Introducing Social Psychology

Question 1

Social psychology

Answer 1

scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

enduring behaviors, attitudes, ideas, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

Question 3

Social representations

Answer 3

socially shared beliefs: widely held ideas and values, including our assumptions and cultural ideologies

Question 4

Social Psychology’s Big Ideas

Answer 4

1. we construct our social reality
2. our social intuitions are often powerful but sometimes perilous
3. social influences shape our behavior
4. personal attitudes and dispositions also shape behavior
5. social behavior is biologically rooted
6. social psychology’s principles are applicable in everyday life

Question 5

Obvious ways values enter psychology

Answer 5

1. research topics
2. types of people
3. object of social-psychological analysis
   - how values form
   - why they change
   - how they influence attitudes and actions

Question 6

Not-so-obvious ways values enter psychology

Answer 6

1. subjective aspects of science
2. culture
3. social representation
4. psychological concepts contain hidden values: defining the good life, professional advice, forming concepts, labeling

Question 7

Hindsight bias

Answer 7

phenomenon in which one becomes convinced they accurately predicted an event after learning the outcome

Question 8

Theory

Answer 8

integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed event. It is a scientific shorthand

Question 9

Hypothesis

Answer 9

testable proposition that describes a relationship that may exist between events

Question 10

A good theory

Answer 10

effectively summarizes many observations
makes clear predictions that we can use:
- to confirm or modify the theory
- to generate new exploration
- to suggest practical application

Question 11

Correlational research

Answer 11

study of the naturally occurring relationships among variables

Question 12

Experimental research

Answer 12

studies that seek cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors (independent variables) while controlling others (holding them constant)

Question 13

Random sample

Answer 13

survey method in which every person in the population being studied has an equal chance of inclusion

Question 14

4 biasing influences in surveys

Answer 14

1. Unrepresentative samples. How closely the sample represents population under study greatly matters
2. Order of questions
3. Response options
4. Wording of questions

Question 15

Independent variable

Answer 15

an experimental factor that a researcher manipulates

Question 16

Dependent variable

Answer 16

variable being measured, so called because it may depend on manipulations of the independent variable

Question 17

Random assignment

Answer 17

process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition

Question 18

Mundane realism

Answer 18

degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday behavior

Question 19

Experimental realism

Answer 19

degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves participants

Question 20

Deception

Answer 20

in research, an effect by which participants are misinformed or misled about the study’s methods and purposes

Question 21

Demand characteristics

Answer 21

cues in an experiment that tells the participant what behavior is expected

Question 22

Debriefing

Answer 22

postexperimental explanation of a study to its participants