Social Psych Midterm

Behaviorist Orientation

Focus is on observed behavior as responses to stimuli in the environment

Cognitive Orientation

Focus is on thought processes within the individual that organize and interpret information

Rule/Role Orientation

Focus is on the internal rules or role prescriptions that are available for the individual in any given situation

hypothetico-deductive method

the combination of a number of principles from a previous research and through logical means, arriving at a set of predictions

Use of analogy method

Borrowing models and concepts from other disciplines

Lab experiment strengths

Random assignment
Control of extraneous variables

Lab experiment weaknesses

1. High level of control may create an artificial situation and prevent natural behaviour from being exhibited; this may also include demand characteristics (where participants guess the aim of the study and change their behaviour), which lowers validity.

2. People may behave differently in the lab, so it may be difficult to generalise to other settings, therefore having low ecological validity.

3. It is sometimes necessary to deceive and cause participants a small amount of harm to improve the validity and reliability of the study.

Field experiment strengths

• Higher external validity
• No demand characteristics bc participants don't know they are taking part in a study

field experiment weaknesses

-Might be difficulties in controlling the situation, so more interference from extraneous mariables
-Experiment may be difficult to replicate exactly
-Might be issues of access to where the study is to be done, such as consent from a company.
-Ethical problems of deceit, consent, invasion of privacy, etc.

Quasi experiment strengths

Examination of powerful predictor variables

Quasi experiment weaknesses

1. There may be other differences which cannot be separated from the IV, making it impossible to infer cause and effect.

2. The researcher has to wait for the conditions to occur naturally so they may not be available at the the time of the research.

Survey/Questionnaire Strengths

Straightforward
Anonymous
Economical

Survey/Questionnaire Weaknesses

Recall/response error
Low response rates

Archival research strengths

Use of unobtrusive measures
open time range for study

Archival research weaknesses

Selective entry
Selective decay

Simulation/role play strengths

co-investigator
status of subjects

Simulation/role play weaknesses

Evaluation apprehension
Authenticity

Internal Validity

extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences from a study

External validity

extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings

Experimental realism

degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants

Mundane Realism

degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations

Act Utilitarianism

assesses each separate act according to whether it maximizes pleasure over pain (cost-benefit analysis)

Rule Utilitarianism

a utilitarian theory asserting that the morally right action is the one covered by a rule that if generally followed would produce the most favorable balance of good over evil, everyone considered

Informed Consent

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

Attribution Theory

suggests how we explain someone's behavior—by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition.

What purpose do attributions serve?

1. control of outcomes

2. prediction of events

3. maintenance of self esteem

4. generation of meaning

Conditions under which attributions are initiated

1. Under negative situations

2. During unexpected/novel situations

3. When events have high hedonic relevance

4. When evens are characterized by a high level of personalism

Hedonic relevance

Refers to behaviour that has important direct consequences for self.

Naive epistemology

Fritz Heider Describes the ways people think about and infer meaning from what occurs around them

1. Locus of Causality

2. Attributions of Responsibility

attributions of responsibility

We are less likely to help those who seem to be responsible for their predicament, based on levels of accountability (association, causality, foreseeability, intentionality, justifiability)

correspondent inference theory

A theory that states that people pay closer attention to intentional behavior than accidental behavior when making attributions, especially if the behavior is unexpected.

Factors influencing the correspondent inference process

1. Desirability of Outcome

2. Presence and Number of Non-common effects

Desirability of Outcome

Behaviors that are socially desirable are less informative than undesirable actions

Non-common effect

an outcome that can be achieved by one specific action but not others

Kelley's Covariation Model

Based on the notion of covariation; if two events are construed as causally linked, they must covary with each other

Gender dysphoria

distress associated with incongruence between one's biological sex and gender identity

Puberty Blockers

a group of medicines that pause the changes a body undergoes during puberty. They can provide additional time before secondary sex characteristics develop (such as a deepening voice, breast development, or facial hair). They are also referred to as blockers or hormone blockers.

Consequences associated with puberty blockers

Lack of research
Chemically alters body
Gives children more time to grow, develop, and be more confident about their gender identity

Purpose and Methodology of the Bandura, Ross, & Ross article

Demonstrate that learning can occur through mere observation of a model and that imitation of learned behavior can occur in the absence of that model Laboratory Experiment IVs:

• Aggression level

• Sex of model

• Sex of child

DV:

• Amount of imitative behavior and aggression shown by child

Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) Findings

> Children exposed to aggressive role model were more aggressive. Suggests children imitate aggression. Both physical and verbal, some was non-imitative suggesting they were finding their own ways of being aggressive.

> More likely to copy same sex model.

> Girls spent more time playing with the dolls or tea sets and boys with guns.

Five Propositions derived from Stanford Prison Experiment

• Underscored degree to which prison experiments are powerful, potentially damaging situations with possible negative psychological effects. It had painful and traumatic effects. prisons should be used sparingly in the war on crime

• Revealed how even minimalist prison can be painful and powerful

• Decompression programs

• Personality tests for individual behavioral predictions in familiar scenarios may not fare well in predicting in novel settings (are of limited utility)

• Meaningful prison reform should come from those outside of the institution

Grudem's rationale for male headship

• Woman was created for man

• Man was created in God's image first

• Man's direct and unmediated fashion as the image of God, manifesting the glory of God

Sabates reading: Possible limitations to the CFR approach

• Difficult to accurately assess underlying motives from observable behavior

• Unable to prove anything about its central assumption

• Christians have biases when assessing Scripture

Proximal Causation (Weeks & Luper)

Immediately responsible for causing an event

Distal Causation

God as a factor become more common
Supernatural forces responsible for causing an event

Protestant Religious Attributions

• Emphasize the soul more (internal attributions)

• Repenting sins and belief in God will assure rewards in the afterlife

• Inward focused form of religion

Catholic Religious Attributions

• Participation in sacrament and traditions

• Outward focused form of religion