2. Doing Social Psychology Research

Question 1

A testable prediction about the conditions under which an event will occur.

Answer 1

Hypothesis

EXAMPLE: “Teenage boys are more likely to be aggressive toward others if they have just played a violent video game for an hour than if they played a nonviolent video game for an hour.” This is a specific prediction, and it can be tested empirically.

As hypotheses proliferate and data are collected to test the hypotheses, a more advanced step in the research process may take place: the proposal of a theory.

Question 2

An organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena.

Answer 2

Theory

Good social psychological theories inspire subsequent research designed to test various aspects of the theories and the specific hypotheses that are derived from them. Whether it truly is accurate or not, a theory has little worth if it cannot be tested.

Question 3

This type of research seeks to increase our understanding of human behavior and is often designed to test a specific hypothesis from a specific theory.

Answer 3

Basic research

Question 4

This type of research focuses more specifically on making applications to the world and contributing to the solution of social problems.

Answer 4

Applied research

Question 5

When a researcher first develops a hypothesis, the variables typically are in an abstract, general form. These are ______ variables. Examples include prejudice, conformity, attraction, love, aggression, group pressure, and social anxiety.

Answer 5

conceptual variables

Question 6

In order to test specific hypotheses, we must transform conceptual variables into variables that can be manipulated or measured in a study. The specific way in which a conceptual variable is manipulated or measured is called the ______ ______ of the variable.

Answer 6

operational definition

Operational definition: The specific procedures for manipulating or measuring a conceptual variable.

EXAMPLE: If you wanted to study the effects of alcohol intoxication (conceptual variable) on aggression (conceptual variable), you need to know how you will measure intoxication and aggression. You can measure intoxication by using blood alcohol level (operational definition), and you might be able to measure aggression through unusual behavior using blasts of noise (operational definition).

Question 7

This refers to the extent to which (1) the manipulations in an experiment really manipulate the conceptual variables they were designed to manipulate, and (2) the measures used in a study (experimental or otherwise) really measure the conceptual variables they were designed to measure.

Answer 7

Construct validity

Question 8

A procedure in which research participants are (falsely) led to believe that their responses will be verified by an infallible lie detector. However, no such infallible device exists. But belief in its powers discourages people from lying.

Answer 8

Bogus pipeline technique

This is part of Self-Reports - in which participants disclose their thoughts, feelings, desires, and actions—is a widely used measurement technique in social psychology.

Question 9

This refers to the level of agreement among multiple observers of the same behavior. Only when different observers agree can the data be trusted.

Answer 9

Interrater reliability

Question 10

A method of selecting participants for a study so that everyone in a population has an equal chance of being in the study. Survey researchers use randomizing procedures, such as randomly distributed numbers generated by computers, to decide how to select individuals for their samples.

Answer 10

Random sampling

Question 11

Research designed to measure the association, or relationship, between variables that are not manipulated by the researcher. EXAMPLE: How related are people’s self-esteem and popularity.

Answer 11

Correlational research

Question 12

A statistical measure of the strength and direction of the association between two variables.

Answer 12

Correlation coefficient

Correlation coefficients can range from +1.0 to -1.0. The absolute value of the number (the number itself, without the positive or negative sign) indicates how strongly the two variables are associated. The larger the absolute value of the number, the stronger the association between the two variables, and thus the better either of the variables is as a predictor of the other. Whether the coefficient is positive or negative indicates the direction of the relationship. A positive correlation coefficient indicates that as one variable increases, so does the other.

Question 13

True or False:

Correlation is not causation.

Answer 13

True

A correlation cannot demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship.

Question 14

A form of research that can demonstrate causal relationships because (1) the experimenter has control over the events that occur and (2) participants are randomly assigned to conditions.

Answer 14

Experiment

Question 15

In an experiment, a factor that experimenters manipulate to see if it affects the dependent variable.

Answer 15

Independent variable

The independent variable is the intervention that we manipulate and that causes the change.

Caffeine would be the independent variable in an experiment that tested its effects on the number of words recalled.

Question 16

In an experiment, a factor that experimenters measure to see if it is affected by the independent variable.

Answer 16

Dependent variable

The dependent variable is the item that we plan to measure and change.

Number of words recalled would be the dependent variable in an experiment that tested caffeine’s effects on word recall.

Question 17

A variable that characterizes preexisting differences among the participants in a study.

Answer 17

Subject variable

EXAMPLE: The gender, ethnicity, and prior political leanings of the participants may vary, for example, and researchers may be interested in examining some of these differences. These variables cannot be manipulated and randomly assigned, so they are not true independent variables, and they are not influenced by the independent variables, so they are not dependent variables.

Question 18

If the results could have occurred by chance 5 or fewer times in 100 possible out-comes, then the result is ______ ______ and should be taken seriously

Answer 18

statistically significant

Question 19

The degree to which there can be reasonable certainty that the independent variables (the intervention that is manipulated and that causes the change) in an experiment caused the effects obtained on the dependent variables (the item that we plan to measure and change).

Answer 19

Internal validity

Question 20

A factor other than the independent variable that varies between the conditions of an experiment, thereby calling into question what caused any effects on the dependent variable.

Answer 20

Confound

A confound is a serious threat to internal validity and, therefore, makes the issue of cause and effect in the experiment uncertain.

EXAMPLE of a confound: Having research subjects in two different (non-identical) rooms (different temperatures, different interior decorations, different sizes, etc.). In this situation, it would be impossible to know if was the manipulation of the independent variable OR if it was some difference between the rooms that caused the effect.

Question 21

Often included for purposes of internal validity. Typically, a _____ group consists of participants who experience all of the procedures except the experimental treatment.

Answer 21

Control group

Question 22

The effects produced when an experimenter’s expectations about the results of an experiment affect his or her behavior toward a participant and thereby influence the participant’s responses.

Answer 22

Experimenter expectancy effects

Question 23

The degree to which there can be reasonable confidence that the results of a study would be obtained for other people and in other situations.

Answer 23

External validity

Question 24

The degree to which the experimental situation resembles places and events in the real world.

Answer 24

Mundane realism

Question 25

Refers to the degree to which the experimental setting and procedures are real and involving to the participant, regardless of whether they resemble real life or not. The majority of social psychologists who conduct experiments emphasize experimental realism.

Answer 25

Experimental realism

Question 26

In the context of research, a method that provides false information to participants about experimental procedures.

Answer 26

Deception

Question 27

People who act as though they are participants in the experiment but are really working for the experimenter.

Answer 27

Confederate

Question 28

A set of statistical procedures used to review a body of evidence by combining the results of individual studies to measure the overall reliability and strength of particular effects.

Answer 28

Meta-Analysis