Chapter 2 - Research Methods in Social Psychology

Question 1

Anecdotal evidence

Answer 1

An argument that is based on personal experience and not considered reliable or representative.

Question 2

Archival research

Answer 2

A type of research in which the researcher analyses records or archives instead of collecting data from live human participants.

Question 3

Basking in reflected glory

Answer 3

The tendency for people to associate themselves with successful people or groups.

Question 4

Big data

Answer 4

The analysis of large data sets.

Question 5

Complex experimental designs

Answer 5

An experiment with two or more independent variables.

Question 6

Confederate

Answer 6

An actor working with the researcher. Most often, this individual is used to deceive unsuspecting research participants. Also known as “stooge.”

Question 7

Correlational research

Answer 7

A type of descriptive research that involves measuring the association between two variables, or how they go 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

Demand characteristics

Answer 9

Subtle cues that make participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find or how participants are expected to behave.

Question 10

Dependent variable

Answer 10

The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment.

Question 11

Ecological validity

Answer 11

The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.

Question 12

Electronically activated recorder (EAR)

Answer 12

A methodology where participants wear a small, portable audio recorder that intermittently records snippets of ambient sounds around them.

Question 13

Field experiment

Answer 13

An experiment that occurs outside of the lab and in a real world situation.

Question 13

Experience sampling methods

Answer 13

Systematic ways of having participants provide samples of their ongoing behavior. Participants’ reports are dependent (contingent) upon either a signal, pre-established intervals, or the occurrence of some event.

Question 13

Hypothesis

Answer 13

A logical idea that can be tested.

Question 14

Implicit association test (IAT)

Answer 14

A computer-based categorization task that measures the strength of association between specific concepts over several trials.

Question 15

Independent variable

Answer 15

The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.

Question 16

Laboratory enviornments

Answer 16

A setting in which the researcher can carefully control situations and manipulate variables.

Question 17

Manipulation check

Answer 17

A measure used to determine whether or not the manipulation of the independent variable has had its intended effect of the participants.

Question 18

Naturalistic observation

Answer 18

Unobtrusively watching people as they go about the business of living their lives.

Question 19

Operationalize

Answer 19

How researchers specifically measure a concept.

Question 20

Participant variable

Answer 20

The individual characteristics of research subjects - age, personality, health, intelligence, etc.

Question 21

Priming

Answer 21

The process by which exposing people to one stimulus makes certain thoughts, feelings or behaviors more salient.

Question 22

Random assignment

Answer 22

Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance.

Question 23

Samples of convenience

Answer 23

Participants that have been recruited in a manner that prioritizes convenience over representativeness.

Question 24

Scientific method

Answer 24

A method of investigation that includes systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Question 25

Social facilitation

Answer 25

When performance on simple or well-rehearsed tasks is enhanced when we are in the presence of others.

Question 26

Social neuroscience

Answer 26

An interdisciplinary field concerned with identifying the neural processes underlying social behavior and cognition.

Question 27

Social or behavioral priming

Answer 27

A field of research that investigates how the activation of one social concept in memory can elicit changes in behavior, physiology, or self-reports of a related social concept without conscious awareness.

Question 28

Survey research

Answer 28

A method of research that involves administering a questionnaire to respondents in person, by telephone, through the mail, or over the internet.

Question 29

Terror management theory (TMT)

Answer 29

A theory that proposes that humans manage the anxiety that stems from the inevitability of death by embracing frameworks of meaning such as cultural values and beliefs.

Question 30

WEIRD cultures

Answer 30

Cultures that are western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic.