Chapter 1 - Principles of Social Psychology

Question 1

Affect

Answer 1

The feelings that we experience as part of our everyday lives

Question 2

Attitude

Answer 2

A knowledge representation that includes primarily our liking or disliking of a person, thing, or group

Question 3

Behavioral Measures

Answer 3

Measures designed to directly assess what people do

Question 4

Collectivism

Answer 4

Giving priority to the goals of one’s group and defining one’s identity accordingly

Question 5

Common-causal variables

Answer 5

Variables that are not part of the research hypothesis but that cause both the predictor and the outcome variable and thus produce the observed correlation between them

Question 6

Conceptual variables

Answer 6

Characteristics that we are trying to measure

Question 7

Correlational research

Answer 7

Research that examines the relationships between varibales, whose purpose is to examine whether and how two variables change together

Question 8

Cover story

Answer 8

A fake description of the purpose and/or procedure of a study, used when deception is necessary in order to answer a research question

Question 9

Culture

Answer 9

A group of people, normally living within a given geographical region who share a common set of social norms, including religious and family values as well as moral beliefs

Question 10

Electroencephalography

Answer 10

A techinque used to measure gross electrical activity of the brain by placing electrodes on the scalp

Question 11

Emotions

Answer 11

Brief, but often intense, mental and physiological feeling states

Question 12

Empirical

Answer 12

Based on the collection and systematic analysis of observable data

Question 13

Evolutionary adaptation

Answer 13

The assumption that human nature, including much of our social behavior, is determined largely by our evolutionary past

Question 14

Experimental confederate

Answer 14

A person who is actually part of the experimental team but who pretends to be another participant in the study

Question 15

Experimental research design

Answer 15

A research design in which an experimental group is administered a treatment and the outcome is compared with a control group that does not receive the treatment

Question 16

External validity

Answer 16

The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and other people

Question 17

Factorial research design

Answer 17

Experimental designs that have two or more independent variables

Question 18

Falsifiable

Answer 18

The outcome of the research can demonstrate empirically either that there is support for the hypothesis or that there is actually no relationship between the variables or that the actual relationship is not in the direction that was predicted

Question 19

Field experiment

Answer 19

An experiment set up in the real world, usually with participants who are not aware that they are in a study of any kind

Question 20

Fitness

Answer 20

The extent to which having a given characteristic helps the individual organism to survive and to reproduce at a higher rate than do other members of the species who do not have the characteristic

Question 21

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Answer 21

A neuroimaging technique that uses a magnetic field to create images of brain structure and function

Question 22

Hindsight bias

Answer 22

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have forseen it

Question 23

Individualism

Answer 23

Cultural norms, common in Western societies, that focus primarily on self-enhancement and independence

Question 24

Ingroup

Answer 24

Those whom we perceive as being similar to ourselves and share close social connections with even if we do not share our genes

Question 25

Internal validity

Answer 25

Confidence that only the manipulated variable could have produced the results

Question 26

Kin selection

Answer 26

Strategies that favor the reporductive success of one’s relatives, sometimes even at a cost to the individual’s own survival

Question 27

Meta-analysis

Answer 27

A statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable

Question 28

Mood

Answer 28

The positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our everyday experiences

Question 29

Observational research

Answer 29

Making observations of behavior and recording those observations in an objective manner

Question 30

Operational definition

Answer 30

Particular method we use to measure a variable of interest

Question 31

Other-concern

Answer 31

The motivation to affiliate with, accept, and be accepted by others

Question 32

Reciprocal altruism

Answer 32

Giving benefits to those who are in need with the expectation of a return of benefits at a future time

Question 33

Replication

Answer 33

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participatns in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances

Question 34

Research hypothesis

Answer 34

A statement about the relationship between the variables of interest and about the specific direction of that relationship

Question 35

Schema

Answer 35

A knowledge representation that includes information about a person or group

Question 36

Self-concern

Answer 36

The motivation to protect and enhance the self and others who are close to us

Question 37

Self-report measures

Answer 37

Measures in which individuals are asked to repond to questions posed by an interviewer or on a questionnaire

Question 38

Social cognition

Answer 38

Cognition that relates to social activities and that helps us understand and predict the behavior of ourselves and others

Question 39

Social exchange

Answer 39

The sharing of goods, services, emotions, and other social outcomes

Question 40

Social influence

Answer 40

The process through which the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of an individual

Question 41

Social Neuroscience

Answer 41

The study of how our social behavior both influences and is influenced by the activities of our brain

Question 42

Social norms

Answer 42

The ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group emmbers and percieved by them as appropriate

Question 43

Social situation

Answer 43

The people with whome we interact every day

Question 44

Social support

Answer 44

The comfort that we recieve from the people around us