Intro to Social Psychology - Exam 1

Scientific Method

A systematic approach to research that involves formulating theories, designing studies, collecting and analyzing data, and disseminating the results.

Theory

A general explanation or framework that helps us understand why certain phenomena occur.

Inductive Theory Development

The process of developing a theory by starting with specific observations and then generalizing to a broader theory.

Inductive Theory Development Example

Kitty Genovese Murder (bystander effect): coming home from work late at night. Was brutally stalked, murdered, raped. 35 people saw and no one called the police.

Deductive Theory Development

The process of developing a theory by starting with multiple observations and finding a unifying theory that explains all of them.

Ego-depletion theory

Self-control is a finite resource that can be depleted through exertion, leading to reduced willpower and decision-making abilities. This theory was developed deductively by observing how people's performance on cognitive tasks and behavior changed after exerting self-control, leading to the conclusion that self-control is a limited resource.

4 terms in theory evaluation

1. Testable/ falsifiable (if tested can the results be shown)

2. fits data (supporting theory with data)

3. generates research (creates buzz or excitement)

4. parsimony (prefer simpler explanations than complex ones)

2 broad approaches to social research and explain them

1. Reductionistic Approach

   1. Isolate the independent variable, isolating the problem

2. Systemic Approach

   1. Many variables within the complex system and how they all relate and work with each other along the way

3 background issues for research methods

1. Internal Validity

2. External Validity

3. Operationalization

Internal Validity

The degree to which a study accurately measures the cause of the results within the study.

External Validity

The degree to which the behavior observed in a study reflects real-world behavior. (naturally occurring)

Operationalization

The process of defining and measuring variables in a study to ensure that they accurately represent the intended concepts.

Laboratory Experiment

A research method that allows for control over the environment and maximizes internal validity but may compromise external validity.

Observational Study

A research method that involves observing behavior in real-world settings to maximize external validity but may lack control over the environment.

8 different research methods

1. Laboratory Experiment

2. Observational Experiment

3. Field Experiment

4. Surveys

5. Experience Sampling

6. Simulation

7. Archival

8. Quasi-experiment

Field experiment

• A researcher conducts a study in the real world, manipulates an independent variable to measure a dependent variable 

• High in external validity, trying to increase internal validity

Field Study Experiment

• a truck would drive, stop at a red light, and a car behind them with one person 

• dependent variable: the person behind them responded to them not moving the truck

• Independent variable: rack with a riffle or a contractor’s sign

• people behave more aggressively if they see a riffle

Surveys

A research method that involves self-reporting through questionnaires to gather data quickly but may be subject to bias and conscious or unconscious inaccuracies.

Experience Sampling

A research method that uses structured diaries to assess subjective experiences in daily life and capture behavior in real-world settings.

Experience Sampling Example

• Study of how stressed you are feeling for 30 days studying for the MCAT

• Are you receiving or seeking emotional support for the stress

• findings: people who had stress and had emotional support, had less stress the next day

• high external validity, but no independent variable

Simulation

A research method that involves creating a simulated environment to study behavior and attitudes, is often used to understand role expectations and stereotypes.

random assignment = internal validity

Simulation Experiment

Stanford prison experiment: recruited white males from Stanford (similar to each other by race, hometown, background, financial situation, etc.) to create a simulation of a prison

• randomly assigned prisoners and guards

• had to shut it down quickly because the guards played into their stereotypes and expectations calling them derogatory nicknames and messing with them badly

Archival Research

A research method that involves analyzing existing data collected for other purposes to gain insights and test hypotheses.

Quasi-Experimental Design

A research design that examines naturally occurring groupings or variables that cannot be manipulated, allowing for the study of important variables that may influence behavior.

Multitrait-Multimethod

A research approach that involves using different methods and measures to demonstrate support for a theory, increasing the likelihood of its validity.

Demand Characterisitcs

cues that might indicate the research objectives to participants. These cues can lead participants to change their behaviors or responses based on what they think the research is about

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

phenomenon whereby a person's or a group's expectation for the behavior of another person or group serves actually to bring about the prophesied or expected behavior

Self Fulfilling Prophecy Example

Teachers given false expectations on who are the naturally smarter kids and evaluated teachers based on their behaviors towards the students

Participant Bias

The tendency for subjects in a study to alter their behavior or responses based on their awareness of being evaluated or measured.

• treat to external validity: not natural

• threat to internal validity: alter in behavior

Evaluation Apprehension

The anxiety or concern that subjects feel when they know they are being evaluated or measured in a psychology study.

Threat to External Validity

The potential limitation of a study's findings due to the artificial or controlled nature of the research environment, which may not accurately reflect real-world conditions.

Threat to Internal Validity

The potential for changes in behavior or responses of subjects in a study to be influenced by factors other than the independent variable being studied.

Techniques to Avoid Bias

Strategies used to minimize bias in research, such as ensuring subjects' identities are not tied to the data collected, emphasizing that the study focuses on a group rather than individuals, and using deception to redirect anxiety away from the actual research question.

Research Methods

Ethical considerations in research, including the historical lack of formal ethics review, the potential for researchers to push ethical boundaries, and the establishment of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to ensure the protection of human subjects.

