Chapter 1: Introduction to social psychology:

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

it is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another

Question 2

Social psychology is a focus on our _ _?

Answer 2

Shared Humanities

Question 3

What is the difference between social psychology and sociology?

Answer 3

Sociology: is the study of people in groups or societies.

Social Psych: studies individuals closely and compares them to each other.

Question 4

What is the difference between personality psychology and social psychology?

Answer 4

personality psychology focuses on our differences, whereas social psychology focuses on more on how people, in general, view and affect one another.

Question 5

T/F: social psychology is a young science?

Answer 5

True, the first textbook didn’t appear until the 1900

Question 6

What are the center points or focuses of social psychology that will be expanded on and learned in greater detail in further chapters to come?

Answer 6

Social _

1. ) thinking:
2. ) influences:
3. ) relations:

Question 7

Describe social thinking?

Answer 7

social thinking:

1. ) we construct our social reality
2. ) our social intuitions are powerful, sometimes perilous.
3. ) Attitudes shape, and are shaped by, behavior

Question 8

Describe social influences?

Answer 8

social influences:

1. ) Social influences shape behavior.
2. ) Dispositions (tendency) shape behavior.

Question 9

Describe social relations:

Answer 9

social relations:

1. ) social behavior is also a biological behavior.
2. ) feelings and actions toward someone are sometimes negative (prejudiced, aggressive) and sometimes positive (helpful, loving)

Question 10

Use the Princeton vs. Dartmouth football game to describe how we construct social realities differently?

Answer 10

• The huge rivalry between these two teams erupted in dirty play throughout the game, hardly what you would imagine ivy league football to look like.
• following the game two psychologist, one from each respective University, played the highlight tapes from each game. Interestingly enough when each student gave an interpretation of the game, they seemed to call twice as many fouls as the other school did on themselves.
• In conclusion this study demonstrated that there is an objective reality out there, but we always view it through the lens of our beliefs and values.

Question 11

What do our instant intuitions have the ability to shape?

Answer 11

• fears
• impressions
• relationships

Question 12

What are the two ways in which we think?

Answer 12

intuitive - system one
&
deliberate - system two

Question 13

What does the statement our social intuitions are powerful, but sometimes perilous mean?

Answer 13

In most situations, “fast and frugal” snap judgments serve us well. But in others, in which accuracy matters— such as when needing to fear the right things and spend our resources wisely—we had best restrain our impulsive intuitions with critical thinking.

Question 14

What does our culture help us define?

Answer 14

Situations.
I.E: if you are gay, that can tell us about where you live geographically, or the educational level of the people around you.

Question 15

What is true of social influences and our behavior?

Answer 15

social situations are affected by the fact that we as humans adapt to our social context. Our attitudes and behavior are shaped by external social forces.

Question 16

What primarily shapes our behavior?

Answer 16

Personal dispositions and Internal forces.

Internal forces: inner attitudes towards something plays a huge role in our susceptibility to partake in that thing.

Personal dispositions: different people act differently in the same situation. ex: Emerging from years of political imprisonment, one person exudes bitterness and seeks revenge. Another, such as South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, seeks reconciliation and unity with his former enemies. Attitudes and personality influence behavior.

Question 17

Our attitudes often follow our _

Answer 17

Behavior, when we often believe strongly in what we have committed ourselves to or suffered for

Question 18

Our social behavior is rooted in_ _blank?

Answer 18

Biology

Question 19

Evolutionarily psychologists have taught us what about social behaviors?

Answer 19

We have inherited human nature, which predisposes our actions and reactions. (emotions: fear, love, desires for revenge, and even phobias) These reactions helped our ancestors survive and reproduce, which is why they are still apparent.

• Animals displaying fear is a prime example of EP’s showing biology is rooted in social behavior, they are simply acting in an innate fashion to prevent themselves from getting hurt, much like their ancestors.

Question 20

How does neuroscience play a roll in affecting social psychology>

Answer 20

• Mind and body are one grand system.
  Hormones affect how we feel and act: A dose of testosterone decreases trust, and a dose of oxytocin increases it .
• Feeling left out elevates blood pressure. Social support strengthens the disease-fighting immune system.
• We are bio-psycho-social organisms.

Question 21

What hidden values are apparent in psychological concepts?

