Chapter 1

Question 1

Social Psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of the causes and consequences of people thoughts, feelings, and actions regarding themselves and other people

Question 2

Social cognition

Answer 2

the way an individual understands his or her own social world

Question 3

Social cognition perspective

Answer 3

A view that focuses on how people perceive, remember, and interpret events and individuals, including themselves, in their social world

Question 4

Evolutionary perspective

Answer 4

A view that humans are a species of animal and that their social behavior is a consequence of particular evolved adaptions

Question 5

Cultural persepctive

Answer 5

a view that focuses on the influence of culture on thought, feeling, and behavior.

Question 6

Cultural animals

Answer 6

Humans are animals who view reality through a set of symbols provided by the culture in which they are raised

Question 7

Existential perspective

Answer 7

A view that focuses on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences of basic aspects of the human condition such as the knowledge of mortality, the desire for meaning, and the precarious nature of identity.

Question 8

Neuroscience perspective

Answer 8

The study of the neural processes that occur during social judgment and behavior. Neuroscience involves assessments of brain waves, brain imaging, and cardiovascular functioning.

Question 9

Dispositions

Answer 9

Consistent preference, ways of thinking, and behavioral tendencies that manifest across varying situations and over time.

Question 10

Scientific method

Answer 10

The process of developing, testing, and refining theories to understand the determinants of social behavior

Question 11

Attribution theory

Answer 11

The view that people act as intuitive scientist when they observe other people behavior and infer explanations as tho why those people acted the way they did.

Question 12

Causal attributions

Answer 12

Explanations of why an individual engaged in a particular action

Question 13

Cultural knowledge

Answer 13

A vast store of information, accumulated within a culture, that explains how the world works and why things happen as they do

Question 14

A priori casual theories

Answer 14

Preexisting theories, acquired from culture or factors that are particularly prominent in conscious attention at the moment.

Question 15

Cognitive misers

Answer 15

A term that conveys the human tendency to avoid expending effort and cognitive resources when thinking and to prefer seizing on quick and easy answers to questions.

Question 16

Confirmation bias

Answer 16

The tendency to view events and people in ways that fit how we want and expect them to be

Question 17

Confederate

Answer 17

A supposed participant in a research study who actually is working with experimenters, unknown to the real participant.

Question 18

Theory

Answer 18

An explanation for how and why variables are related to each other

Question 19

Research

Answer 19

the process whereby scientist observe events, look for patterns, and evaluate theories proposed to explain those patterns

Question 20

Hypothesis

Answer 20

An “if then” statement that follows logically from a theory and specifies how certain variables should relate to each other if the theory is correct

Question 21

Correlational method

Answer 21

Research in which two or more variables are measured and compared to determine to what extend if any they are associated

Question 22

Correlational coefficent

Answer 22

A positive or negative numerical value that shows the direction and strength of a relationship between two variables

Question 23

Reverse causality problem

Answer 23

A correlation between variables x and y may occur because one causes the other, but it is often impossible to determine if x causes y or if y causes x.

Question 24

Third variable problem

Answer 24

The possibility that two variables may be correlated but do not exert a causal influence on one another;rather, both are caused by some additional variable

Question 25

Longitudinal studies

Answer 25

Studies in which variables are measured in the same individual over two or more periods of time, typically over months or years.

Question 26

Experimental method

Answer 26

a study in which a researcher manipulates a variable IV, measures possible effects on another variable DV, and tries to hold all other variable constant

Question 27

Internal validity

Answer 27

The judgement that for a particular experiment it is possible to conclude that the manipulated independent variable caused the change in the measured dependent variable.

Question 28

Interaction

Answer 28

A pattern of results in which the effect of one independent variable on the dependent variable depends on the level of a second independent variable.

Question 29

Random assignment

Answer 29

A procedure in which participants are assigned to conditions in such a way that each person has an equal chance of being in any condition of an experiment.

Question 30

Field research

Answer 30

Research that occurs outside the laboratory, for example, in schools, office building, medical clinics, football games, or even in shopping malls or on street corners

Question 31

Quasi-experimental designs

Answer 31

Type of research in which groups of participants are compared on some dependent variable, but for practical or ethical reason, the groups are not formed on the basis of random assignment.

Question 32

Operational definition

Answer 32

A specific, concrete method of measuring or manipulation a conceptual variable

Question 33

Construct validity

Answer 33

The degree to which the dependent measure assess what it intends to assess or the manipulation manipulates what it intends to manipulate

Question 34

Confound

Answer 34

A variable other than the conceptual variable intended to be manipulated that may be responsible for the effect on the dependent variable, making alternative explanations possible.

Question 35

Conceptual replication

Answer 35

The repetition of a study with different operationalizations of the crucial variables but yielding similar results

Question 36

External validity

Answer 36

The judgment that a research finding can be generalized to other people, in other settings, at other times.

Question 37

Cover story

Answer 37

An explanation of the purpose of the study that is different from the true purpose.

Question 38

Demand characteristics

Answer 38

Aspects of a study that give away its purpose or communicate how the participant is expected to behave

Question 39

Experimenter bias

Answer 39

The possibility that the experimenter’s knowledge of the condition a particular participant is in could affect her behavior toward the participant and thereby introduce a confounding variable to the independent variable manipulation.

Question 40

Debriefing

Answer 40

At the end of a study, the procedure in which participants are assess for suspicion and then receive a gentle explanation of the true nature of the study in a manner that counteracts any negative effects of the study experience.