social psychology- exam 1

social psychology

the study of the dynamic relationship between individuals and the people around them (the person + the social situation)

social situation

the people we interact with every day

social influence

process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and through which we change theirs

evolutionary adaptation

human nature is informed by our evolutionary past

evolutionary fitness

the extent to which characteristics help the individual survive and reproduce at a higher rate

genes do not ______ who we are

determine

self-concern

motivation to protect and enhance the self and those close to us

kin selection

favoring the reproductive success of relatives

in-group

others who are similar and important to us, with whom we share close social connections

other-concern

motivation to affiliate with, accept, and be accepted by others

social norms

the ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate

affect

feelings

behavior

actions

cognition

thoughts

social affect

feelings about ourselves and others that guide our behaviors

mood

positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our everyday experiences

emotions

brief, but often intense, mental and physiological feeling states

social behavior

interacting with others

social rewards

positive outcomes that we give and receive (ex: praise, love, financial support)

signal costs:

negative outcomes that we give and receive (ex: frustrations, guilt, effort)

social cognition

helps us understand and predict the behavior of ourselves and others

cognition

mental activity of processing information and using that information as judgement

schema

knowledge representation that includes information about a person or group (knowledge nugget), don’t have to be accurate, where stereotypes come from

attitude

knowledge representation that includes our liking or disliking of a person, thing, or group

scientific method

a method of investigation that includes systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formation, testing, and modification of hypotheses

empirical questions

answerable by observation

falsifiable

claims must be made such that evidence for and against the claim could be observed (if it exists)

public knowledge

findings have to be made publicly available

research question

question about the nature of phenomena that is answerable by observation (must be falsifiable)

research hypothesis

statement about the relation between two variables (must be falsifiable)

operationalize

clearly state how you will measure a concept

experimental

study designs characterized by manipulation, control, and equivalent groups (purpose: determine causality)

non-experimental

collection of study designs that do not include both manipulation and control (purpose: correlation)

correlation does NOT…

equal causation

manipulation

researcher actively and systematically changes the levels of the IV

levels

the different conditions that the participants experience

treatment (tx) condition

condition in which participants receive the active intervention

control condition

condition in which participants do not receive the treatment

control

researcher holds things constant between conditions and minimizes the variability external to the study

extraneous variable

anything that varies in the study beyond the IV and DV; not a point of interest for the researcher (can cause problems)

confounds

specific types of extraneous variables that systematically vary, which causes an alternative account of the results

random assignment

participants are randomly assigned to conditions (must include equal chance of assignment to each condition; participants assigned independently of one another)

random sampling

how much do the participants in the study represent the population? how you pick the participants

independent variable

“cause”; manipulated

dependent variable

“effect”; measured

confederate

actor working with the researcher; typically used to deceive

internal validity

degree to which a cause-effect relation can be established between two variables (experiments are typically high in internal validity)

external validity

degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific study to the population and broader settings (experiments are typically low in external validity)

ecological validity

the degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life

survey

administering a questionnaire to respondents

lab

researcher-controlled setting

field

observing humans in the real world

naturalistic observation

observation without intervention; an alternative to experiments

experience sampling

participants provide data on their behavior during daily life (in the moment) (ex: text surveys, audio or visual recordings) (same concept as bereal)

subtle/nonconscious research

methods that capture the IV or DV in a way that the participant is not aware of the nature of the varibale

priming

the process by which exposing a participant to one stimulus may influence their subsequent response to another stimulus (makes certain thoughts, feelings, or behaviors more salient)

archival

looking at pre-existing literature

autonomy

the right to make choices and take action free from coercion

informed consent

agreement to participate in a study conditional on being given all necessary information to make a decision

privacy

the right to decide what information is shared with others

confidentiality

agreement to not disclose participants’ personal information w/o consent or other authorization

anonymity

no personally identifiable information is collected

in most cases, the _______ receives most of the benefits (one reason why external review board is important

researcher

deception

lying to participants

debriefing

informing participants about the true nature of the study and minimizing harm

Western

Educated

Industrialized

Rich

Democratic

a large majority of ppl who participate in studies (many critiques of this acronym for being limited)

Age

Developmental disabilities

Disabilities (acquired)

Religion

Ethnicity and race

Socioeconomic status

Sexual orientation

Indigenous heritage

National origin

Gender identity

describe groupings that can create and sustain cultural differences

culture

patterns of learned and shared behavior that are cumulative and transmitted across generations

material culture

objects or belongings of a group including food, fashion, architecture or physical structures

nonmaterial culture

belief systems and value orientations that influence customs, norms, practices, and social institutions

mainstream psychology

assumes human phenomena are basically the same in all cultures

cross-cultural psychology

seeks to generate a universal psychology that is valid across all of humanity

cultural psychology

seeks to develop multiple psychologies

hofstede’s cultural dimensions

framework that describes the effects of culture on the values of its members, and how theses values relate to behavior (individualism vs collectivism)

individualism

cultural norms that focus on self-enhancement and independence

collectivism

cultural norms that indicate that people should be connected with others and or oriented toward interdependence

social cognition

social knowledge

behaviorism

external stimuli explain behavior; emphasis on responses, learning, and reinforcement (Pavlov, Thorndyke, Watson, Skinner)

conditioning

connecting stimuli with responses

stimuli

changes in the environment

responses

behaviors

operant learning

we learn as a consequence of our behavior (instrumental conditioning) (ex: hand on stove)

skinner box

rat in a box with electrified floor —> lights or sound —> rat hits lever for food (operant conditioning)

positive reinforcement

introduction of desirable or pleasant stimuli after the performance of a behavior to increase that behavior (ex: giving candy as reward)

negative reinforcement

removal of undesirable stimuli after the performance of a behavior to increase that behavior (ex: removing pain as a reward)

positive punishment

introduction of undesirable stimuli after the performance of a behavior to decrease that behavior (ex: giving shocks as punishment)

negative punishment

removal of desirable stimuli after the performance of a behavior to decrease that behavior (ex: removing food as punishment)

positive =

add

negative =

remove

reward =

increase behavior

punishment =

decrease behavior

associational learning

on abject or event becomes associated w/ a response (ex: computer sound —> mint) (same as classical conditioning)

classical conditioning process

unconditioned stimulus (food) →  unconditioned response (salivation)

neutral stimulus (whistle) → no conditioned response (no salivation)

(whistle + food) → unconditioned response (salivation)

conditioned stimulus (whistle) → conditioned response (salivation)

observational learning

learning by observing others’ behavior (NOT behaviorism); no pos or neg reinforcement used

Albert Bandura

observational learning; bobo doll (adults aggressive towards doll —> children aggressive towards doll)

schemas

help us have expectations of future events, social knowledge

accommodation

process of changing schemas based on new information

assimilation

process of changing conflicting information to fit existing schemas

confirmation bias

tendency to favor information that confirms expectations, regardless of whether that information is true

info that conforms expectations and fits into our schemas is more easily…

processed