Answer 21

• psychology is not objective is the realization that psychologists’ own values may play an important part in the theories and judgments they support.

Question 22

Describe how labeling affects personal judgements?

Answer 22

• Values lie hidden within our cultural definitions of mental health, our psychological advice for living, our concepts, and our psychological labels.
• whether we label someone engaged in guerrilla warfare a “terrorist” or a “freedom fighter” depends on our view of the cause.
• whether you see information “propaganda” or “education” depends on our opinions.

Question 23

What is hindsight bias commonly referred to as?

Answer 23

I knew it all along phenomenon

Question 24

What is a theory?

Answer 24

is an integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events. Theories are a scientific shorthand.

Question 25

What is a fact and how does it differ from a theory?

Answer 25

facts are : agreed-upon statements about what we observe. WHILE, a theory is a (Group or individual) idea that attempts to summarize and explain facts.

Question 26

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 26

A testable prediction.

Question 27

What is a random sample and when is it used?

Answer 27

A random sample is one in which every person in the population being studied has an equal chance of inclusion.
- It is used to describe a whole population.

Question 28

What are the four potentially biasing influences, in terms of an experiment?

Answer 28

1. ) unrepresentative samples
2. ) question order
3. ) response options
4. ) question wording

Question 29

Give an example of “Framing” and how this can influence bias? - check research methods in the text book.

Answer 29

To 9 in 10 college students, a condom seems effective if its protection against the AIDS virus has a “95% success rate.”

Told that it has a “5% failure rate,” only 4 in 10 students say they find it effective

Question 30

What is correlational research?

What conclusions can we draw from it?

Answer 30

Asking whether two or more factors are naturally associated

• Correlational research allows us to roughly predict one variable from another but it cannot tell us whether one variable (such as wealth) causes another (such as health).
• Like ACT score and college performance.

Question 31

What is experimental research?

Answer 31

Manipulating some factor to see its effect on another

Question 32

What does the coefficient r mean?

Answer 32

It is a coefficient that is used to represent the correlational relationship between two things.

• from −1.0 (as one factor score goes up, the other goes down) to 0 (indicating no relationship) to +1.0 (as one factor goes up, the other also goes up).

Question 33

What does correlation not specify?

Answer 33

CAUSE and effect

Question 34

Explain the implications of high GPA being correlated to a high self esteem, can you say one directly influences the other? (X->Y?)

Answer 34

No, this is what is known as the directional problem.

Question 35

What is the directional problem?

Answer 35

If two variables are correlated, we don’t know which one is affecting the other.

Question 36

What is the third variable problem? explain it using the example of high GPA and high self esteem being correlated.

Answer 36

• The third variable problem states: if two variables are correlated you can’t be sure if there isn’t a third variable driving the two to rise and fall together.
• maybe good nutrition or getting good sleep causes higher self esteem and getting good grades. The point is, there is a variety of factors that could affect their correlation. Therefore, we don’t know causation.

Question 37

What is the goal of experimental research?

Answer 37

• to see if one variable causes anther.

Question 38

Given an example of an experimental research set up?

Answer 38

• Does violent media cause aggression in viewers?
• the experimental condition watches a violent clip.

) the control group watches a documentary on penguins.

• the independent variable is which film is seen.
• the dependent variable is do certain films trigger aggression.

Question 39

What is a confound in experiment research?

Answer 39

• more than one possible explanation for your findings.

Question 40

experimental research if what circumstances are right point to causality?

Answer 40

• if all the variables are controlled, except for the independent variable.

Question 41

What does random assignment do in an experiment?

Answer 41

creates equivalent groups

Question 42

The most valid form of research is a study that has been?

Answer 42

replicated

Question 43

What is experimental realism ?

Answer 43

It should engage its participants, and should affect them as intended.

Question 44

What is mundane realsim?

Answer 44

materials and procedures involved in an experiment are similar to events that occur in the real world.

Question 45

What is a common tactic used in approximately 1/3 of social psych studies today?

Answer 45

deception, most experimenters won’t tell the participant the true point of the study

Question 46

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 46

cues that seem to “demand” certain behavior.
- like a drug/bomb dog falsely barking in an area where places where their handlers have been misled into thinking such illegal items are located