Chapter 1 Intro Social Psyc

Question 1

Social Psychology

Answer 1

seeks to understand how individuals behave and their social context and how we and others are influenced by our surroundings
examines the interaction between the person and situation

Question 2

Milgram Study

Answer 2

the teacher (participant) would shock the learner (confederate) to notify they got the answer wrong

Question 3

What is a theory?

Answer 3

set of principles used to explain observed phenomena

• testable
• useful
• organize research
• generate future theories
• understand phenomena enhances application

Question 4

What is the hypothesis?

Answer 4

is an educated guess about the nature of the relationship among the variables beings tested
-cannot tell us the cause and effect

Question 5

What are the non-experimental approaches (hint there are 4)

Answer 5

1) Archival Study: examine existing records of past events, to draw an association between variables
2) Case Study: a detailed examination of a single event or person (they are less common in social psychology)
3) Survey Study: participants complete questionnaires and look at the association amongst individual difference variables
4) Observational Study: participants behaviour are observed
- cannot tell us the cause and effect, one variable cannot cause the other variable. Can only tell us if there is a relationship between the two variables

Question 6

what is a correlation coefficient (r)? (non-experimental study designs tell us about (r))

Answer 6

tell us the magnitude (strength) and the direction of the relationship between two variables. -1 is a perfect negative relationship and 1+ is a perfect positive relationship

Question 7

reverse causality

Answer 7

variables go in both directions

Question 8

spuriousness (third variable)

Answer 8

often caused by a third factor that is not apparent at the time of examination, sometimes called a confounding factor

Question 9

experimental approaches (2 significant feature)

Answer 9

• they tell us the cause and effect
  1) independent variable is manipulated, the dependent variable is measured
  2) randomly assigned, participants are randomly assigned to groups (random sample - general population)

Question 10

when we conduct an experiment we hope to have high

internal validity

Answer 10

• is the extent to which a study establishes a trustworthy cause-and-effect relationship between a treatment and an outcome.
• also reflects that a given study makes it possible to eliminate alternative explanations for a finding.

Question 11

external validity

Answer 11

-is the validity of applying the conclusions of a scientific study outside the context of that study. In other words, it –is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to and across other situations, people, stimuli, and times

Question 12

what is external validity influenced by?

Answer 12

the typer of sample: representative or convenience

research settings: lab or natural settings

Question 13

What does WEIRD stand for? by Heinrich 2010

Answer 13

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democrated

• to make inferences that will apply to people in general
• criticism about our sample, using psychology students, as they don’t represent the true population

Question 14

Research Ethics Board

Answer 14

prior to any research, the researcher must have clearance from this board

1) protection from harm
2) informed consent
3) permission to withdraw
4) privacy
5) debriefing, including a rationale for any deception

Question 15

an intuitive backstage mind

Answer 15

psychological science reveals a fascinating nonconscious mind, “an intuitive backstage mind” that we often don’t realize is guiding our thoughts and behaviours

Question 16

Thinking, memory, and attitudes operate on two levels?

Answer 16

one conscious and deliberate, the other nonconscious and automatic called “dual processing”

Question 17

Naturalistic Fallacy

Answer 17

is an informal logical fallacy which argues that if something is ‘natural’ it must be good

Question 18

Hindsight bias

Answer 18

• that allows people to convince themselves after an event that they had accurately predicted it before it happened
• this can lead people to conclude that they can accurately predict other events

Question 19

mundane realism

Answer 19

• is a type of external validity, which is the extent to which findings can generalize from experiments to real-life settings
• describes the degree to which the materials and procedures involved in an experiment are similar to events that occur in the real world
• might occur outside the lab

Question 20

experimental realism

Answer 20

refers to the extent to which participants experience the experimental situation as intended