Lecture 7: What is Social Psychology? Flashcards
What is the scientific method?
- A theory is an organised set of general principles or ideas used to explain…
- observed phenomena
- The relationship between constructs/events.
- Data/ evidence is gathered by applying empirical methods.
What makes a good theory?
- Predictive accuracy - Does it reliably predict behaviour.
- Internal coherence - Is it logical and consistent?
- Parsimony - Does it make unnecessary assumptions?
- Fertility - Does it inspire more ideas/research.
What are the 3 levels of Theories?
- Grand theories (Meta - theories)
- Mid - range
- Specific
What is social psychology?
- It is an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.
- It links people’s cognition (thought processes), affective states (feelings and emotions) and behaviour to their social world.
- It takes a process - oriented approach: we want to know what people do and when, as well as why they do it.
What 3 topical areas are there in social psychology?
- Social influence - e.g., conformity, compliance, obedience, persuasion.
- Social perception - e.g., impression formation, attraction, stereotyping, bias.
- Social interaction - e.g., aggression & conflict, helping, prejudice & discrimination, communication.
Does social psychology have relevance?
- It is relevant to everyday life and has important implication.
- Theories of human social behaviour are likely to be affected by common sense notions.
How is social psychology considered a science?
- Social psychologists use empirical methods to test their theories.
- It is the scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence and relate to others.
- It is the scientific study of hoe individuals think, feel and behave in a social context?
What are the levels of explanation in social psychology?
- Intrapersonal - taking place or existing within the mind.
- Interpersonal - Relationships
- Intergroup - Social groups
- Societal - society impact
What is the Hermeneutic approach?
- Arose out of a critique of the scientific method during the crisis of social psychology
- Rejects the goals of mainstream social psychology.
- Argues that research should be concerned with understanding individual behaviour in specific contexts rather than searching for general theories.
What experimental methods are used?
- Lab experiments
* Field experiments
What non - experimental methods are used?
- Surveys
- Case studies
- Archival research
- Field Studies
What is the importance of scientific literacy?
- Validity
- Reliability
- Replication
- Generalisability
- Interpretation of research findings.
What was the purpose of the Stanford prison study?
- To study the effects of imprisonment
* To test the dispositional hypothesis.
Who were the participants of the Stanford prison study?
- 75 participants responded to advertisement.
- Volunteers filled in a battery of psychological tests and were interviewed to asses their mental stability.
- 21 were randomly assigned to the roles of guards or prisoners.
What conclusions were drawn from the stanford prison study?
- The power of social roles
* Tyranny or evil are produced by the adoption of particular social rules.
What’s important when studying people?
- Participants and experiments are people:
- Both are involved in a sense making process.
- The notion of subject is misleading - especially in social psychological research.
- A study’s famousness is not a guarantee for its analytical rigor:
- Different levels of explanation can be used to explain social behaviour.
What are the five basic ethical principles?
- Protection from harm - physical and mental.
- Respect for privacy - anonymity or confidentiality.
- Use of deception - 50-75% of researchers uses deception.
- Informed consent - including the possibility to withdraw at anytime.
- Debriefing - full explanation of purpose of research.
