L1 - Theory and Methods

Question 1

Where does social psych sit?

Answer 1

• Sits in the middle of all of psychology because the self is the central unit
• Self in the situation
• Relationships with others
• Arousal level goes up when around 4-7 people
• Beliefs about others attitudes and behaviours
• Own attitudes and behaviours
• Behaviours flow out of you with behaviour towards and beliefs towards others

Question 2

What level is social psych?

Answer 2

• Societal level: links broad social forces to general patterns of behaviour and is used by sociologists, economics and political sciences
• Interpersonal level: current social situations used to explain behaviour used by psychologists
• Individual level: individual differences in background explain behaviour used by clinical psych

Question 3

What are the two features of social psychology?

Answer 3

• Applies prior theories to social domains
• Uses empirical methods to test the theories in social domains

Question 4

What are the theories in social psych?

Answer 4

• Decision making theories
• Evolution social psychology: how adaptive they are through interactions and anatomy
• Cognitive: focus of attention, categorisation (forming) and interpretation
• Sociocultural
• Interdependence
• Motivational: focus on fulfilling needs or obtaining goals, increase in drive with obstacles, substitutable paths for obtaining goals
• Learning: associational conditioning, operant conditioning, observational conditioning

Question 5

What are the goals of social psych research?

Answer 5

• Description: needs to be observational
• Causal analysis: can be contrast condition to indicate analysis about causality
• Theory building
• Application

Question 6

What is a representative sample?

Answer 6

• Sample is the group of people the researcher has chosen to examine
• Population is the group of people the researcher wants to understand
• The sample should be similar to the population you wish to understand

Question 7

What is the reference effect problem?

Answer 7

• The averages turn out to be the same because peoples point of references are very different

Question 8

What was the adv/disadv of random sampling? (Dis = in cardiff)

Answer 8

• Enables each person in the population to have a equal chance of inclusion
• Most samples use psych students who are predominately white, wealthy and female

Question 9

What is the process of experimental research?

Answer 9

• PROCESS: Researcher manipulates a situation in order to observe the outcome of the manipulation
• DESIRED OUTCOME: Info regarding how one factor causes changes in another
• TYPES: field/lab exp

Question 10

Why use an experimental procedure?

Answer 10

• Subjects are randomly assigned to different exp conditions
• Controls for individual differences

Question 11

What is the process of correlational research?

Answer 11

• PROCESS: Researcher examines previously existing situations
• DESIRED OUTCOME: Identifications of associations between factors
• TYPES: Naturalistic observation, Archival research, Survey research

Question 12

What are the differences between correlational and experimental studies?

Answer 12

• IV varies naturally/ controlled by researcher - in order of question
• Only exp has random assignment and unambiguous causality
• Both theory test often

Question 13

Why does X occur?

Answer 13

• Psychological: Avoid uncertainty and conflict
• Predict and control events
• Social animals track others’ intentions

Question 14

What is the structure of scientific revolutions?

Answer 14

• Stage 1: identification of phenomena
• Stage 2: Development of overarching paradigm
• Stage 3: Crisis when experiences don’t match paradigm expectations
• Stage 4: Paradigm shift - return to stage 2