Lecture 2 - Social psychology methods Flashcards
The scientific methods.
What are the Scientific Methods in Psychology?
OTTE PS(M/R)
Observation
Theory about social behaviour
Testable hypothesis
Empirical research
Which leads to either prediction getting confirmed or disconfirmed
IF CONFIRMED - Provides support for the theory
IF DISCONFIRMED - No support for the theory > Modify / Reject theory
What are the two types of methods in psychology?
Experimental/ Non-experimental
What do you do in the experimental method?
And what are the types of experimental methods?
Manipulate the IV and observe the effect on the DV
The types of experimental methods:
Laboratory experiment
Field experiment
Surveys
Randomised control trial
What do you do in a non-experimental method?
And what are the types of non-experimental methods?
Correlation between variables (no manipulation of an IV)
Types of non-experimental methods:
Archival
Case Study
Qualitative research
Surveys
Field studies
What are the steps to the applications of The Scientific Method?
Observation
Background Research + Theory
Hypothesis
Experiment
Data Collection and Analysis
Report Findings
What are strengths of using a Laboratory Experiment?
High Internal Validity
Establish Cause and Effect
Control over extraneous variables
Objectively assess behaviour
What are some weaknesses of using a laboratory experiment?
Costly and time consuming
Low ecological validity, not natural and is artificial LOW external validity
Demand characteristics
Difficult to assess long term behaviour
What is a strength and weakness of performing a field experiment?
Field experiments allow manipulation of variables in real world context
High external validity
Less control over EVs
Difficult in obtaining accurate and objective measures
How are thoughts, feelings and behaviours measured in social psychology?
By using implicit and explicit methods
What are explicit methods?
Asking people to TELL US what theyre feeling, thinking, and behaving
eg SELF REPORT
open responses, numeric scale
questionnaires
However they can lie (social desirability)
What are implicit methods?
We can overcome explicit issues by using implicit methods
Implicit measures assess ps responses outside their conscious control and responses are provided automatically
so theyre unaware of what is being assessed of them
eg
Participant is unaware now compared to being aware w explicit methods and there being conscious control, this time there are automatic processes
What are schemas?
Mental structures that organises and collects information about something
Implicit measures tap into cognitive representations or schemas
Schemas allow us to behave appropriately
What do implicit tasks assess/influence?
The accessibility of schemas
the ease of retrieving or assessing a schema)
Highly accessible schemas are more likely to influence cognitive processes and behaviour
Implicit tasks typically assess reaction times as an indicator of accessibility
What is an implicit bias?
The association between the two categories that happen at an unconscious level
It is an automatic process that occurs
What is the Implicit Association Test?
Assesses the implicit associations we hold towards 2 diff categories
Categories are congruent or incongruent and the speed of the categorisation responses are measured
REACTION TIMES FASTER WHEN CATEGORY IS CONGRUENT OR EXISTS WITH ATTITUDE OR PREFERENCE
like if there is an association that exists the reaction time will be faster. but reaction time slower if association does not exist
What is a strength of the Implicit Association Test?
Flexible tool that can be used to assess almost any type of association between concepts.
Been applied to assess attitudes for a range of groups (eg based on race, body weight status, disabilities, religion etc)
What is Priming?
Second example of an Implicit task
Presentation of a stimulus unconsciously increases accessibility of related cognitions (schemas) and influences cognitive processes and behaviour
What does priming aid?
Visual .
can prompt people to do certain behaviours or influence emotions
A variety of tasks can be used to assess the influence of priming on cognitions and behaviour
What is a Lexical decision task?
Last example of an implicit task
Assesses accessibility of cognitions
(accessibility is the ease of retrieving that schema)
ps have to judge whether letters form a word or not
On critical trials, target words are presented that reflect the cognitions of interest
Reaction times correctly identify target words are used to infer the accessibility of that cognition
Target words are related to healthy eating
What is an issue in social psychological research?
Generalisability of samples
WEIRD countries being used as samples limits generalisability of findings to toher cultures and contexts if we have limited samples
WEIRD = Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democracies
