Chapter 2

Question 1

You hear a news story describing the
following research finding: the more fast
food children eat, the lower their scores on
reading, math, and science tests. Even
though this study was with kids, does it
make you want to cut down on the amount
of fast food you eat?

Answer 1

yes

Question 2

Social Psychology Fundamental Principle

Answer 2

Social influence can be studied scientifically

Question 3

Results of some experiments may seem obvious, why?

Answer 3

– Familiarity with the subject matter
 Social influence
 Social behavior
– Hindsight bias

Question 4

Hindsight Bias

Answer 4

Tendency to exaggerate prediction of an outcome after

knowing that it occurred

Question 5

Like other scientists, social psychologists

Answer 5

– Develop theories
– Derive hypotheses from theory
– Test hypotheses
 Based on the results, revise theory
 Formulate and test new hypotheses

Question 6

new hypothesis and theories tend to come from

Answer 6

• Previous theories and research
– Science is cumulative
 Dissatisfaction with behaviorism (Festinger)
• Personal observation
 Kitty Genovese (Latané and Darley)

Question 7

Observational method

Answer 7

focused on Description, and answers What is the nature of the phenomenon

Question 8

Correlational method

Answer 8

focused on Prediction, and answers From knowing X, can we predict Y?

Question 9

Experimental method

Answer 9

focused on Causality, and answers Is variable X a cause variable of Y?

Question 10

about The Observational Method

Answer 10

• Researcher observes people and systematically
records behavior.
– Used to describe behavior

Question 11

Observational Method Example

Answer 11

• Research Question
– How much aggression do children exhibit during school
recesses?
• Method
– Behaviors concretely defined before observation
– Observer systematically looks for and records
behaviors
– Accuracy of observer is assessed
 Interjudge reliability

Question 12

Interjudge Reliability

Answer 12

The level of agreement between two or more people who

independently observe and code a set of data

Question 13

Limits of the Observational Method

Answer 13

• Certain behaviors difficult to observe
– Occur rarely
– In private
• Archival analysis
– Original may not have all information researchers need
• Does not allow prediction and explanation
– Limited to description

Question 14

about The Correlational Method

Answer 14

Two or more variables are systematically
measured and the relation between them is
assessed.

Question 15

Correlation Coefficient

Answer 15

A statistical technique that assesses how well you can

predict one variable from another

Question 16

Positive Correlation

Answer 16

Increases in the value of one variable are
associated with increases in the value of the
other variable

Question 17

Negative Correlation

Answer 17

Increases in the value of one variable are
associated with decreases in the value of the
other variable

Question 18

Surveys

Answer 18

– Representative sample of people asked about attitudes
or behavior
– Correlations computed using responses to questions

Question 19

Random Selection

Answer 19

A way of ensuring that a sample of people is
representative of a population by giving everyone in the
population an equal chance of being selected for the
sample

Question 20

Surveys Advantages

Answer 20

– Investigate relations between variables difficult to
observe
 Sexual behavior & knowledge of HIV
– Sample representative segments of population

Question 21

Surveys Disadvantages

Answer 21

– Accuracy of responses:

 People may not know the answer—but they think they do!

Question 22

Limits of the Correlational Method

Answer 22

• Correlation does not equal causation!
• Correlational method tells us only that two
variables are related

Question 23

about The Experimental Method

Answer 23

• Researcher randomly assigns participants to
different conditions
• Conditions are identical except for the
independent variable (the one thought to have a
causal effect on people’s responses).
– Use to answer causal questions

Question 24

Independent Variable (IV)

Answer 24

is what researchers manipulate to see if it

has a causal effect

Question 25

Dependent Variable (DV)

Answer 25

is what researchers measure to see if it is | affected

Question 26

Internal Validity

Answer 26

Making sure that nothing besides the independent | variable can affect the dependent variable

Question 27

to Increase Internal Validity

Answer 27

• Control extraneous variables • Randomly assign people to experimental conditions

Question 28

Random Assignment

Answer 28

Ensure all participants have equal chance of being in any experimental condition – Ensures that differences in participants’ personalities or backgrounds are distributed evenly across conditions This powerful technique is the most important part of the experimental method.

