Introduction to Social Psychology Flashcards
What is social psychology?
The scientific study of the causes and consequences of people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions, regarding themselves and other people.
What is the first assumption of the Four Core Assumptions of Social Psychology?
Behaviour is a joint product of the person and the situation.
What is the second assumption of the Four Core Assumptions of Social Psychology?
Behaviour depends on a socially constructed view of reality
What is the third assumption of the Four Core Assumptions of Social Psychology?
Behaviour is strongly influenced by our social cognition
What is the fourth assumption of the Four Core Assumptions of Social Psychology?
The best way to understand social behaviour is to use the scientific method
What is the Attribution theory?
People act as intuitive scientists when they observe other people’s behaviour and infer explanations as to why those people acted the way they did
What is Causal Attribution?
Explanations of why an individual engaged in a particular action
What is Cultural Knowledge?
A vast storage of information, accumulated within a culture, that explains how the world works and why things happen as they do
What is a priori causal theory?
Preexisting causal theories acquired from one;s culture or on other potential explanations that are easily brought to mind
Why can explanations for behaviour be misleading?
- people often do not tell the truth
- People often do not know what they think they know
What is a cognitive miser?
The human tendency to avoid expending effort and cognitive resources when thinking and prefer seizing on quick and easy answers to questions
What is a major pitfall in relying on intuitive observation?
Our observation comes from our unique and limited perspective
Can our own psychological inferences be biased?
Almost always yes
What is a theory?
An explanation for how and why variables are related to each other
What is the correlational method?
Research in which two or more variables are measured and compared to determine to what extent, if any, they are associated
What is the Experimental Method?
A study in which a researcher manipulates a variable, measures possible effects on another variable, and tries to hold all other variables constant
What is internal validity?
A judgment that, for a particular experiment, it is possible to conclude that the manipulated independent variable caused the change in the measured dependent variable
What is a stereotype threat?
If an individual is a member of a group for which there is a stereotype, and if the individual thinks of the stereotype, they become threatened that they might confirm the stereotype
What are the benefits of random assignment?
-Eliminates a causal sequence problem by design
- Holds other variables constant, removes a third-variable problem
- Controls for individual differences
What is field research?
Research that occurs outside of the laboratory
What is Quasi-experimental designs?
Research in which groups of participants are compared on some dependent variable, but - for some practical or ethical reasons - the groups are not formed on the basis of random assignment
What is an operational definition?
A specific, concrete method of measuring or manipulating a conceptual variable
What is construct validity?
The degree to which the dependent measure assesses what it intends to assess or the manipulation manipulates what it intends to manipulate
What is Cofound?
A variable other than the conceptual variable intended to be manipulated that may be responsible for the effect on the dependent variable, making alternative explanations possible
