1: Introducing Social Psychology Flashcards
the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other another
social psychology
first major aspect of social psychology - self-perceptions, beliefs, attitudes
social thinking
second major aspect of social psychology - culture, conformity, groups
social influences
third major aspect of social psychology - aggression, prejudice, intimacy, helping
social relations
tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how something turned out (“I knew it all along”) - errors in both judging the future and remembering the past
hindsight bias
popular sayings that are interpreted as “common sense truths” but may be contradictory or lack substance - people often accept their conclusions regardless
proverbs
an integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events - organizes, explains, and summarizes many observations
theory
testable predictions that allow us to confirm or modify theories, direct new research, and suggest practical applications - theoretically driven
hypotheses
a sample in which every person in the population being studied has an equal chance of being included
random sample
few people responding to a poll, resulting in a sample that is unrepresentative of the larger population - those who do not respond differ in important ways which are not being acknowledged
low response rate
research method that involves asking whether two or more factors are naturally associated - allows us to predict one variable from another, but doesn’t tell us whether one causes the other
correlational research
research method that involves manipulating some factor to see its effect on another - necessary to prove causation
experimental research
difficulty that arises when many researchers replicate a study and receive different results, creating confusion - hard to build our own theories if we lack trust in others
replication crisis
when a third variable is responsible for a positive correlation between two other variables (the two have little significance to each other on their own)
spurious correlation
the tone and language used to pose a question or an issue, which can influence people’s decisions and expressed opinions
framing
all participants in an experiment have the same chance of being in a given condition and thus only differ based on the nature of the condition - allows experimenters to determine causation
random assignment
repeating a research study, often with different participants in different settings, to determine whether a finding can be reproduced
replication
a “study of studies” that statistically analyzes and summarizes many studies on the same topic - information is reliable
meta-analysis
degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations
mundane realism
degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants in ways that evoke real psychological processes
experimental realism
in research, a strategy by which participants are misinformed or misled about the study’s methods and purposes so as to not produce unnatural behavior and bias results
deception
cues in an experiment that tell the participants what behavior is expected - may skew their behavior to match expectations
demand characteristics
an ethical principle requiring that research participants be told enough information about the nature of the experiment to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate
informed consent
the post-experimental explanation of a study to its participants, disclosing any deception and querying them on their feelings / understandings - feedback is only withheld if it would be distressing to participants (ex. their actions in the experiment make them seem cruel)
debriefing