Question 29

Probability Level (p-value)

Answer 29

• A number calculated with statistical techniques • Indicates likelihood results of experiment occurred by chance instead of the IV(s) • The convention in science is to consider results significant when p

Question 30

Limits of Experimental Method

Answer 30

``` • Experimental situations can be – Artificial – Distant from real life  Tradeoff with increasing control over the situation to make it similar for all participants ```

Question 31

External Validity

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Generalizability across

Answer 32

1. Situations  the extent to which we can generalize from the experimental situation to real-life situations 2. People  the extent to which we can generalize from the people who participated in the experiment to people in general

Question 33

Psychological Realism

Answer 33

Psychological processes triggered by experiments are | similar to psychological processes in real life

Question 34

Cover story

Answer 34

A description of the purpose of a study, given to participants, that is different from its true purpose, used to maintain psychological realism

Question 35

Random selection of participants from population

Answer 35

– Impractical and expensive for most social psychology experiments – Address by studying basic, fundamental psychological processes that may be universal

Question 36

Improving External Validity

Answer 36

• Field Experiments: – Experiments conducted in natural settings rather than in the laboratory • Advantages: – Participants unaware that they are in an experiment – Participants more diverse than typical college sample

Question 37

Trade-Off Between | Internal and External Validity

Answer 37

• Internal validity: randomly assign to conditions and control for extraneous variables • External validity: generalize to everyday life • “Basic dilemma of the social psychologist” (Aronson & Carlsmith, 1968) – Too much control, generalizable? – Too much like real life, control all extraneous variables? • The way to resolve this basic dilemma is not to try to do everything in a single experiment!

Question 38

Replications

Answer 38

– Repeating a study, often with different subject populations or in different settings – Ultimate test of external validity

Question 39

Meta-analysis

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Basic Research

Answer 40

– Designed to find the best answer to why people behave as they do – Conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity

Question 41

Applied Research

Answer 41

– Designed to solve a particular social problem • “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” (Lewin, 1951) – To solve social problems, one must understand underlying psychological dynamics

Question 42

Cross-Cultural Research

Answer 42

Conducted with different cultures, to see if psychological processes are present in both cultures or specific to the culture in which people were raised

Question 43

Issues in Cross-Cultural Research

Answer 43

• Researchers must: – Guard against imposing their own cultural viewpoints onto an unfamiliar culture – Ensure that IV & DV are understood in the same way in different cultures

Question 44

Evolutionary Theory

Answer 44

Developed by Charles Darwin to explain how animals | adapt to their environments

Question 45

Natural Selection

Answer 45

– How heritable traits that promote survival in a particular environment are passed along to future generations – Organisms with those traits are more likely to produce offspring

Question 46

Evolutionary Psychology

Answer 46

Attempts to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that have evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection. • Core idea: Social behaviors prevalent today are due, in part, to adaptations to past environments

Question 47

Social Neuroscience

Answer 47

• Examines the connection between biological processes and social behavior • Technologies used include: – Electroencephalography (EEG)  electrodes are placed on the scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain – Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)  in which people are placed in scanners that measure changes in blood flow in their brains

Question 48

Ethical dilemma

Answer 48

1. Create experiments that resemble the real world and are well controlled 2. Avoid causing participants stress, discomfort, or unpleasantness

Question 49

Informed Consent

Answer 49

– Agreement to participate in an experiment – Full nature of the experiment explained in advance – Sometimes this is not feasible

Question 50

Deception

Answer 50

– Misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire – People do not object to mild discomfort and deception – Not all research in social psychology involves deception!

Question 51

Debriefing

Answer 51

Explaining to participants, at the end of an experiment, the true purpose of the study and exactly what transpired

Question 52

Guidelines for Ethical Research

Answer 52

– Ensures the safety and dignity of research participants – Must include at least one scientist, one nonscientist, and one person who is not affiliated with the institution – Reviews all research proposals – Approves studies before research conducted – Procedures judged to be overly stressful or upsetting must be changed or deleted before the study can be conducted

Question 53

Methods

Answer 53

– Observational – Correlational – Experimental

Question 54

Advantages and disadvantages of different | methods

Answer 54

Internal and External Validity