

independent (Western) or interdependent (non-Western) cultures

women generally emphasize their relationships and define themselves in an

interdependent way

men generally emphasize their uniqueness and construe themselves in an

independent way

people rely on _________ to learn about their own abilities, attitudes and personal traits

social comparisons

social identities

aspects of the self that are associated with a person’s group memberships

self stereotype

when a given social identity is noticeable view themselves in ways reflecting attributes that are stereotypically associated with the group

trait self esteem

stable part of one’s identity

state self esteem

changes according to different contextual factors

sociometer hypothesis

self esteem is a gauge of one’s social standing more so than one’s evaluation of the self; likely an adaptive quality that helped our ancestors survive; low self esteem is a warning sign that you have problems with social integration

self esteem is more important and tends to be higher in

Western cultures than East Asian cultures

motives for self-evaluation

desires for self-enhancement and self-verification

having others verify our views of who we are confers

stability in our set of self beliefs and gives us a sense of coherence and predictability

self-discrepancy theory

investigates how people compare their actual self to both their ideal self and ought self and the emotional consequences of such comparisons

promotion focus

when people regulate their behavior with respect to ideal-self standards

prevention focus

when people regulate their behavior with respect to ought self standards

self control

can be facilitated by construals that focus on “cooler” features of a tempting stimulus and by higher level, abstract construals of a situation

self presentation

related to the public self, people present themselves in ways they want others to see them

face

image people want others to have of them

self-monitoring

ensures a person’s behavior fits the demands of a social context

self-handicapping

people protect their public self; behavior that can excuse a poor performance or failure

introspection

look inward and examine your own thoughts; we assume we know ourselves best

problems with introspection

your are often just searching your brain for a ready made answer or feeling, it can be biased because we are motivated to have positive views about ourselves, reasons for feelings might be outside conscious awareness

self-concept

cognitive structure that contains all of your self-schemas (big picture of who you are)

self concept develops from

introspection, self-perception, and social comparison

individualistic cultures and the self concept

individual qualities; inner motivation; want to be unique

collectivist cultures and self concept

relationships; self is meaningful as part of social group; external motivation

self awareness

conscious awareness about how you are behaving

when people are more aware of themselves

they are more likely to think of their values, beliefs, goals, etc; they are more likely to recognize discrepancies between who they are and who they want to be

consequences of inducing self awareness study

at neighborhood in US subarb on Halloween. When kids came to door, homeowner got phone call and left bucket instructing to only take one piece of candy.

IV: whether table with candy had mirror
DV: amount of candy taken

findings: mirror made kids more aware of how they should act, self-awareness induced better behavior

social comparison theory

your self concept is shaped by people around you often by how your compare yourself to them

people desire accurate knowledge, if possible people consult an objective standard, if not

they will compare with another person

people will gain the best knowledge when comparing with someone

similar to themselves on a given dimension

upward social comparison

comparison with a person better than you on a particular trait or ability. response depends on if we can achieve what target has achieved. if yes, can inspire us. if no, it can make us feel worse about ourselves

downward social comparison

comparison with a person worse than us on a particular trait or ability. typically makes us feel better about ourselves

social tuning

process of adopting other people’s beliefs, attitudes, and views, often unconscious, helps facilitate our relationships

social tuning and helping behavior study

tested how behavioral synchrony can influence social tuning. pts were randomly assigned to two different “rhythmic ability” tasks (synchronous and asynchronous). then researchers told participants confederate would would on long task, will pts help confederate? pts in synchrony condition were more likely to help and for longer

self esteem

overall evaluation (positive or negative) that people have of themselves, can help us remain optimistic when things do not go well

self enhancement

we want to maintain, increase, or protect our positive self views

better than average effect

most people think that they are above average

self affirmation theory

posits that when people’s positive self-view is threatened, people work to maintain positive self-view by reflecting on positive attributes

self verification theory

people pay selective attention to info that aligns with their self view

actual self

self you think you are

ideal self

self that reflects who you want to be

ought self

self thats concerned with responsibilities you feel compelled to fulfill (who you should be in accordance with social roles)

self management

when people self monitor they are consciously and deliberately observing and adjusting their behaviors to fit the social situation

ingratiation

using positive feedback and other compliments to make yourself more likable to another person; common technique to use with people of higher status

behavioral self handicapping

acting in ways to reduce likelihood of success that provides an excuse for failure or makes success look even better

reported self-handicapping

providing ready-made excuses for potential failure (ex. studied for 30min instead of hours)

social cognition

study of how we perceive, remember, and interpret info about ourself and others

first impressions (snap judgment)

were prone to making judgments based on limited information

we judge people first based on their

facial characteristics

facial characteristics lead us to judge a person’s

trustworthiness (baby faces) and dominance (small eyes, angular chin, low forehead)

thin slicing

draw meaningful conclusions about another person’s personality or skills based on an extremely brief sample of behavior