Pre Milgram Study

• Ethics was up to the researcher, no agencies, the free will of researchers

• No formal ethics review 

• Some people pushed ethical boundaries, others protected them 

• Watson - fear response to the rat, startling loud noise to a baby (albert) - created fear response to rats

Milgram Study

Social psychologist Stanley Milgram researched the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative--even when acting against their own better judgment and desires.

Post Milgram Study

Any research done on any human subjects has to pass the Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Informed Consent

The voluntary agreement of individuals to participate in a study after being provided with information about the study's purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits.

Age consent (18 +)

Risks vs Benefits

researcher has to layout potential harms and benefits to subject

Debriefing

at the end of a study the subjects should be told what the study is about and what was being tested, subjects get to ask questions and raise concerns, subjects should leave in the same mental state that they came in

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

• Informed consent (voluntary)

• risks vs. benefits

• debriefing

Field Experiment/Observational Study

A type of research design that involves observing and recording naturally occurring behavior in public settings, without directly intervening or manipulating variables.

Social Cognition

The study of how individuals think about and interpret the social world around them.

Schemes

Organized knowledge structures that influence memory and behavior by grouping similar information together.

Scheme Generation/Development

The process by which schemes are formed through

• experiences: how we take in information & brain organizes it

• operant conditioning (learning theory): you might get rewarded for thinking of a concept this way

• modeling: imitation of the behavior we see

• social comparison: when we donʼt know how to think or behave, often weʼll look to other people to see what they think or feel or behave

Schemas: Structure Characteristics

• Dynamic: our schemas can change when you are young and influenced

• Yet stable: once a schema is firmly entrenched, people are resistent to changing their schemas (cognitively taxing)

• central nodes: knowing information about someone might cause some hard associations

• fuzzy boundaries: not a clear distinction between different schemas, leading to overlap and ambiguity in categorizing information (ie. priming)

Schemas: Evaluation Characteristics

• seek meaning: trying to take in information and use existing schemas to try make new information fit

• categorize quickly: our motivation to seek meaning makes us quicker to categorize things

• seek consistency: confirmation bias: itʼs easier to look for information that supports the schema you have and ignore the information that doesnʼt fit into the schema

Types of Schemas

Person, Concept, Self, Group, and Event (Script) schemas, which represent our knowledge and expectations about individuals, concepts, ourselves, groups, and specific situations, respectively.

Influence of Schemas

How schemas influence:

• perception

• memory

• behavior

• decision making

Perception

The schema that is activated will dramatically change what we perceive

Memory & Recall

How schemas can affect the encoding and retrieval of information from memory, leading to biased recall and interpretation.

Behavior

The ways in which schemas can prime or activate certain behaviors, leading to behavioral confirmation effects.

Overt Priming

Priming at a level that you are not aware that is happening, but will activate your schema (Ex. Wine store)

Decision-Making

Assumption: we are logical decisions Reality: we are often illogical/emotional

rely on mental shortcuts (heuristics)

Controlled Processing

The distinction between conscious, effortful processing (controlled) and unconscious, effortless processing (automatic), which can influence decision-making and behavior.

• Ex. Learning to drive (high control) - difficult, high motivation, & novel task

Cognitive Biases

• Cognitive Miser

• Small Sample Errors

• Underuse baserate Information

• ability heuristic

• representativeness heuristic

• overconfidence

Automatic Processing

Mental processing occurs without conscious effort or awareness.

• Ex. Driving for 5+ years - kow motivation, routine, tired, automatic

Cognitive Miser

The tendency to conserve cognitive energy by relying on mental shortcuts and automatic processing.

Copier Study

A study in which participants were asked to allow a confederate to cut in front of them in line at a copier machine.

Small Sample Errors

Making generalizations and assumptions based on a small sample of information. (ex. looking for colleges)

Underuse Baserate Information

Statistical information that provides a baseline for making judgments and decisions. (ex. Plane crash vs. car crash) VIVID cases

Ability Heuristic

Making decisions based on how easily examples come to mind.

Representativeness Heuristic

Making decisions based on how well a description matches a pre-existing schema or concept.

Overconfidence (Dunning Kruger Effect)

Having an inflated perception of one's own abilities or knowledge.

Attribution

The process of assigning causes to people's behavior, both for others and ourselves.

Internal Attribution

Attributing behavior to something about the person themselves.

External Attribution

Attributing behavior to something outside of the person.

Stable Attribution

Expecting the behavior to be repeated in the future.

Unstable Attribution

Not expecting the behavior to be repeated in the future.

Attribution Theories

• Heider’s Level of responsibility

• Correspondent Inference Theory

Heider's Levels of Responsibility

A framework for making attributions that includes association, causation, foreseeability, intentionality, and justifiability.

Correspondent Inference Theory

A theory that suggests people make internal attributions when there is one uncommon effect among a sea of common effects.

• personalism

• hedonism

Personalism

Making attributions about someone's behavior when it is directed at us.

Hedonism

Making attributions based on whether someone's behavior causes pleasure or pain.

Kelley's Cube

A framework for making attributions to be made and their intensities that considers

• consensus: how are other people behaving in a situation

• consistency: how often the intensity of the situation is

• distinctiveness: information about other instances